TARRANT COUNTY, Texas — Tanner Horner, a former FedEx driver, pleaded guilty to capital murder and aggravated kidnapping of 7-year-old Athena Strand.

His trial began Monday, April 7, and is expected to continue for weeks.

After the guilty plea, the trial went immediately to the sentencing phase, but jurors are still being presented with the evidence to determine Horner’s punishment. Prosecutors are seeking the death penalty in the case, while Horner’s defense seeks life in prison.

During the first day of testimony, jurors were shown what appeared to be a still image from the delivery van’s interior camera showing Horner driving and Athena standing behind him. She does not appear to be injured.

In November 2022, Horner told police he struck Strand with his delivery van while backing up. He kidnapped and strangled, allegedly out of fear that she would tell her father about the incident, authorities said. Horner later led authorities to where he had left her body in Wise County near Boyd.

Horner’s lawyers have asked the Tarrant County court to take the death penalty off the table, saying he has autism. They argued that Horner’s Autism Spectrum Disorder “reduces his moral blameworthiness, negates the retributive and deterrent purposes of capital punishment and exposes him to the unacceptable risk that he will be wrongfully sentenced to death.” They also argued that data obtained from Horner’s phone should not be admissible at trial. Lawyers not directly involved in the case told WFAA they have mixed feelings about whether Horner’s defense will be successful.

The court was told by prosecutors on day one that on day two, they would play approximately four hours of videos depicting Horner talking to authorities, culminating in him showing them where he hid the body of Athena. Jurors will see it all, but the court has issued a notice alerting the pool cameraman not to show graphic images on the video feed the public will see — although it’s possible there will be disturbing audio of the attack played at some point in the case.

WFAA will be posting live updates from the courtroom in our live blog here. WFAA will also have gavel-to-gavel coverage on our TV streaming app WFAA+.