Texans asked to wear pink Monday in honor of 7-year-old Athena Strand

WISE COUNTY, Texas — Residents throughout Texas are being asked to help honor a 7-year-old girl who was found dead following an abduction last week.

Athena Strand, who was the subject of an AMBER Alert, went missing last week in rural Wise County, and her body was discovered on Friday night. 

The suspect, identified as 31-year-old Tanner Lynn Horner, confessed to abducting and killing her on Wednesday. Authorities said Horner was working as a contract FedEx driver and was delivering a package to Strand’s home when the abduction allegedly happened.

As the investigation continues, officials are asking residents in North Texas to wear pink in honor of the 7-year-old victim.

In a statement, Wise County Judge J.D. Clark said pink was Strand’s favorite color and that he urges everyone in the county to wear the color on Monday.

“My heart is so heavy about Athena,” Clark said. “… Additionally, I encourage everyone to join me at 6:30pm on Monday on the Courthouse steps to pray for Athena, her family, our first responders and our community.

School districts throughout Texas are also being asked to wear pink.

The list of districts includes:

• Paradise ISD
• Castleberry ISD
• Northwest ISD
• Gunter ISD
• Buena Vista ISD
• Blooming Grove ISD
• Gainesville ISD
• Garner ISD
• Godley
• Rains Elementary (Rains ISD)
• Bland ISD
• Neches ISD
• Saginaw Elementary (Eagle Mountain-Saginaw ISD)
• Yantis ISD
• Dalhart High School (Dalhart ISD)
• Weatherford ISD
• Krum ISD
• Argyle ISD
• Maypearl ISD
• Lake Worth ISD

Comanche Elementary School in Oklahoma, where the 7-year-old was a student, is also asking students to honor the child by wearing pink.

When announcing that Strand’s body had been found on Friday, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin called the case “one of the toughest investigations I’ve ever been involved in.”

“Any time there’s a child that dies, it just hits you in your heart. You compare that child to your own children when they were at that age,” Akin said.

The 7-year-old’s body was found about six miles southeast of Boyd. Horner is the lone suspect in the case, according to officials.

Akin said Horner is being charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.