OAN Staff Lillian Mann
4:40 PM – Thursday, May 14, 2026
According to the latest data released by the Cook County Chief Judge’s office, approximately 246 of the 3,048 criminal defendants currently enrolled in Chicago’s electronic monitoring program are considered missing or unaccounted for.
These individuals, who were released pretrial on the condition of wearing ankle monitors, have reportedly tampered with their devices, allowed their batteries to die, or otherwise remained out of contact with authorities for at least three hours.
The scale of the issue is particularly concerning given the nature of the charges involved. According to public tracking data, those currently in “AWOL” status include 21 individuals charged with murder, 13 with attempted murder, 103 facing sexual assault charges, and 173 charged with aggravated battery.
Nonetheless, Cook County Chief Judge Charles Beach confirmed to outlet WGN that law enforcement is actively working to locate and apprehend these missing defendants to ensure they are returned to custody.
“It doesn’t mean they’re out committing crimes necessarily,” Beach said. “Some might be. But they’re actively being searched for right now by law enforcement.”
Among the 246 individuals reported as unaccounted for is 26-year-old Alphanso Talley. Talley has been charged with the first-degree murder of Chicago Police Officer John Bartholomew and the attempted murder of a second officer during a shooting at Swedish Hospital in April 2026.
Prior to this incident, Talley had been released on electronic monitoring in December last year despite an extensive criminal history and strong objections from prosecutors.
At that time, Chief Judge Charles Beach defended the decision-making of the judiciary, including Judge John Lyke — who presided over Talley’s release — amid growing public and political criticism regarding pretrial protocols. However, records indicate that Talley’s monitoring device had been inactive for weeks leading up to the fatal encounter, highlighting significant systemic failures in the county’s ability to track high-risk defendants.
“I wouldn’t call it a mistake,” Beach said. “The judge made the best decision with what was in front of them at the time, right? Unfortunately, you know, we’ll go back to that concept: How do you predict what another human being is going to do? … The reality is that the electronic monitoring system will tell us if the person is wearing the band, where they’re at every minute of the day, every minute. So it’s a fair way of keeping track on someone until they cut the band, remove the band, mess with the band, and then you can’t,” he continued.
Unfortunately, Tally is not the only person accused of committing a disturbing crime while on the ankle monitor program. The challenges facing Chicago’s pretrial release system are further illustrated by the case of Lawrence Reed, a repeat offender accused of setting a woman on fire while aboard a city train in November 2025.
Despite an extensive criminal history including at least 13 arrests by the Chicago Police Department since 2017, Reed had been released on electronic monitoring just months earlier in August 2025 following an aggravated battery charge, a decision made over the explicit objections of prosecutors.
Additionally, authorities are still searching for Marlon Miller, who was charged with three felony counts of aggravated battery in a public place following a series of December 2025 attacks on women in downtown Chicago.
Miller notably carried out these assaults, allegedly, while already equipped with an ankle monitor from a previous case. Despite these incidents involving missing or non-compliant defendants, Beach argued that the transition to a cashless bail system has not compromised the safety of the county.
“When monetary bail existed, we had people who posted monetary bail who went out and committed atrocious offenses. It happened. It happened frequently. We no longer have monetary bail. We have other factors. Those things are still happening, right? That is the nature of a system that is designed with the presumption of innocence,” Beach said.
However, Cook County State Attorney Eileen O’Neill Burke argued that the data “clearly demonstrates how current safeguards are falling short, particularly when [electronic monitoring] is available to those charged with the most threatening and heinous crimes.”
“We should all be deeply concerned that hundreds of defendants placed on EM are unaccounted for,” she declared. “This creates the potential for more violence, more victims, more fear and heartache in our community. “
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