Talking Dateline: Unmasking the Monster

October 7, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

In 1989, a young businesswoman named Dana Beatty was brutally attacked inside her own home. The assault lasted five hours, and she survived by making a conscious decision: she would remember every detail—the smell, the fabric, the clothing, the sequence of thoughts—so that she could help find her attacker. But the case went cold. More than three decades later, her daughter Andra, who hadn't even been born when the crime occurred, set out to solve it. The result was a conviction, but not for the rape itself. That distinction—and the legal barriers that created it—became the central tension of the story.

The attack and its aftermath

Dana Beatty was a rising star at IBM in 1989: young, single, vibrant, and deeply involved in her community. She was also close friends with a couple, and would often visit their home. The husband, Fred Tanzer, resented her vivaciousness, Dana later came to believe. One night, he broke into her apartment and subjected her to what she and her husband would later describe not as a rape but as torture. She survived, but the life she had before was gone.

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What you'll learn

1 (01:14) **Episode Introduction and the Mother-Daughter Bond** - Andrea Canning introduces the episode "Unmasking the Monster," about Dana Beatty's 1989 attack and her daughter Andra's 30-year-later quest for justice.
2 (04:33) **Dana’s Attack: A Woman’s Worst Nightmare** - Blaine describes the brutal, five-hour assault and Dana's remarkable memory of every detail.
3 (08:00) **The Attacker in the Circle** - The conversation shifts to the shocking realization that Dana knew her attacker, Fred Tanzer, who was her best friend's husband.
4 (08:59) **The Interview with Fred Tanzer** - Blaine recounts her tense, 25-minute interview with Tanzer, which ended when he walked out.
5 (10:58) **Generational Trauma: Dana’s Perspective** - The episode plays a clip of Dana discussing how the attack made her overprotective of Andra.
6 (13:19) **Family Members Can Make a Difference** - Andrea emphasizes that Andra’s persistence proves families can reignite cold cases.
7 (14:51) **The Roadblocks and the Hail Mary** - Blaine details the legal challenges, including the expired statute of limitations, and the creative sting operation that caught Tanzer.

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Show Notes

Andrea Canning sits down with Blayne Alexander to talk about her episode “ Unmasking the Monster." In 1989, Dana Beatty, a successful young businesswoman, was sexually assaulted in her Cincinnati home by an unknown masked man. Even with several leads, investigators could not find the man responsible for the violent crime. Decades later, Dana’s daughter, Andra Beatty, reignited the investigation in the hope of getting justice for her mother. With advances in DNA technology, investigators had evidence from the scene retested and, through forensic genetic genealogy, learned that Dana’s attacker was someone she knew. Blayne and Andrea discuss the impact violent crimes have on families and dive into laws surrounding sexual assault and statutes of limitations. Blayne also shares an extra clip from her interviews with Dana and Andra about generational trauma and how it affected Andra growing up. Plus, Blayne and producer Brenda Breslauer answer your questions from social media.

If you or someone you know has been sexually assaulted, call the National Sexual Assault Hotline at 1-800-656-4673 or go to rainn.org.

Find out if there’s a statute of limitations on sexual assault in your state: https://www.nbcnews.com/data-graphics/statutes-limitations-rape-sexual-assault-rcna601009

Listen to the full episode of “Unmasking the Monster”: https://swap.fm/l/dl_unmaskingthemonster

Listen to Andrea’s episode, “Evil Paid a Visit,” about Donna Palomba’s decades-long fight for justice after being raped in her own home by a family friend: https://swap.fm/l/dl_evilpaidavisit

Have a question for Talking Dateline? Send us a DM @DatelineNBC or leave a voicemail at (212) 413-5252. Your question could be featured in an upcoming episode.

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