Mother of Young Girl Who Was Murdered by FedEx Driver Reveals New Shocking and Sad Detail

A little 7-year-old Texas girl named Athena Strand was outside her house, after having a fight with her stepmom, then disappeared. She went missing on November 30th, and her body was found by investigators on December 2nd.A 31-year-old FedEx driver named Tanner Lynn Horner confessed to kidnapping and murder, although investigators have not released details about how she died. “It hurts our hearts to know that child died,” Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin told reporters after the body was recovered. “It’s one of the toughest investigations that I’ve been involved in because it’s a child. And anytime there’s a child that dies, it just hits you in your heart.”

It’s a sad story, and it just reminds you that there are so many kooks out there, and I don’t say that to make you paranoid, but they are everywhere these days, and we need to be alert and on guard, even in the safety of our homes.

And speaking of this sad, scary case… the mother of Athena has come forward and shared a shocking and sad detail about her daughter’s murder. When I read this, it really impacted me.

Fox News reported that Athena Strand’s mother on Thursday revealed what was inside the package delivered by the FedEx driver turned accused murderer of the 7-year-old girl kidnapped from her father’s Texas home.

“On Nov. 30, a FedEx delivery man drove onto Athena’s father’s property to deliver a package of what was supposed to be a Christmas present for our daughter. This is the package, and it’s the first time I’m seeing it,” an emotional Maitlyn Gandy said at a press conference outside the Wise County Courthouse.

Displayed was a package of six Barbie dolls. Emblazoned on the outside was the dollmaker’s slogan “You can be anything.” An exterior box had the logo for Walmart.

“Athena was robbed of the opportunity to grow up to be anything she wanted to be,” Gandy, who dyed her hair pink in her daughter’s honor, said. “And this present ordered out of innocence and love is one she will never receive. Athena’s favorite holiday was Christmas as it is for many children everywhere. The joy Athena gave her family, and the joy she felt on Christmas is something we will never feel with here again.”

As the Fort Worth Star-Telegram reports, Strand was last seen at around 4:15 p.m. on Wednesday, November 30th when she returned home from school. Then, she and her stepmother “had a little bit of an argument” and Strand walked off. The family noted that this was not unusual or alarming, and Strand’s stepmother fully “expected she would come back.”

That poor little girl. I can’t even fathom what her mother and father must be feeling right now. And her stepmom must feel so guilty.

Like I said, there are monsters everywhere, so be careful out there.