Episode 186: David Renz

In January 2013, David Renz was just another name on a federal docket, facing disturbing charges for the possession of child pornography. He was fitted with an electronic monitoring bracelet and sent home to Cicero, New York, to await trial under the "watchful eye" of the U.S. Probation Office. He was supposed to be a man trapped within four walls. But behind the scenes, a catastrophic series of systemic failures was unfolding. This week, we dive into one of Central New York’s most harrowing cases of "what if." We explore how 46 separate tampering alerts went ignored by the authorities tasked with public safety, and how a faulty ankle monitor gave a predator the freedom to hunt. On a cold March night at a local shopping mall, the system’s negligence collided with the lives of Lori Bresnahan and her 10-year-old daughter. We break down the timeline of the carjacking that stunned a community, the heroic final stand of a mother fighting for her child, and the massive federal overhaul that followed in the wake of an unthinkable tragedy.