The man accused of raping a 10-year-old girl, then stabbing her mother to death, received a jailhouse beatdown according to his attorneys, James Greenwald and Kenneth Moynihan. While they say 29-year-old David J. Renz was assaulted by other inmates while at the Onondaga County Justice Center, where he was taken after his arrest, some sources say Renz received his injuries as a result of a fight. Either way, he has chosen not to press charges against those involved.
Sheriff Kevin Walsh told The Post-Standard he was investigating why Renz was put into a holding cell with other prisoners as that was not the normal procedure for people facing the same accusations as Renz (1st degree rape, 1st degree kidnapping, 1st & 2nd degree murder). He indicated Renz is now being held apart from other prisoners and is being watched 24 hours a day.
Renz was arraigned Friday morning at a court in East Syracuse on charges he abducted a mother and her daughter as they left a gymnastics class in Clay, a suburb of the city.
Renz raped the 10-year-old girl in a deserted area near the mall where he kidnapped her and her mother. He then drove the 47-year-old mother and the girl to Verplank Road where he stabbed the woman to death. Renz used the woman’s car to transport them to that area. The girl escaped and was found by a passing motorist, who dialed 911. Renz fled into some nearby woods.
At the time of the attack, Renz was awaiting trial on federal child pornography charges. He had 100 gigabytes worth of child porn on an encrypted hard drive that contained more than 500 videos and over 3,000 images.
Renz was supposed to be wearing an electronic monitoring bracelet to track his whereabouts, but authorities believe he cut off the device before the attacks. Why the alarm system failed to alert authorities the device was being tampered with remains a mystery.
The mother was a library media specialist in the Liverpool School District. A children’s book drive is being held in her honor and a scholarship is being established in her name.
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