Crystal Taylor, a working woman decided to go on a vacation. She likes to travel and has visited many places. This time she was going to Cabo. Everything was all planned. And finally came the day when she took her flight to Cabo. However, the much-awaited vacation turned into a nightmare when she received a call from her neighbor. While she was away in Cabo enjoying her vacation, her house had become a hub of strange activities. The neighbors had started to hear strange noises from her house. When Crystal came back to investigate, she could not believe her eyes.
Crystal was finally going on the trip she was waiting for so long. She had booked her ticket and was waiting for the day to arrive. The woman had a beautiful house but her passion for traveling would not let her stay over there for long. Once again she was headed to explore the unexplored. She was going to the Cabo.
Cabo San Lucas famously known as just Cabo is a resort city located at the southern point of the Baja California Peninsula in Baja California Sur, a Mexican state. The city holds a spot in top 5 Mexico's tourist destinations. Cabo's beaches, marine life, and scuba diving location attract a great number of tourists every month.
Finally, the day came. She bid adieu to her neighbors and made way to her destination. She would not have imagined in her wildest dream that she was about to get caught in a big problem. Before leaving for the vacation, she had done some renovations inside the house. The whole of the house was repainted. Not only that, she had even done some remodeling in her house.
The woman used to live alone in her big house at Oklahoma, U.S. Due to work, she did not get much time to spend with her neighbors either. However, she did have good terms with her neighbors. So, while leaving the house, she asked her neighbors to keep an eye on her house and that is how she left her house.
As previously mentioned, she had a lavish house at Broken Arrow. She had moved into the house a few years ago only. Even though the woman was all alone, she went on to buy the house as it came at an affordable rate. The house had a big backyard and a pool.
Her house was way different from all the houses around it. It was not only comparatively large but it also gave inexplicable vibes. The house stood out from the rest in terms of beauty, space and weirdness. The house soon was going to change her life upside down.
Not only that, but it also boasts of a spacious garage. She had thrown many pool parties in her house. However, all this while little did she know that her beautiful house was going to be the very reason for the biggest trouble of her life.
It was the summer of 2016 and she was flying to Cabo to enjoy the heat of the summer. She had been going on a vacation after a very long time. And that is why her holidays stretched up to 2 weeks. However, little did she know she would not be able to enjoy her holidays.
Crystal waved bye to all her neighbors and flew to Cabo with her friends. She had just started enjoying her holidays when she got a call from her neighbor. Well, that was strange as her neighbor had never called her before. There must be something very important otherwise who would waste money on making an international call.
Or maybe there was some bad news. No need to say she was surprised as well. Had her neighbor dialed her number accidentally? She picked up the call only to get the worst news of her life. Her neighbor had something to tell her about her house. Not everything was right over there.
Only a few days into the vacation, the woman had to head back to her house. She took the first flight available to fly back to her place. Clearly, the woman was devastated after receiving the news from her neighbors. Her heart was racing and little did she know that the matter was only going to get worse from that point on.
The woman reached her home in a matter of a few hours. The first person she met after coming back was her neighbor. She wanted to talk to her about what she had told her over the phone. If it was true than it was quite serious and disturbing. She needed to get to the bottom of it.
Her neighbor had informed her about some strange activities happening at her house. Yeah! this is exactly what her neighbor told her. No need to say, Crystal, was confused and frightened. Was there someone already in her house. But how could that be possible, she had double-checked the locks before leaving for the Cabo nor had she given the keys to anyone. The keys were with her safe and secure.
Moreover, when she reached her house, she saw that the water inside her pool had turned into a toxic green color. The condition of the pool was enough to tell the condition of the house. Had someone broken into her house? What if the person is dangerous. Lost in her thoughts she reached the main door.
It was at the time of unlocking the door she regretted not bringing anyone along. She really should have brought someone along. Maybe some anti-social elements had taken shelter in her house. But now there was no turning around now. She had never hoped for something like that.
Surprisingly, the door was locked. There was no trace of any forced entry. In fact, by the appearance, it seemed that the lock was not opened for once. If not from the main door then how did the intruder enter the house?
Scaringly, when the woman entered her house she realized that it had changed completely. The house looked dirty and destroyed. It seemed as if she had entered a stranger's house. The woman broke into tears as soon as she laid her eyes on the floors. Her beautiful cherry hardwood floors had been brutally ruined with scratches and scrapes.
The upstair carpet had stains of an unknown liquid on it. There were many big bloats on them. It looked nothing like her home. Not only that but the entire house was filled with an unbearable smell. It seemed as if the house had been used as a short-termed petting zoo. What had gone wrong with her house in the matter of a few days?
The woman had no courage to take another step further fearing what would she see next would blow her mind away. She covered her nose with her hand and moved ahead after mustering up all the courage she had. She could not hold back her tears after what she saw next.
After discovering stains, scratches, and suffocating scents, the woman found another awful detail. She stumbled upon the cigarette butts scattered all over the floors. Her house had been mistreated in the worst possible way. Anger took all over her when she looked at the walls of her living room.
Crystal's electronics were no more on the walls. They were not only unplugged but also had been ripped off the walls. She thought it to be the worst until she opened her refrigerator. It was indeed a nightmare. The woman yelled in fear when she saw what was inside the fridge.
She saw spots of mold all over the shelves and walls as if a plague had broken out inside her fridge. Cockroaches ran in and out of the electronic. “I never imagined a house looking like this,” said Crystal later on. “It’s sad.”
How did this all come there? This was unfathomable that her house which was cleaned and renovated a few days ago only now had turned filthy and bug-infested that too only in a matter of 10 days. Why would anyone do that? Had she given a spare key to someone? Well, as far as she could remember, she did not have any spare key, let alone giving it to someone else.
Crystal learned from her neighbor that they had spotted some people making their way towards her house at 3 a.m. in the morning. But instead of taking the entrance, the group paced towards the garage. They picked a crowbar from the garage and went to prying.
The group had between 6- 10 people in it. They got inside the house through the broken garage door with their luggage. They had brought a lot of luggage with them. Clearly, they had no intention of leaving the place anytime soon. What more, they quickly unloaded their mattresses after taking a quick trip around the house. The group had also brought five cats and a dog.
It sounds as if the group had come with the intention of staying put in the house for a very long time. Strangely, once the group went inside the house, they used to come out rarely. Moreover, they did not talk to the neighbors.
Well, when Crystal saw them, she could not hold her anger. She recalled, "It looked like I was in some homeless shelter with mattresses everywhere." This group of strangers had turned her house in a homeless shelter. It was appalling!
Crystal could not believe her eyes. They were behaving as if the house was their own. When Crystal asked them who are they and how did they get in, they did not answer but instead called her intruder. It was strange. The woman was being called intruder in her own house.
The group behaved as if Crystal's house was their own. They immediately made themselves at home. But what were they doing there? And why did they come inside the house in the absence of the house owner? And most importantly, if not Crystal than who gave them the permission to put up in her house. The case was only going to get more complicated.
The squatters did not only settle themselves comfortably inside the house but also threw a housewarming party. And it was because of the party that the pool turned into a toxic shade of green. The squatters even splurged thousands of dollars in damages.
Crystal had no idea what was going on behind her back in her own home. The woman after learning the strange happenings in her house informed the authorities about it. Well, it may look an easy case but that was not the truth. It was way more complicated then it looked. The Broken Arrow PD reached the spot soon after getting the call but that did not help.
Authorities did not have any trouble in finding out the identity of the unauthorized owners. One of them was Cherie Chewning. Cherie appeared to be as much surprised as Crystal was. At first, Cherie refused to believe Crystal but when the authorities got involved in the matter she had to listen to Crystal. The incident was mind baffling.
Cherie said, “I am innocent in this. I didn’t scam anyone.” Was she speaking the truth? But the situation was pointing towards her. In the beginning, authorities themselves had not expected this case to prolong. Now they needed to find out what Cherie was saying true or not?
Cherie and her crew were under the impression that they had rented the house legally. They had found the house on Craigslist where it was shown as an available rental property. This information was another blow to Crystal as she had never put up her house on any property selling site. Then Cherie dropped another bombshell.
Cherie had also signed a lease agreement and was given keys to the house. One point to note here is that the provided keys did not work when they tried to enter the house through the main door. Shouldn't they have taken action right then?
Authorities asked Cherie to show them papers. Perhaps, the documents would lead them to the culprit or maybe Cherie was making this whole thing up. Little did they know, the documents were only going to complicate the case.
Crystal and the authorities took a closer look when they got the document. As expected, Crystal's name was not mentioned anywhere on the document. The last name of the person who had rented the home was “Parker” not Taylor. The scammer even planned to collect a security deposit on this home.
The authorities had still doubts about Cherie. On being asked did they ever doubt about the house they were living in, Cherie replied, “It was the second or third day we noticed our keys didn’t turn,” she said. “I’m sorry I had nothing to do with it.”
Cherie told the authorities that she used to work at the local Dairy Queen but lost her job a few months ago. And from that time she had been living out of her car. The woman had no home but a car in which she used to store most of her things.
Dale Mankins, another unauthorized resident said, “I know it reeks.” “It looks bad on us, but with the lease, we got Shanghaied. [Crystal’s] being nice enough to let us get our stuff. We’ll go to another place.” Even after finding out the unauthorized owners, the case was not over.
Crystal still was infuriated at the audacity of people who rented her place. She requested the authorities to give serious punishment to the culprits. “It should be breaking and entering,” she remarked. “They broke into my home, they crawled underneath the garage, they have vandalized my home.”
While cleaning her house, Crystal found something extra-ordinary inside her garage. She found a box of papers that was not there before. It did not take her long to understand that this bundle of papers had something to do with the scam she recently had become a victim of.
A few days after the incident, Crystal claimed that she had discovered a box in the garage that was filled with fake leases. The paper was just like the ones Cherie’s crew had signed. So is it possible that they had faked the scam only to get to stay a few nights in a vacant house?
And then there were some, who suspected Crystal's intention. One of her neighbors commented, “[Crystal’s house] is in my neighborhood and has been empty for months.” Whereas the woman had claimed that she had been away for 10 days only.
So, had she planned it all? Was the Crystal herself responsible for the damages in her house? According to her neighbors, she had lied about her vacation period so it could also mean that she might be hiding more details from the authorities.
The authorities were clueless too. Not knowing what to do, they issued a trespassing warning to the residents. Whereas all Crystal got was a bill for massive repair and a house full of mess. The woman had repainted the house a month ago only.
Crystal explained, “It’s all dirty.” “It just feels dirty.” This is the last thing you want to see after coming back from a long trip. You want to relax at your home but all Crystal got was a dirty and damaged home.
So, what do you think who is the real culprit? Is it Crystal or the bunch of uninvited tenants staying in her house? Or maybe there is one more dimension to this scam that we don't know of. Maybe the entire scam was done by a stranger. The truth is still under the wraps.
Many cases related to house scams have come to the fore in the past few years. Scaringly, instead of coming down, the number of scams have only increased manifold. We really hope that the authorities manage to find the person responsible for the scam.
Did you like this story? What did you think in the beginning what could it be? A ghost or maybe a thief? People want a relaxing and peaceful environment at home after coming back from vacation but Crystal got exactly opposite of that. the culprit is still not found but we are hopeful that this case will surely get solved one day.