During opening statements, Wise County District Attorney James Stainton told the court the photograph showed Athena was “very much alive and very much uninjured” when she was placed in the truck.

Stainton alleged the first words Horner spoke to her were: “Don’t scream or I’ll hurt you,” repeated twice.

James Stainton told jurors they would be shown footage from inside the van and would also hear audio recorded after the camera had been deliberately covered. Stainton said: “You are going to hear what a 250-pound man can do to a 67-pound child. And when I say it’s horrible, I mean it.”

He continued: “You can’t unhear” the audio, calling it evidence of “the level of cold-heartedness that you’re going to see.”

He added that Athena fought back, leaving Horner’s DNA under her fingernails and “in places where you shouldn’t find DNA on a 7-year-old girl.”