Latest / Crime Stories with Nancy Grace / Fedex Driver Kidnaps, Strangles 7YO, Gets DP | Crime Alert 05.06.26

Transcript

Fedex Driver Kidnaps, Strangles 7YO, Gets DP | Crime Alert 05.06.26 · Crime Stories with Nancy Grace

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Crime Alard hourly update, breaking crime news.
• 0:03
  Speaker 2: Now, I'm Sidney Silvanni. After nineteen days of emotional testimony,
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  Speaker 2: Tanner Horner has been sentenced to death for killing a
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  Speaker 2: young girl he was supposed to be delivering a Christmas
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  Speaker 2: present too. A Tarrant County, Texas jury heard closing arguments
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  Speaker 2: from both sides Tuesday morning. Defense attorney Susan Anderson pleaded
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  Speaker 2: with jurors to be merciful in deciding Horner's fate, quote,
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  Speaker 2: I want you to vote for life. Sentenced Tanner to
• 0:30
  Speaker 2: life in prison without the possibility of parole. But District
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  Speaker 2: Attorney James Stainton made a strong rebuttal quote, was Tanner merciful?
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  Speaker 2: Was Tanner vengeful? Did he show remorse?
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  Speaker 3: No?
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  Speaker 2: And I think that's important. The jury took roughly two
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  Speaker 2: and a half hours to come to the decision Horner
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  Speaker 2: should face execution. Horner remained stoic as the verdict was read,
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  Speaker 2: only speaking to agree to appointed council for his automatic
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  Speaker 2: appeal process. The uncle of victim, Athena strand And, was
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  Speaker 2: the only family member to address Horner in court yesterday.
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  Speaker 4: You did not just take a life, You destroyed plan.
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  Speaker 4: He took a little girl the trust of the world
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  Speaker 4: and repaid that innocense of violence. He chose to cause
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  Speaker 4: pain that last generations. But I want you to know
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  Speaker 4: that you are nothing. You are a foot that in
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  Speaker 4: athens story, her name will forever be remember, her name
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  Speaker 4: will forever be celebrated, and everyone will forgive you.
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  Speaker 2: The rest of Athenis family says they are not yet
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  Speaker 2: ready to comment on the outcome of the trial. Horner,
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  Speaker 2: a former FedEx driver, pleaded guilty to the twenty twenty
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  Speaker 2: two kidnapping in capital murder of seven year old Athenis
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  Speaker 2: Strand just as the trial began, leaving the jury to
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  Speaker 2: decide his punishment. The details of the crime or haunting.
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  Speaker 2: Horner was delivering a barbie doll intended as a Christmas
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  Speaker 2: gift for Athena when he struck her with his van.
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  Speaker 2: He told investigators that although she wasn't seriously injured by
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  Speaker 2: the vehicle, he panicked and strangled her to death in
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  Speaker 2: his van to keep her from telling her father or stepmother.
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  Speaker 2: Following Athena's murder, Horner wrote a letter to Athena's family
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  Speaker 2: in which he claimed he could no longer stay silent
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  Speaker 2: despite his legal team's advice, Horner wrote, so many were
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  Speaker 2: affected by my breakdown, not just your family, but my
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  Speaker 2: own as well. He admitted to countless nights of being
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  Speaker 2: unable to sleep, writing that he prays for the family,
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  Speaker 2: but acknowledges the permanent void he created. Quote, You'll never
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  Speaker 2: get to see your baby girl grow up. And I'm sorry,
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  Speaker 2: And i will make sure that every person in.
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  Speaker 5: This world knows that she was loved and that she
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  Speaker 5: wanted to live, and we want her in our lives,
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  Speaker 5: and I'm very sorry.
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  Speaker 2: Two three weeks ago, Athena Maitland Gandy took the stand.
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  Speaker 2: Gandy described the physical pain of the loss, stating it
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  Speaker 2: felt like she was having a heart attack when she
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  Speaker 2: first heard her daughter was missing. She revealed the heartbreaking
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  Speaker 2: toll on her family, admitting she lied to Athena's three
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  Speaker 2: year old sister for over a year, telling her Athena
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  Speaker 2: was staying with her father and couldn't come to the
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  Speaker 2: phone because she was sleeping or at school, incapable of
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  Speaker 2: finding words to explain what happened. When asked if she
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  Speaker 2: had watched the video of Horner killing her daughter, Gandy
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  Speaker 2: said she could only stomach a few minutes, sharing her
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  Speaker 2: sympathy for the jury who had to watch it, telling
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  Speaker 2: them no one, especially Athena, asked for what happened in
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  Speaker 2: those final moments?
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  Speaker 1: Innocent people, do you have to watch that? I'm so sorry.
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  Speaker 1: I'm sorry to you and I'm sorry to you all
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  Speaker 1: two because none of us, not Athena, not me, not
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  Speaker 1: anyone in this room besides Tanner.
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  Speaker 5: Horner asked for what's on that video? In Athena.
• 4:05
  Speaker 2: Definitely more crime and justice news after this. A Florida
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  Speaker 2: mom was arrested Saturday after chaos erupted at a youth
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  Speaker 2: football game, ending with the adult woman allegedly kicking a child.
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  Speaker 2: According to the Lee County Sheriff's Office, Renee Lambert stormed
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  Speaker 2: a Pop Warner game at Brooks Park in Fort Myers
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  Speaker 2: and kicked a juvenile player. Deputy's working security said they
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  Speaker 2: were called to the field after a fight broke out
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  Speaker 2: between players following a play. Video reviewed by police showed
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  Speaker 2: Lambert running onto the field and kicking a juvenile player.
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  Speaker 2: Lambert claimed the child hit her with a helmet, prompting retaliation,
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  Speaker 2: but an investigator said that claim was not supported by
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  Speaker 2: the evidence. Bodycam footage captures a tense profanity, lace confrontation
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  Speaker 2: as deputies attempt to detain her.
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  Speaker 3: Oh man, hit me. I'm out in an adult for
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  Speaker 3: it's out there. Care stop you're detained right now. You
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  Speaker 3: are you are stop.
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  Speaker 5: Stop.
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  Speaker 3: You are being pointed out as being a suspect. Right now,
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  Speaker 3: You're detailed your details. Get number nine a kid, you're
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  Speaker 3: an adult. Get my son. Get my son up. She's
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  Speaker 3: decayed because they said you hit a kid.
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  Speaker 2: The footage ends with a chaotic scene as deputies attempt
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  Speaker 2: to place Lambert in handcuffs. Lambert is now charged with
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  Speaker 2: child abuse without great bodily harm in resisting an officer.
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  Speaker 2: For the latest crime and justice breaking news, be sure
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  Speaker 2: to tune in tomorrow on your favorite podcast app with
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  Speaker 2: this crime alert. I'm Sydney Solvanni.