Who is Maitlyn Gandy? Mom slams daughter Athena Strand's killer Tanner Horner in heartbreaking post
BOYD, TEXAS: The heartbroken mother of Athena Strand, a 7-year-old child who was abducted and killed by a FedEx driver, has slammed the man in a gut-wrenching tribute to her young daughter. She dubbed the killer an "absolute monster" and is now grieving her devastating loss. Strand was abducted from her bedroom in Paradise when the kidnapper had come to deliver a package earlier this week. The child was in the care of her stepmother at the time of her abduction.
Athena's body was later found in Boyd. Her mother Maitlyn Gandy, 26, has attacked the man accused of taking away her daughter in a series of scathing social media posts. Tanner Horner, 31, was arrested after he confessed to the crime and was charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping. Daily Mail reports that she also thanked the law enforcement authorities for finding her daughter.
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“Athena is innocent, beautiful, kind, intelligent, and just the brightest, happiest soul you could ever meet,” Gandy wrote in her posts. “I don’t want her to be the girl known as the one murdered and discarded by a monster. I want everyone to know, every single person in this world, that this is my baby and my baby was taken from me. Athena’s case and the trial against the absolute monster that took her from me, May very well get moved to another county or district in Texas due to the large community involvement (which I am so grateful for),” she added. She then went on to ask people to share her daughter’s photo and story as well.
“I do not want the bastard that took my baby from me and brutally murdered her to go to any city, town, county, state, or country without every single person knowing her face,” she added. “Thank you for finding my baby,” the grieving mother said in a separate post, thanking the authorities who lead the search. “I know everyone wishes this would have ended differently,” she added.
“We knew early on in the investigation that there had been a FedEx driver, made a delivery in front of the house, about the same time that little Athena, 7-year-old Athena, came up missing,” Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said. He has also said that it is very likely that she died "within the very hour or so after her departure from her home."
Horner is now being held on $1.5 million bail.