Tanner Horner, the FedEx driver accused of killing 7-year-old Athena Strand, was accused of rape three years ago, according to information that has resurfaced in the wake of his arrest.
Horner, 31, of Lake Worth, Texas, was taken into police custody on Friday evening and accused of abducting and killing Strand, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said in an announcement, local news station KWTX reported. Strand was last seen at her father's home in Paradise, Texas, on Wednesday night.
Horner became a primary suspect shortly after the investigation began, with law enforcement aware that a FedEx delivery had been made to Strand's father's home around the same time the little girl went missing. His suspected motive has not been divulged by law enforcement, though Akin said that he had confessed to the crime. He was not previously acquainted with Strand or her family.
In the wake of his arrest in the high-profile case, details about Horner's life and past have begun to emerge. On Saturday, the website Heavy reported on a Facebook post from 2019 in which a woman accused Horner of being a rapist.
"Friendly reminder that Tanner Horner is a rapist," the woman wrote in a post from November 2019.
Another woman responded to the post, claiming that Horner was working as an Uber driver and playing in a band at the time, and also accused him of being transphobic.
The same woman who made the initial post also posted about Horner again in the wake of his arrest in connection with Strand's death, further accusing him of raping her eight years ago, when she was 16 and when he would have been around 23.
"Tanner Lynn Horner, the man who raped me at 16, 8 years ago, murdered Athena Strand, a 7 year old girl," the woman wrote. "I hope the family gets the justice they deserve. I hope he rots. And I hope that everyone who didn't believe me, when I've talked about this for EIGHT F****** YEARS, does now..."
Newsweek cannot, at this time, independently verify these allegations. They have also not yet been discussed by any law enforcement entity involved in the Strand case.
Newsweek reached out to the Wise County Sheriff's Office for comment.
Horner is currently charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. He is being held in police custody on a $1.5 million bond.
In his statement from Friday, Akin confirmed that Strand's body had been found at around 10 p.m. that day. This came after reports that two investigators had taped off a vehicle roughly seven miles away from where the young girl was last seen. Akin said that it is currently believed that she died an hour after she was abducted.
"It's one of the toughest investigations I've been involved in because it's a child, and anytime it involves a child who died, it shatters your heart," Akin said.
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Thomas Kika is a Newsweek weekend reporter based in upstate New York. His focus is reporting on crime and national ... Read more
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