A grieving mother told a Texas courtroom about using makeup to hide the bruises on her 7-year-old girl’s body after the girl was kidnapped by a former FedEx driver.
The driver, Tanner Horner, who is facing charges over Athena Strand’s tragic passing, sat in the silent courtroom as the child’s mother Maitlyn Gandy took the stand.
“She was loved. She is loved. And she is missed,” the mother said in court.
Highlights
- A Texas courtroom listened to a mother's heartbreaking statements about her daughter's disappearance.
- Athena Strand was last seen waiting for her Christmas gift at her Paradise, Texas, home in November 2022.
- FedEx driver Tanner Horner is currently facing charges after the child's body was found in a river.
A grieving mother told a Texas courtroom about using makeup to hide the bruises on her daughter's body after it was recovered from a river
Image credits: WFAA
Trigger warning: this article contains graphic details that may be distressing to some.
Athena Strand was last seen waiting for her Christmas gift at her Paradise, Texas, home in November 2022.
FedEx driver Tanner Horner drove to her house to deliver a set of “You Can Be Anything” Barbie dolls for her at the time. But shortly after he arrived, he tossed the little girl into the back of his truck and drove off.
Her body was later found in the Trinity River, not far from her home.
Image credits: WF
Prosecutors called Maitlyn to the stand on Wednesday to narrate her version of the day Athena went missing.
When asked why she made it a point to attend every single hearing, she said it was because her daughter was “real” and more than just the subject of a news story.
“Because I had to cover up handprint bruises around my daughter's neck, and because she no longer has a voice,” the mother said as the courtroom went silent. “And I want people to know that she's not just some story, she's not just some number.
Prosecutors called Maitlyn to the stand on Wednesday to narrate her version of the day Athena went missing
Image credits: Maitlyn Presley Gandy
“She's not just some picture you see in a headline,” added the mother, who dyed her hair pink and wore a pink suit because it was her daughter’s favorite color.
The mother said she was ready to be her daughter’s voice after the little girl was cruelly silenced forever.
“She was loved. She is loved. And she is missed. And she was real. And she had a life and she wanted to live. And no one can take that from her,” she said. “Not a single person can take that from her.”
“I will be her face and I will be her voice and I will make sure that every person in this world knows that she was loved, and that she wanted to live, and we want her in our lives,” the mother declared.
Image credits: WFAA
Maitlyn said she and Athena’s father, Jacob Strand, were “pretty d*mn” good at co-parenting her. She lived in Oklahoma and he lived in Paradise in Wise County, Texas.
When she learned that her daughter had gone missing, she was in disbelief and drove 45 minutes to Jacob’s house.
The mother, who normally took two hours to make the drive, said she felt like she was having a heart attack at the time. But she kept telling herself to keep going and that she would find her.
Maitlyn said she felt like she was having a heart attack after finding out her daughter had gone missing
Image credits: WFAA
After Athena’s body was recovered, Maitlyn said she was allowed to see her remains for the first time on December 6, 2022.
She arrived an hour before the time she told Jacob to show up because she didn’t know what condition their little girl would be in.
“I didn't want him to see our daughter like that,” she said. “...Her ears were messed up and she had incision lines and her chin was scraped up.”
Maitlyn told the court about putting a hospital gown on her daughter because she was nak*d.
“And I searched her body looking for any reason that that wasn't my baby,” she said. “And then we did her makeup so Jacob wouldn't have to see the discoloration and how bad it was.”
“When I got to her, she was so cold, and she didn't like the cold, so I wanted to make sure that she was dressed,” she added.
The mother went looking for dresses at Walmart and bought socks, panti*s, shoes, leggings, and dresses for her deceased child. She also made sure to get some bows because Athena loved wearing them, she said.
“And I searched her body looking for any reason that that wasn't my baby,” the mother said
Image credits: WFAA
During a courtroom session on Tuesday, April 7, Attorney James Stainton said Tanner’s initial version of the story was an “absolute lie.”
The driver first told authorities that he accidentally struck Athena when he backed into her house, and he panicked, thinking she would tell her father.
Even though she wasn’t seriously hurt, he tossed her into the back of his delivery truck and drove off.
“Just get in the back of the van, we’re going to the hospital,” he claimed to have told the child.
Image credits: WFAA
During court proceedings, the court was shown a picture of Athena looking unharmed in the back of the truck.
Prosecutors believe Athena put up a fight during the last moments of her life.
“You are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child,” Attorney James Stainton told jurors at a previous court session about the evidence they would be seeing in connection with the case.
Prosecutors believe Athena put up a fight during the last moments of her life
Image credits: WFAA
“When I say it’s horrible, I mean it,” he added.
Investigators found the kidnapper’s DNA under Athena’s fingernails, which suggested she tried to fight him off at the time.
It is unclear whether the child was s*xually ass*ulted, but Tanner’s DNA was found “in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl,” prosecutors said.
Tanner’s attorney Steven Goble said his client should be spared from being executed because he has Asperger's syndrome and other issues.
Court proceedings are expected to continue on Thursday.
“I cannot fathom the pain she has gone through,” one user commented online
