GUILTY TX - Athena Strand, 8, Abducted & Murdered by FedEx Contract Driver, Tanner Horner, Paradise, 30 November 2022 #2

[PawneeDew]

I get sick to my stomach just hearing the first few notes. I will never willingly listen to it ever again.

Or see a fedex truck without thinking of Athena. Just tears.

 

[BUF]

Grandma texted TH with a picture of Athena and asked him to look out for her!
The day after he murdered her!!

 

[TMich6811]

Grandma texted TH with a picture of Athena and asked him to look out for her!
The day after he murdered her!!

What?! This doesn’t feel coincidental

 

[Megnut]

What?! This doesn’t feel coincidental

I think she genuinely thought he might be able to find her, working in the area.

Sickening to know what he'd already done.

JMO

 

[Walela]

TH received SSI benefits beginning at age ten. So there must have been an official diagnosis, right?
IMO.

I don't know how easy it was 24 years ago to get SSI for your child or what records needed to be submitted, but now there needs to be medical records of impairment from a professional and that impairment must cause marked and severe functional limitations. Family income also plays a part in the determination. There are other situations where children can receive SSI payments and not have a disability. SSA dot gov is hard to navigate but the answered are there somewhere.

IMO, from what has been presented by the defense thus far, TH did not have severe functional limitations when he began receiving SSI. Had there been medical records of marked and severe functional limitations, the defense would have those records front and center, probably enlarged with key phrases underlined and highlighted, and into evidence and presented to the jury.

 

[Megnut]

I'm watching back to grab some testimony I missed --

The lady doctor/partner, it's her own report, amazing what she can't remember.

I am so ready for the Defense to rest -- finally.

JMO

 

[browneyes]

I was saved by a phone call. Did the state ask Grandma any questions? I tried to rewind. TIA.

 

[lightofmine99]

What?! This doesn’t feel coincidental

IIRC Athena was missing for 2 days before she was found. If grandma saw a news report or post about her, she probably thought TH would have a decent chance of finding her because his job involves driving around all day and so she texted him. I don’t think her thought process was, “Oh I bet my bum grandson killed her, I’m gonna taunt him about it” or something. MOO.

 

[Megnut]

I don't know how easy it was 24 years ago to get SSI for your child or what records needed to be submitted, but now there needs to be medical records of impairment from a professional and that impairment must cause marked and severe functional limitations. Family income also plays a part in the determination. There are other situations where children can receive SSI payments and not have a disability. SSA dot gov is hard to navigate but the answered are there somewhere.

IMO, from what has been presented by the defense thus far, TH did not have severe functional limitations when he began receiving SSI. Had there been medical records of marked and severe functional limitations, the defense would have those records front and center, probably enlarged with key phrases underlined and highlighted, and into evidence and presented to the jury.

I think the Defense is perverting this SSDI.

I am disabled and receive SSDI. When my daughter was a minor, I collected SSDI on her behalf until she reached 18.

I have real questions and genuine doubt that TH received SSDI 25 years ago due to a disability of his own.

And IMO that's why it stopped. No way would TH have surrendered supplemental income! IMO it was no longer due him.

And I'll go one step further. IMO he was receiving it fraudulently too, or the adults in his life, rather, were. SSDI received for dependency (on behalf of a dependent) is intended to go toward the care and keeping of that dependent. If TH wasn't in the direct care of his mother, technically she shouldn't have been collecting SSDI on his behalf (since she wasn't supporting him), and neither should his grandparents without applying for whatever relief needed, akin to federal child support.

I truly don't think TH's receiving SSDI as a child means he qualified as disabled. I think he received it because his mother did.

JMO

 

[TMich6811]

IIRC Athena was missing for 2 days before she was found. If grandma saw a news report or post about her, she probably thought TH would have a decent chance of finding her because his job involves driving around all day and so she texted him. I don’t think her thought process was, “Oh I bet my bum grandson killed her, I’m gonna taunt him about it” or something. MOO.

I was thinking more along the lines of what his mother said

You didn’t do anything weird to that girl or whatever it was.

Like a hey from grandmother - you don’t know about this girl right? Kind of message

I’m probably wrong

 

[Walela]

I think the Defense is perverting this SSDI.

I am disabled and receive SSDI. When my daughter was a minor, I collected SSDI on her behalf until she reached 18.

I have real questions and genuine doubt that TH received SSDI 25 years ago due to a disability of his own.

And IMO that's why it stopped. No way would TH have surrendered supplemental income! IMO it was no longer due him.

And I'll go one step further. IMO he was receiving it fraudulently too, or the adults in his life, rather, were. SSDI received for dependency (on behalf of a dependent) is intended to go toward the care and keeping of that dependent. If TH wasn't in the direct care of his mother, technically she shouldn't have been collecting SSDI on his behalf (since she wasn't supporting him), and neither should his grandparents without applying for whatever relief needed, akin to federal child support.

I truly don't think TH's receiving SSDI as a child means he qualified as disabled. I think he received it because his mother did.

JMO

I think you are right. There was another reason he received SSI and it wasn't because of a disability. Chubby Checker would have been amazed at all the twisting going on with this 'mitigation' presentation.

 

[getthefax]

I feel like if I were on the jury, the longer they kept me there listening to this, the more I'd want the DP.
Maybe I wouldn't make a very good juror -- I'll accept that. But this level of expense/attention/dissection for this particular case only hardens me further. The thing it keeps showing me is how cold and calculated and heartless he was while committing such a deliberate, heinous act. I truly hope the jury doesn't go in for this.

I am normally not much of a pro DP person, but when else would you use it? When there's overwhelming evidence (audio and video), we know he did it, and the family wants it. Regardless of the jury's decision, I am heartbroken for her family, friends, the lawyers, and for every member of the jury and court staff. They are all going to be traumatized and may well need psychological treatment after the trauma this trial is exposing to them. Bless them.

 

[lonetraveler]

Her answers are so long winded.

Well, she is being paid per hour. I guess she's making money for as long as she talks, LOL.

 

[RaspberryMama]

I was thinking more along the lines of what his mother said

You didn’t do anything weird to that girl or whatever it was.

Like a hey from grandmother - you don’t know about this girl right? Kind of message

I’m probably wrong

In this case I don’t think so. The grandmother said she is pretty angry with TH and she expressed a lot of sadness and sympathy for Athena’s family. IMO she was sincerely asking him to keep an eye out for a missing little girl while he was in the area doing deliveries. It probably made her sick when she found out the truth.

 

[Walela]

I did not watch the grandmother's testimony. Did she go into any of TH's proclivities or oddities, or family history of proclivities or oddities that may have helped answer the question of what she meant by the remark "I know how you get" after she asked him about doing anything weird to Athena?

 

[BUF]

The prosecutor’s very short, very effective cross with the grandmother starts about 1:47 at the link if you missed it. I have been very impressed with him during this sentencing trial.

 

[gucci2times]

I did not watch the grandmother's testimony. Did she go into any of TH's proclivities or oddities, or family history of proclivities or oddities that may have helped answer the question of what she meant by the remark "I know how you get" after she asked him about doing anything weird to Athena?

I thought she was the most sympathetic witness. Genuinely made me feel bad for young Tanner. It sounds like she did her best to raise him right. I was surprised the prosecutor didn’t ask her to clarify that comment.

 

[mickey2942]

TH may have received SSDI benefits as a child, if his mother or father died, or were determined disabled, and he would have been eligible as a dependent. But would have had to qualify at age 18, when death or disability dependent benefits ended.

 

[gucci2times]

TH may have received SSDI benefits as a child, if his mother or father died, or were determined disabled, and he would have been eligible as a dependent. But would have had to qualify at age 18, when death or disability dependent benefits ended.

Correct

 

[RaspberryMama]

I did not watch the grandmother's testimony. Did she go into any of TH's proclivities or oddities, or family history of proclivities or oddities that may have helped answer the question of what she meant by the remark "I know how you get" after she asked him about doing anything weird to Athena?

Wasn’t it his mother, not his grandmother, that made the statement about “how you get”?