Overview
- Jurors in Fort Worth are in the punishment phase after Horner’s April 7 guilty plea to capital murder, deciding between a death sentence and life without parole.
- Following Monday’s courtroom playback, recordings captured Horner telling his mother that Athena did not die on her own and denying sexual assault during calls from jail.
- Letters recovered after a 2023 jail suicide attempt showed an apology to Athena’s family that blamed autism and job stress, alongside a separate note that claimed an unidentified gunman forced the abduction.
- Forensic evidence shown to the jury includes video from the FedEx van and markings on Athena’s face that matched the truck’s floor, while the medical examiner testified she died from blunt-force injuries with smothering and strangulation and found no physical signs of sexual trauma.
- A cellphone expert testified Horner later searched whether FedEx truck cameras record continuously and looked up the missing-girl case, and a woman testified he raped her when she was 16 in 2013.