The parents of slain 7-year-old Athena Strand banded together in a wrongful death lawsuit against FedEx after a delivery driver killed their daughter in November 2022. Last week, authorities indicted Taylor Horner, 31, on charges of capital murder and aggravated kidnapping related to Athena's death. Her parents, Jacob Strand and Maitlyn Gandy, believe FedEx was culpable in their daughter's death, calling the company the "deliverer of death."
According to Fox News, Horner hit Athena with his delivery vehicle while delivering a package to her father's home in Paradise, Texas. Horner later confessed that the girl wasn't seriously injured after he hit her. After the accident, he put Athena in the back of the van and reportedly strangled the girl. Her parents want justice for their daughter and are seeking compensation for her death.
Athena was playing outside when Horner apparently hit her with his van.
Initially, police thought Athena ran away from home after an argument with her stepmother, but as they gathered evidence, they realized that was not the case. Police issued an Amber Alert because they felt that Athena was in danger. Early in the investigation, police knew that a FedEx delivery driver was at Strand's home around the time that she went missing, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin said in a December news conference.
Police used what they called "digital evidence" to track Horner, who ultimately confessed to killing Athena. He reportedly said that when he hit Athena with his truck, she was not seriously injured and could tell him her name, Fox News reported. He allegedly panicked and put her into his van and killed her. At the time, police had not released Athena's cause of death but called it a "crime of opportunity."
Jacob Strand initially filed suit in December.
Jacob Strand entered into litigation against FedEx and Horner in December, according to Fox News. Gandy joined the suit on February 17, stating that the delivery giant was no longer trustworthy.
"For so long, FedEx — the trucks, the uniforms, the logo, the drivers — has been trusted to travel the last mile — to come to our doors, to be welcomed, and so often, to deliver the subject of our desires. As parents hugged their kids on December 2, 2022, they wondered how FedEx became the deliverer of death," Gandy stated.
The lawsuit names FedEx, Horner, and Big Topspin, the FedEx contractor that employed Horn at the time of the crime.
The lawsuit alleges Big Topspin did not do its job during the hiring process.
According to court documents obtained by Fox News, the lawsuit claims that Big Topspin did not properly investigate Horner and his criminal and mental health background before hiring him.
"FedEx has a problem — a big one," Benson Varghese, managing partner at Varghese Summersett, noted in a statement, per Fox News. "There is a pattern that can no longer be ignored. The company has the resources to ensure its drivers and contractors are properly vetted, trained and supervised. No parent should have to bury a child because of gross negligence. Tanner Horner should have never been given a FedEx uniform or a delivery van."
The lawsuit seeks "fair and reasonable" compensation for the "acts and omissions" leading to young Athena's death.
Strand and Gandy want to prevent this type of tragedy from happening to another family.
Athena's parents hope that the lawsuit will convince FedEx to alter its hiring process to bring about "better hiring, training and supervising … practices to prevent vicious killers from arriving at our doorsteps bearing an insignia that has been cultivated to instill trust."
The complaint states that FedEx's position as a shipping giant gives the company excuses to be more lenient with the hiring process. "It is about preventing billion-dollar organizations from insulating themselves from liability by using fly-by-night contractors instead of acknowledging the responsibility they bear when we trust them to come onto our property, to our doorsteps and even inside our homes," it reads.
Horner is facing the death penalty.
Horner is being held in Wise County Jail. Officials set his bond at $1.5 million. On Tuesday, Akin told WFFA that District Attorney James Stainton has officially filed paperwork to seek the death penalty in the case.
