FedEx Driver Pleads Guilty to Killing 7-Year-Old

0:00It's April 8th, this is entertainment and celebrity news today pop culture powered by AI. A Texas man named Tanner Horner just pleaded guilty to strangling 7-year-old Athena Strand to death inside his FedEx truck back on November 30th, 2022, then dumping her body in a river. The 34-year-old shocked the court on April 7th, right before his trial was supposed to start, skipping the full guilt phase and jumping. Straight to sentencing. Horns are still pushing to play an hour-long audio recording from the truck cab, capturing the girl's screams and desperate struggle, even with the plea. Horner covered the camera, but the sounds got picked up anyway, showing what a 250-pound man did to a 67-pound child. The district attorney warned jurors it's the most horrible thing he's heard in 25 years on the job, with Athena fighting back like she had, the strength of a hundred grown men. In her first claim, he accidentally backed into her with the truck, but video frames proved

1:00she was alive and terrified inside with him. Defense lawyers want no death penalty, pointing to Horner's autism, his mom's drinking during pregnancy and lead exposure as a kid, saying it messed, up his brain and cuts his blame. But the judge already shot that down, keeping death on the table. Now jurors weigh life in prison or execution based on this evidence, a gut wrenching call that lays bare the raw horror of that day.