The day after he strangled the girl and dumped her body, Horner searched online, “Do FedEx truck cameras constantly record,” and “Paradise missing girl,” a cellphone expert who recovered data from his device told the jury on Tuesday.
The cellphone searches were dated Dec. 1, 2022, hours after Horner disposed of Strand’s body in a creek.
Video of a terrified Strand in the back of Horner’s truck was released as part of his trial, as the jury looks to determine whether he will face the death penalty or life in prison for the child’s murder.
On Tuesday, the court also heard from a woman and former friend who alleged that Horner raped her twice in 2013 when she was 16 and he was 22.
The witness, whose idenтιтy was not released because of the active case, claimed Horner asked her to lie to his grandmother about her age and bought her alcohol and marijuana on the night of the alleged Sєxual ᴀssault.
“That night when I decided it was time to go to sleep, I laid down and Tanner Horner started grabbing ahold of me, kissing me, and proceeded to have Sєx with me,” she told the jury.
The witness testified how, on a separate occasion, she fell asleep in Horner’s room and woke up to him grabbing and touching her, at which point, he once again had Sєx with her.
“I froze. I completely froze, shut down, did not know what to do, and just let it happen,” she said, adding that she felt gross and violated, and hated herself for allowing it to happen.
Horner, who has admitted to strangling Strand after kidnapping her when he accidentally hit her with his van, has denied that he Sєxually ᴀssaulted the child.
The jury in Fort Worth heard chilling phone calls Horner made to his relatives from jail following the murder.
When asked by his mother if he had done “nothing weird to that little girl,” he insisted he hadn’t, at which point she said, “I just know how you get.”
“Well, actually, with my medication, I barely even have a libido as it is,” Horner responded.
In opening statements last week, the prosecution said his DNA was found under Strand’s fingernails and “in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl.”
Horner blamed the killing on his frustrations with FedEx for making changes to his delivery route, which worsened his Asperger’s syndrome symptoms.
He claimed that he attempted to take his own life shortly before he murdered Strand.
Horner also said that his alter-ego, whom he called “Zero,” had committed the murder.
He is expected to find out if he faces the death penalty later this week.