A mother of a Texas 7-year old girl was found dead last week after she went missing for several days. She is now writing a series on Facebook, stating that “No one deserves what happened.”
Maitlyn Gady made these comments after Athena Strand’s death in Boyd on Friday. Tanner Lynn Horner (30 years old) is charged with capital murder as well as aggravated kidnapping for Strand’s death.
Gandy posted pictures of Strand and said that Daddy and Mommy were afraid of how beautiful she was. “No one deserves the things that happened to you, except you. You are my love and I can’t love you enough. Without you, Mommy would be broken.”
Gandy wrote in another post that Athena Strand was “innocent and beautiful, kind, intelligent and just the brightest, most happy soul you could ever encounter.”
ATHENA STRAND’S GRANDFATHER SAYS HE FORGAVE FEDEX DRIVE ACCUSED KIDNAPPING, MORRORING 7-YEAR-OLD
Athena Strand (7 years old) was allegedly kidnapped by Tanner Lynn Horner, a FedEx delivery driver at the age of 30. (Wise County Sheriff’s Office).
She added that she didn’t want her daughter to be known as “the one killed and discarded by the monster” “I want everyone, every single person in the world to know that this is my child and my baby was taken away from me.”
Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin called the girl’s disappearance a “crime to opportunity,” explaining that Horner allegedly confessed to abducting Strand as Horner delivered a package to her North Texas house on Wednesday. The girl’s stepmother reported her missing. The girl’s body was discovered less than 10 miles away from her father’s house two days later. According to reports, the suspect did not know either the victim nor the family of the girl.
Strand was reported to have been staying in Texas with her stepmother and father before returning to Oklahoma to see her mother Maitlyn Gandy around Christmas.
Photo of Athena Strand (7 years old), whose body was discovered on Friday, December 2, 2022. (White Settlement Police Department)
Akin, Athena’s biological mom and other emergency responders said that it was one of the most difficult investigations they had been involved in.
He said, “Anytime a child dies, it just hits you in the heart.”
Authorities claim that Athena Strand, 7 years old, was found dead on Friday, December 2, 2022. (Wise County Sheriff’s Office
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The motive of the crime is not known.
This report was contributed by Lawrence Richard and Danielle Wallace from Fox News.
