A sea of pink surrounded the Wise County Courthouse Monday night as community members gathered to honor Athena Strand, the 7-year-old girl who was allegedly abducted and slain near her home in Cottondale last week.
On Monday, people across the state and beyond wore Athena’s favorite color, pink, to display solidarity and support for the girl and her family.
More than 100 people in those pink shirts, some printed with the message #athenastrong, stood outside the courthouse steps as Wise County Judge J.D. Clark looked out at the crowd and expressed the emotions he has grappled with as the search for the missing child transitioned into a murder investigation.
“I feel shocked, I feel angry, I feel disgusted, I feel scared, but more than anything else, what I have felt more of is that I wanted to go home and hug my kids,” Clark said. “To me, that reminds me and shows me that all of those things I’m feeling and I know you’re feeling, that I feel love more.”
Athena was reported missing from her home in the 200 block of County Road 3573 around 6:40 p.m. Nov. 30. After an extensive search, her body was located about six miles from the Cottondale community where she was last seen.
FedEx contract delivery driver Tanner Lynn Horner, 31, who lives near Lake Worth, was arrested and charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping in the case, Wise County Sheriff Lane Akin announced Friday. Horner is being held in the Wise County Jail with bond set at $1.5 million, according to jail records.
As Clark addressed the crowd, he urged the community to remain strong and together.
“As a community, we have to focus on that love. I didn’t know Athena, but I love her. You don’t know my girls, but I hope you love them,” Clark said. “Our default setting as humans, when it comes to kids, should be to love them. There’s a whole lot more of us in this world and town that have that default setting, and we’re going to stick together. We’re going to show people who feel otherwise, people who are evil — not in our county and not our kids.”
Counselors were at Athena’s school Monday, with extra counselors available at the elementary and intermediate campus, Paradise ISD Superintendent Rod Townsend said in a statement Sunday. He said the counselors will be available as long as they’re needed.
“This world will forever be different because she wasn’t allowed to grow and develop into the precious young lady she was meant to be,” Townsend said. “As we mourn Athena’s death please join me in praying for her, her family, the Paradise ISD family and the entire Paradise community.”
Clark offered his own prayer over the heartbroken crowd, pleading for justice and strength.
“We pray for you to wrap up and bless and love little Athena, who should still be walking in Wise County tonight. We ask that you give her family the strength and support and love they’re going to need to get through these dark times,” Clark said. “God, we pray that you give us as a community the strength and reminder that we have to continue to be there for that family…
“I ask that you bless Athena’s friends and classmates who had a difficult day back at school today,” Clark continued. “I pray that you grant all of us, the parents and grandparents, the strength to explain all of this to our kids… I ask you to bless the law enforcement, who have to keep showing up and taking those tough calls, even when they don’t work out like they hope. God, I ask you to bless our district attorney’s office and county judicial system to properly carry out justice and stand strong for our children and our victims of crime and violence. God, I ask that you bless this Wise County community as a whole, the students in Bridgeport, Chico, Paradise and Alvord. There are a lot of people hurting for a lot of reasons. We lack understanding, but we have faith. Focus on the love; focus on the hope. Give us strength. Help us to remember that we can’t let the dark win. We have to be the light in this community.”
There will be a candlelight memorial service for Athena 6 p.m. Tuesday at First Baptist Church Cottondale.
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