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Disturbing video played in a Texas courtroom shows the former FedEx driver who pleaded guilty to killing 7-year-old Athena Strand flipping between personalities as his defense argues his life should be spared due to his struggles with mental health.
Tanner Horner, 34, pleaded guilty to the abduction and murder of Athena just moments before his trial was set to begin in Fort Worth this week. A jury will decide if he will be sentenced to life in prison or the death penalty.
Jurors have spent several days watching body camera footage and police interrogation videos of Horner’s interactions with authorities after he was taken into custody as they weigh whether he will receive the death penalty.
Defense attorney Lindsay Thompson has looked to paint Horner as sympathetic to the jury by revealing he has been diagnosed with autism and suffers from brain damage, mental illness and extreme lead exposure.
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Haunting body camera video played in court Thursday showed Horner directing officers to speak with his alter ego, whom he referred to as “Zero.”
“Hey Zero, when you took her, was she wearing a jacket or anything?” the officer said in the clip, referring to Athena.
“No jacket, no shoes,” Horner, speaking as Zero, replied.
The apparent personality switch seemingly came out of nowhere during Horner’s interaction with law enforcement, raising red flags for Dr. Carole Lieberman, a forensic psychiatrist and expert trial witness.
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“What stands out the most, from a criminal profiling perspective, is the multiple sides that Horner has presented of himself in different scenarios,” Lieberman told Fox News Digital.
“He has seemed perfectly sane at times, while he also claims to have a separate identity or alter ego, which could mean that he was being manipulative – like a malingerer or psychopath at other times.”
WATCH: Athena Strand’s killer says he ‘just kind of tossed her’ in woods
As the body camera video continued to play, jurors heard authorities directly address Zero upon learning that the alter ego appeared to be more “helpful.”
“So did you hit her before you dropped the package? I’m sorry, did Tanner hit her before the package was dropped off, or after?” the officer asked.
“Do you want to talk to him?” Horner replied, referring to himself.
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“No, I want to talk to Zero. I want to talk to you. Because you’re being more honest, you’re more helpful,” the officer said.
In light of the video, Lieberman suggests Horner’s alter ego could be a way for him to avoid accountability for his actions.
“Sometimes criminals like to call the ‘bad’ part of themselves a separate identity, so that they don’t have to own it,” Lieberman said.
“It can be a coping mechanism – when the person splits off the part of his personality he doesn’t want to acknowledge – or it could be psychopathic manipulation or malingering.”
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However, Lieberman noted that most criminals claiming to have an alternate personality typically drop the act once in custody, unlike Horner.
“In my experience, violent offenders do sometimes try to claim a separate identity or alter ego,” Lieberman told Fox News Digital. “But they usually give it up under intense psychiatric evaluation, or when they are ‘busted.’”
Interrogation video played for the court also showed Horner pleading with investigators to allow him out of jail for a month so he could spend one last Christmas with his family, while also appearing to show remorse for the strangulation of Athena.
“Did you know what you did was wrong?” Texas Ranger Job Espinoza asked him, according to FOX 4.
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“Of course,” Horner said. “I haven’t been on that medicine for five days, and it’s starting to wear off. I’ve actually been crying. Do you know what it’s like, not being able to cry for months and months and months?”
“I’m a father,” he continued as he grew emotional. “All I want is to spend one last Christmas with my son, and I’ll tell you everything.”
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Lieberman points to Horner being a father and holding a job as a FedEx driver as a potential snag for his defense surrounding his history of mental illness.
“Horner’s job history would hold clues too,” Lieberman said. “If he has just held low functioning jobs, or if he’s been fired from jobs a lot, this could speak to his autism or brain damage.”
WATCH: Tanner Horner pleads guilty to killing Athena Strand
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“But people with autism or brain damage aren’t as able to make up stories about having an alter ego.”
Horner initially claimed he accidentally struck Athena with his delivery truck while delivering a package to her father’s home, but later admitted to abducting and strangling her in November 2022 in Paradise, Texas.
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He previously said he “kind of tossed” the young girl into the woods after killing her, according to an interrogation video shown to jurors.
Prosecutors have revealed evidence showing Horner covered a camera inside his FedEx truck before launching an extensive attack against Athena as she fought back. He later disposed of her body in a wooded area near Boyd, Texas.
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Authorities said he then returned to work, continuing to deliver packages in nearby neighborhoods as authorities launched a desperate search for the girl. Her body was located three days later.
Lieberman suggested jurors will likely have a strong emotional reaction to the case, given that it involves the murder of a young child, and may not put much weight into Horner’s mental health defense.
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“Cases involving children cause people to have strong emotional reactions because they quickly identify with the child – both in terms of their own children and in terms of themselves when they were a child,” Lieberman said. “So they usually want the strongest punishment for the perpetrator and have little patience or compassion for a mental health defense.”
“What makes this case even less sympathetic is that Horner was delivering Barbie dolls for her Christmas present,” Lieberman added. “A chilling juxtaposition of sweetness with evil.”
Fox News Digital’s Sarah Rumpf-Whitten contributed to this report.
