Wise County residents gather, remember 7-year-old Athena Strand
WISE COUNTY (CBSDFW.COM) – As Wise County residents continue to mourn the death of 7-year-old Athena Strand, a prayer vigil was held at the county courthouse Monday night. Hundreds of people showed up dressed in pink, her favorite color.
"Athena was a free spirit," Paradise ISD Assistant Superintendent Robyn Gibson said. "She was a happy girl. She was very verbal, kind, loving."
Gibson said the bubbly 7-year-old touched so many lives, including hers.
Athena's classmates are now left hurting.
"Mainly a lot of questions and a lot of fear.. which is natural in this type of process," she said.
The prayer vigil was hosted by County Judge J.D. Clark.
"Our default setting as humans when it comes to kids should be to love them," he said. "There's a whole lot more of us in this world and in this town that have that default setting than there is anything else."
Authorities say 31-year-old Tanner Horner has confessed to killing Athena and he is now charged with capital murder and aggravated kidnapping.
Investigators say the FedEx driver was making a delivery last Wednesday when he spotted Athena and grabbed her. It's estimated she died about an hour later.
"She was a bright spot in our school and will be deeply missed," Gibson said. "It's a huge healing process for all of us."
They say through love and faith, they'll get through this together.
"It's not always what you say.. people remember that you were there," resident Mark Massey said. "Not what you said, but your presence there just to be with people."
Tomorrow night there will be another prayer vigil and service at First Baptist Church of Cottondale, starting at 6 p.m.
