Athena Strand’s killer charged with sex assault of a child years before he kidnapped the Texan girl

A Texas FedEx driver accused of kidnapping and strangling a seven-year-old girl he abducted from her Dallas home has been charged with sexually assaulting a child nearly a decade ago.

Tanner Horner, 31, told investigators that he accidentally hit Athena Strand with his truck on Nov. 30, “panicked,” and then grabbed her and pulled her into his vehicle.

Fearing what would happen if she told her parents, he strangled her inside the van and dumped her body seven miles from her home, as well as a country road. She was found on December 2.

It emerged on Wednesday that Horner, who was arrested shortly after the girl went missing, has now been charged with additional offences.

Tanner Horner, 31, told investigators that Athena Strand was not seriously injured after he struck her as she was reversing, but panicked and pulled her into his truck. She said that she was talking to him and told him her name.

Jacob Strand, father of Athena Strand, the seven-year-old girl who was kidnapped and strangled to death by a FedEx driver outside Dallas in November, has filed a million-dollar lawsuit against the delivery company.

Horner faces three additional counts of sexual abuse of a child in 2013, in Fort Worth.

He is being held in jail on $1.5 million bail.

Athena’s mother, Maitlyn Gandy, said over the weekend that she hopes her daughter’s killer is sentenced to death.

Athena’s father, Jacob Strand, has launched legal action against FedEx, alleging that they did not perform sufficient background checks before hiring Horner.

“I support the death penalty. In any sentence that may come,” said Gandy WFAA.

Every time she breathes, my daughter doesn’t.

“If I could sit across from him, I’d tell him that he’s nothing, but Athena is everything, and I’ll make sure everyone in this world knows he’s nothing and she’s everything.”

In her first television interview, Maitlyn Gandy, the mother of Athena Strand, has reflected on her daughter’s life and her hopes for justice for her killer.

Athena was abducted from her father’s home in Paradise, Texas, on November 30 by FedEx driver Tanner Horner, police say.

Maitlyn Gandy, hugs other children during a memorial service earlier this month

The seven-year-old was buried in a bright pink coffin in a private funeral. Gandy, 26, said his late daughter, Athena, will be cremated and “will come home in an urn because I’m not close to letting go of my baby.”

Maitlyn Gandy posted photos of her daughter Athena’s pink coffin on her Facebook page

Gandy says that he wishes he had just gone and let his daughter walk.

“We are very forgiving people,” he said.

“If Athena hadn’t been hurt or even had a few bumps and scratches, he might have left.” We could have forgiven him.

“Accidents happen, but he chose to do more, and what he did was inexcusable.

‘I find it hard to believe that Athena couldn’t have left. Athena could have just walked away, and she wishes he had left her.

Gandy says that he is still grieving for his daughter as he tries to take care of his younger sister, Rilyn.

‘I triple check my doors every night and hug my three-year-old son tighter. I’m afraid to let her go. It’s all very, very scary and very, very sad,” Gandy said through tears.

It has been hard on our family. For my other three year old son. She doesn’t understand why she can’t call ‘sissy’ or why she hasn’t come home yet. It’s a long time for her without seeing her sister,’ she explains.

We are coping. We are trying to function. It’s been long. Hard but very chaotic at the same time.

‘I’m sad. I’m angry. I’m confused. I’m doing the best I can.

I have been very scared and do not sleep very often or for a long period of time. Noises at night scare me.

‘I triple check my doors every night and hug my three-year-old son tighter. I’m afraid to let her go. It’s all very, very scary and very, very sad,” Gandy said through tears.

Gandy is seen with his daughters Athena and Rilyn.

Horner’s FedEx truck, in which he killed the girl, is shown.

Gandy says that one of the hardest moments he has ever endured was seeing his little girl’s face for the last time as he was laying her down at her funeral.

“It was me who saw his face for the last time,” he said.

“I closed her coffin before her dad, uncles and grandparents took her out. I just took her hand and kissed her and told her how sorry I am and how much I love her.

That was the last time I saw her.

Although Athena’s body was placed in the coffin for the funeral, Gandy brought her cremated remains home in an urn because he said he “wasn’t anywhere close to letting go of my baby.”

In a brief statement, FedEx said they were in the lawsuit, adding: “Our thoughts remain with the family of Athena Strand in the wake of this tragedy.”