The disappearance of 7-year-old Athena Strand took a gruesome turn after her body was recovered in Boyd, Texas. A resident of North Texas, who was living with her father and stepmother over the fall semester, was kidnapped from her house on Wednesday.

The suspect, Tanner Lynn Horner, has admitted to kidnapping and later murdering her, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin confirmed. Horner is currently being held in jail and faces capital murder and aggravated kidnapping charges. 

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Who is Maitlyn Gandy? 

Athena’s birth mother, Maitlyn Gandy, who lives in Comanche, Oklahoma, described the suspect as a “sick, cruel monster”.

“Athena is innocent, beautiful, kind, intelligent, and just the brightest, happiest soul you could ever meet. I don’t want her to be the girl known as the one murdered and discarded by a monster. I want everyone to know, every single person in this world, that this is my baby and my baby was taken from me,” Gandy wrote in a heartfelt message on Facebook for her late daughter. 

Gandy, in a subsequent post, asked the people to keep Athena’s story in the spotlight. She also urged schools located in Wise County to get the students dressed in pink, which was Athena’s favorite color, on Monday. 

Gandy also said that Horner’s trial may be moved to a different country largely due to community involvement in search for Athena. 

“I do not want the bas***d that took my baby from me and brutally murdered her to go to any city, town, county, state, or country without every single person knowing her face.” she conveys. 

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She also set up a GoFundMe page to help the family with the legal expenses. 

According to Gandy’s Facebook, she is Minimum Data Set Coordinator at Meridian Nursing Home. She has posted several photos of her late daughter to honour her.