Missing 7-year-old North Texas woman discovered lifeless; Fed-Ex driver arrested

A 7-year-old woman who went lacking earlier this week from her North Texas dwelling – prompting an Amber Alert – has been discovered lifeless, authorities introduced Friday. A Fed-Ex driver has been arrested on kidnapping and homicide prices.

Athena Strand had went missing Wednesday night from her father’s dwelling in Paradise, Texas, CBS DFW reported, prompting an enormous multiagency search involving a whole bunch of volunteers. 

Her physique was positioned Friday night — because of a tip investigators had obtained earlier within the day — Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin introduced in a news convention late Friday night time.

The suspect, recognized as 31-year-old Tanner Lynn Horner, was taken into custody Friday on prices of capital homicide and aggravated kidnapping, Akin mentioned.

Horner was a Fed-Ex contract driver who had delivered a package deal to Strand’s dwelling at concerning the time she disappeared, Akin disclosed.

“We knew early on in the investigation that there had been a Fed-Ex driver, made a delivery in front of the house, about the same time that little Athena, 7-year-old Athena, came up missing,” Akin mentioned.

Investigators imagine that Strand died “within the very hour or so after her departure from her home,” Akin added.

He additionally indicated that Horner had confessed to the crime, and famous that investigators had obtained “digital evidence.”

“We do have a confession,” Akin mentioned.

The reason behind Strand’s demise was not launched, or the precise location she was discovered. Her physique was positioned southeast of the Wise County city of Boyd, Akin mentioned.

Horner of Lakeworth, Texas, is being held on $1.5 million bail.

The FBI, Texas Rangers Division, the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services and the U.S. Marshals Service had been all concerned within the investigation, based on CBS DFW.  

Paradise is positioned within the Dallas-Forth Worth-Arlington metro space, about 40 miles northwest of the town of Fort Worth.