Murder-Suicide Inspires First-of-Its-Kind US Law

A first-of-its-kind US law allows authorities in Tennessee to track violent domestic offenders with GPS monitoring. The law that went into effect Monday stems from the 2021 murders of Marie Varsos and her mother Debbie Sisco. Varsos had been staying with Sisco near Nashville after her estranged husband, Shaun Varsos, was jailed for allegedly strangling his wife and threatening her with a gun. Released on bail, Shaun Varsos showed up at Sisco's home before killing the two women and himself. A judge had declined to make GPS tracking a condition of his bail, reports CBS News. The decision "infuriates me," Marie's brother and Debbie's son Alex Youn tells the outlet. "Two people that I love dearly were just quickly ripped out of my life."

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Youn went on to advocate for mandatory GPS tracking of aggravated assault offenders in domestic violence cases. Signed by Gov. Bill Lee in May, the Debbie and Marie Domestic Violence Protection Act gives courts the authority to require people arrested for stalking, assault, kidnapping, and rape to wear GPS tracking devices as a condition of bail and pay for the devices themselves, per WBIR and WSMV. It also requires that a victim receive an electronic notification when an offender violates an order of protection, say by leaving their home or coming within a certain distance of the victim, per CBS. And any offender who violates an order of protection will automatically be required to wear a tracking device, per WSMV.

The law gives victims "more tools," says Youn. In case of a breach, "they can position themselves in a safe place, lock themselves in a place where they have the opportunity to call 911 and to get help dispatched to them immediately," adds Ray Gandolf, director of business development for Tennessee AMS. Meanwhile, a monitoring center will alert law enforcement to any breach. The law "could potentially be the difference between life and death," reports CBS. "When there's firearms at play, when there's strangulation, when there's elevated stalking, [offenders] are more likely to do it again," Jennifer Waindle of the Battered Women's Justice Project tells the outlet. Youn says he hopes other states follow Tennessee's lead. (More Tennessee stories.)