An arrest has been made in the kidnapping and murder of seven-year-old Athena Strand.
On Friday, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said that a tip was given that led officers to 31-year-old Tanner Lynn Horner, a contract driver for FedEx, according to Fox 4 News.
He is accused of abducting Strand from her home on Wednesday night and has been charged with aggravated kidnapping and capital murder.
He is currently being held in the Wise County Jail on a $1.5 million bond.
Akin told reporters that Horner also confessed to the kidnapping and murder.
On the day of her dissapearance, Strand got off of her school bus on Wednesday at 4:15 pm. Her stepmother called 911 and reported her missing at 6:40 pm.
Strand’s body was found on Friday, in Texas, and she most likely died “an hour or so” after she disappeared from her home, Akin told reporters.
Akin also told reporters, “It hurts our hearts to know that that child died.”
“So much so that she is on her way now to the medical examiner’s office and there’s a Texas ranger in front of her, and there’s a Texas ranger behind her. This community does not like losing our children. And we can see it because of all the people who came out and helped us throughout this ordeal,” he added.
Akin revealed “it’s one of the most difficult investigations” he’s been involved in “because it’s a child.”
“Anytime that there’s a child that dies, it just hits you in your heart. You compare that child to your children when they were that age, and it just takes the wind out of your sails, but at the same time it gives you purpose, because you want to make sure that you do the best you can to get the best resources together to do what’s been done here,” he said.
Strand’s cause of death is still being investigated.
