ESPN Investigates

When David O’Boyle headed to the UCLA track in 2016, he didn’t have a plan; he just knew he had to confront Conrad Mainwaring. What he didn’t know was that his confrontation was one in a series of events that ultimately would bring Mainwaring to justice.

Tym De Santo was 17 when Conrad Mainwaring sexually abused him. But even 35 years later, he hadn’t processed it as he wrote a blog on his travels to England. And yet, unbelievably, that innocuous post would begin the unraveling Mainwaring’s secrets.

In 1980, Robert Bender became part of Conrad Mainwaring’s elite “Squad” while at Syracuse. He learned Mainwaring’s recruits had to follow important rules -- above all else, there could be no talking about the Squad to outsiders.

Our search for Conrad Mainwaring began with a single tip from a man named Andrew Zenoff regarding his brother Victor and the time they spent at a camp in the 1970s. We started with a question that seemed simple, but proved quite elusive: Who was Conrad?

This is the story of an obscure former Olympian and alleged serial sexual predator – and the 14-month ESPN investigation that brought him out the shadows.