Athena Strands mother reveals heartbreaking last words she told 7-year-old before she was kidnapped, murdered

Athena Strand’s mother revealed the final heartbreaking words she told her 7-year-old daughter in emotional testimony while staring down the monster FedEx driver who kidnapped and murdered her.Maitlyn Gandy, who glared at her daughter’s convicted killer from the stand on Wednesday, was asked by prosecutors if she recalled what she said to Athena when she was off at her father’s house for a visit in 2022 — the last time she would see her alive.“I told her that I loved her and that I would see her on Friday,” Gandy — wearing Athena’s favorite color, pink, with dyed hair to match — told jurors at a sentencing hearing, Fox 4 News reported.“We had a quick drop-off because her daddy was going to take them to the Christmas lights.” Former FedEx driver Tanner Horner, 34, is awaiting his fate as the jury mulls whether to sentence him to death or life in prison after he pleaded guilty to kidnapping and murdering little Athena just before his trial was slated to begin.Athena had been outside her home when Horner showed up for the delivery and abducted her — and footage from inside his FedEx truck showed him driving off with the girl in tow. Her naked body was found days later.The hulking delivery driver — who was over 200 pounds at the time — told the court he initially tried to break Athena’s neck to kill her, but that it didn’t work, so he strangled her with his bare hands instead.Gandy described to the court the harrowing moment she was brought into the morgue to identify Athena’s battered corpse.“When I got to her, she was so cold, and she didn’t like the cold, so I wanted to make sure that she was dressed,” Gandy said.“I wanted to make sure she had one of her bows.

So I got her some bows.”Just as hard, she said, was having to explain the horror to Athena’s 3-year-old sister — whom the family decided to keep in the dark about the truth until last year.“I didn’t know how to tell her, and I didn’t think I was strong en...