Syracuse (WSYR-TV) – Court documents are providing more information about the man who police say kidnapped and murdered a school librarian.
29-year-old David Renz was supposed to be wearing a secure GPS monitoring bracelet on his ankle, because he's also facing federal child pornography charges.
Renz was able to trick the system and get the bracelet off without probation officers knowing.
At 7:08 Thursday night, Renz took off his GPS ankle bracelet, interrupting the fiber optic circuit, which sent an alert to a Colorado company that was keeping tabs. But less than a minute later, that circuit, was restored.
Chief probation officer Matthew Brown told NewsChannel 9 that Renz took it apart and put it back together so quickly that local probation officers never got the tamper alert.
That's standard procedure because the device is so sensitive that the circuit is often interrupted. It can happen by accidentally bumping the bracelet against a wall, and over the years Brown said probation officers have been overwhelmed with false alarms.
But this time, the suspect was able to get free. With the bracelet off his body, police say Renz headed toward Great Northern Mall where he kidnapped Lori Bresnahan and a 10-year-old girl who were leaving gymnastics class.
Renz is accused of rape, kidnapping and murder. Police say Bresnahan was stabbed to death.
Brown says they will review the probation process and "whether the equipment is the right equipment to use in cases like this.”
They'll also look into whether there were past alerts for Renz and whether he tampered with the unit before.
Renz was released on probation in January and officials say they knew he was tech-savvy.
Federal court papers show Renz had to give police an encrypted code in order for them to gain access to the child pornography he stored. Unlocking it revealed 500 video files and thousands of images of child pornography.
At his detention hearing in January, he was given a tongue lashing by the judge to obey the strict conditions of his release.
Federal Magistrate Judge Andrew Baxter told Renz said at the hearing, “I am going to tolerate no departures from those conditions, because the court, frankly, has concerns about your release."
The judge went on to say Renz was not allowed to have unsupervised contact with minors, would likely have to stop working at Wegmans, and was not allowed to access any computer unless it has special monitoring software on it.
Judge Baxter told Renz, "I understand you know computers and there may be ways around some of these things, but trust me, you know, if we have any whiff of the fact that you're trying to defeat the monitoring software or using a computer elsewhere or doing anything to circumvent the monitoring, then you're going to have a problem with me."
The judge also told Renz he'd land back in jail if he violated his probation and asked Renz's parent to make sure he followed the rules.
Renz is currently being held at the Onondaga County Justice Center.
