I reported on this case in April of last year. Renz, who was born with a severe facial deformity, had grown up in the church.
Renz was born missing the lower half of his left jaw and part of his cheekbone.
From infancy, fixing Renz’s face was the center of his life and his family’s. A family friend who attended the Worldwide Church of God said he remembers Renz’s parents coming to church when Renz was just a baby.At 8, he was a computer whiz, Kyser said, and had four computers of his own. But he lived in a cluttered trailer in Cicero that looked like something out of the TV show “Hoarders,” she said. And his parents’ religion kept Renz from celebrating Christmas and birthdays, she said.
Their church, Worldwide Church of God, is a fundamentalist Christian group that doesn't celebrate Christmas and celebrates the Sabbath on Saturday instead of Sunday.
He apparently had a miserable life growing up:
In the legal brief, Renz's attorney writes that his "life has been plagued by physical pain and deformities that are unimaginable to the average person." Renz was born without most of his lower jaw. "As a new-born he had serious breathing and feeding problems that necessitated the insertion of tracheotomy and feeding tubes. The severities of his feeding problems were readily apparent as David was below the fifth percentile for height and weight in his first year of life," the paperwork indicates.
"David suffered from pain from his jaw for many years. In order to widen his jaw, he was required to do painful physical therapy exercises for his jaw 2-3 times per week. David's mother performed the physical therapy until he was old enough to do it himself. She describes the pain David suffered as "excruciating." There were other physical issues that manifested themselves throughout the years as a result of David's condition. He had significant bilateral hearing loss since the age of two that still requires him to wear hearing aids," according to the court filing.
Renz's mother says his facial deformity caused people to stare at him all the time. When her son was 6 or 7 years old, Kathy Renz recalls having a meal at a Wendy's restaurant: "Dave had problems chewing food and would "suck it in," making noises. A man and his two children approached the table where Kathy and David were sitting and told Kathy "don't bring that kid out in public if he can't eat like a human being." Kathy tried to explain that David was disabled. However, the man continued to loudly rant on about how David should not be brought out in public places," the court papers say.
Renz's legal team says he endured bullying and social isolation throughout his life and was often the target of bullies and was shunned by many other students. "He was always the last one to be picked for anything at school, whether that be for gym teams or for a partner for a school assignment," the court papers reveal. CNYCentral
His crime:
An Upstate New York man who admitted to raping a 10-year-old girl before murdering her mother has been sentenced to 30 years in prison after pleading guilty to possessing more than 11,000 images of child pornography, as well as roughly 1,100 videos in a case unrelated to the murders.
Federal sentencing guidelines recommend that 30-year-old David Renz be sentenced to 19 to 24 years in prison for the child pornography convictions. However, U.S. District Judge Norman Mordue went beyond the recommendation by imposing the 30-year sentence for crimes prosecutors described as 'pure evil.'
The murder of Lori Breshnahan - and the rape of her young daughter - occurred while Renz was awaiting trial for the child pornography charges, and was confined to his home and required to wear a monitoring device.
On March 14, 2013 - just six weeks after he'd been arrested for possessing child pornography - Renz removed his required electronic monitoring device and drove to the Great Northern Mann in Clay, New York, a suburb of Syracuse.
Once at the mall, Renz parked his car and walked around the parking lot, where he found Breshnahan - a school librarian - and her daughter getting into their vehicle.
Renz then forced his way into Breshahan's car using an air pistol he claimed was a real gun and forced her to drive to a remote area of the mall's parking lot where he bound both of his victims and - using a knife to cut a hole in her clothes - raped the young girl.
Prosecutors say Renz was trying to use cable ties to bind the woman to a headrest in her car when she fought back and shouted for the girl to bolt from the vehicle.
As the girl ran off and was rescued by a passing motorist, her mother was strangled and repeatedly stabbed in the head and chest, officials said. Renz was captured by police shortly after.
Daily Mail UK
It would be interesting to know how much of that bullying was from COG members and their kids.
ReplyDeleteDibar Apartian's son shot himself in the head after years of bullying by Imperial students. Yep, those good fine church folk who practiced the love of first century Christianity.
If he had been a member of the United Church of God, UCG ministers might have shown up in court in his defense!
ReplyDeleteWhat a creep!
ReplyDeleteAnd he did not even garner the DEATH PENALTY and has the possibility of being released someday?
What is wrong with the legal system, and did the PCG ever issue a statement on this?
Do you really expect the PCG to say anything? They will cover this up just like the other pedophiles in the organization.
ReplyDeleteQUIZ: Which splinter group leader has a married adult son who has been caught in inappropriate sexual situations with underage girls, yet remains a member in good standing? It's too bad for Renz that he wasn't a minister's son.
ReplyDeleteReality is, in spite of personal tragedy, people are responsible for their behavior! It's difficult to know how the quality of his life might have changed if he had had a more nurturing and mentoring support group, but nobody gets a pass for the type of vile, criminal behavior he exhibited. That is so far out of bounds, that it's unbelievable!
ReplyDeleteBB
I feel sorry for the guy and all that he must have gone through, but it can't be used to justify or excuse his crimes. He claims that he doesn't know why he committed those crimes, which don't get much worse. If that's really true, it just makes him seem more dangerous, more likely to offend again, not less. And however bad he might have thought his life was before, this certainly can't be said to be a step toward improving it. Now it's fubar. And if you ask me, Murder1 should be the death penalty. But since he sexually assaulted a child, prison may be the same thing.
ReplyDeleteLet me guess, it's UCG. They already had issues with a pedophile in West Virginia that they covered up as well as the husband and wife pedophiles in the Pacific Northwest.
ReplyDeleteThere were pedofiles in the Kansas City East Church area in the 1980s...
ReplyDeleteThe local leadership was made aware of it and protected the abuser... disfellowshipping the families of the children that tried to come forward.
I find myself having strong emotions about this.
ReplyDeleteThere's the bullying,,,
So extremely sad, and can elicit explosive reactions.
But also, in our so-called civilized society, murder and rape CANNOT be condoned or accepted.
Yes, it's hard enough looking normal and being a part of one of those WWCOG'S.
ReplyDeleteI guarantee you, that woman never got encouragement or help from the ministers. Brian Davis, a minister in the PCG that my son and I were a part of, had it in fr me from the beginning. He slandered and accused me so much to other ministers and church members that I never felt good around others. Brian Davis had told me to leave my husband back in 2004. I did. This caused the PCG to have to put out thousands to defend their doctrines and pay for my defense. In the end, it was all about the Philadelphia Church of God. I was told to sign off and agree to pay my ex husband child support. I told them no at first. Then I was threatened with disfellowship if I didn't sign the papers. I then did. Six months after the divorce was final, my ex husband dropped our then nine year old son off at my house and went to live with his mother. All he wanted was to not have to pay child support. I've been without child support all this time. He is almost sixteen now.
None of those PCG ministers were on my side. In the end Brian Davis was continually harassing me until I was disfellowshipped for the second time in February, 2012 by him.
I knew another lady Mary Joe that was single and was raising two daughters. She was always being mistreated, disfellowshipping, etc. What they want is to discourage people who don't give them lots of money. The PCG does not care about orphans and widows, as should be very clear by now.
HAPPY TO BE GONE!
"Old EXPCG hag",
ReplyDeleteTheir egregious actions were the impetus for you leaving their fold.
At least, you can consider yourself fortunate that they gave you reason to leave.
I believe your anger toward them is justified. Heck, if they booted you that's just icing on the cake.
I once knew a young man who, when after becoming angry enough to beat the crap out of bullies and leaving them semiconscious and lying in a pool of blood, he would subject them to the additional indignity of whipping out his mule and urinating upon them in front of all of the witnesses to the fight. To say the least, that was simply uncool.
ReplyDeleteSome receive help and/or transition out of this type of behavior. I don't know why some do, while others don't, but it seems obvious that an environment in which one is simply ordered to obey or go to the Lake of Fire does not sufficiently address or treat the roots of aberrant pathologic behavior. Since Armstrongism was involved, we would normally assume that outside counseling, or "the world's" psycho-therapy would have been denied to young Renz. These still may not have made a difference, but the tragedy is that all avenues were not at least explored. Now, a woman is dead, and her daughter was severely traumatized. Armstrongism bears a certain percentage of responsibility for this.
BB
Gary, what value is there in re-publishing hideous accounts that may or may not have any connection to the COGs? This account basically appears to be sickening voyeurism.
ReplyDelete7:25, before going down to your local Guitar Center and picking up a Fender P-Bass and amp so that you can audition for the Mr. E.W. King Experience, you may want to remember that Armstrongism was always a very powerful modifier in every life it ever touched. If the Renz family had only attended for one year, there would have been profound damage which would have required years to correct. Or, are you trying to make a point that it "worked" or actually helped David, and people with similar problems?
ReplyDeleteBB
Well, considering the way he was treated, it's not surprising he did something to rebel. The haters on here should keep that in mind.
ReplyDelete
ReplyDelete"Brian Davis had told me to leave my husband back in 2004. I did."
Gerald Flurry's PCG is the worst splinter group out there for breaking up marriages, families, and all other normal and good relationships.
At the same time, Gerald Flurry's PCG is also the worst splinter group out there for trying to force unnatural and evil relationships on people, such as trying to pair up younger single members with totally fucked up old sex perverts of the worst sort.
Jesus did say to beware of false prophets and that you would know them by their fruits. That is why the PCG always does the exact diametrical opposite of everything that is right and good.
"I once knew a young man who, when after becoming angry enough to beat the crap out of bullies and leaving them semiconscious and lying in a pool of blood, he would subject them to the additional indignity of whipping out his mule and urinating upon them in front of all of the witnesses to the fight. To say the least, that was simply uncool."
ReplyDeleteIn Bible terms, it seems that would be "uncool" because that was not enough- it hardly measured up OT (or even some NT) standards of retribution!
Damn, I've heard of the "jaws of life", but this dude seems to be against all of the above.
ReplyDeleteThe doctrine changes in Renz ' s congregation began happening before he was 10 years old. I highly doubt any of his adult actions had anything to do with his early childhood in WCG. Furthermore, bullying happens almost everywhere, unfortunately. However, I rarely remember it happening in Renz ' s congregation. Especially because he was having surgeries so often in his early childhood.
ReplyDeleteThere are dangerous people in all churches all over the world, whether they are Sabbatarisms or Sunday keeping groups. I was four years old when we left the world wide church of God. Since then we have attended Licong, United, and Cogwa. A man who attended our United group was a pedophile, and my dad let the minister know that. As soon as he found out, he disfellowshipped him from the group. I married a man "not in the church". His aunt was married to one of the priests of a large (Sunday going) church. It turned out he was a pedophile, and had been abusing young boys for years. When she told the church's administration they kicked HER out. My point is, it's not the church's fault when one of their members is "evil". I was friends with both James Gregoey and Bart Oliver, both of the teens killed in the Wisconsin shooting. Their funeral was swarming with news reporters and cameras, we could barely get in. At fourteen, it still enraged me at all the ridiculous things they were saying about the church. I don't know why you are targeting the WWCOG " splinter groups" I never minded in my whole childhood not celebrating Christmas..for one, it's a pagan holiday..Christ was born in the Fall. Plus, there's no rule against celebrating Birthdays. That's all I have for now.
ReplyDelete