In New Jersey, a young mother has accused her landlord of stripping her apartment bare and throwing her father’s ashes in the bin.
In a TikTok video, Kayla Lacara, 22, explained how she had returned from holiday to find that all her furniture and belongings had been removed all the way down to the food in the fridge.
When Lacara headed to the dumpster to see if she could find any of her stuff, she saw her daughter’s high chair damaged and sitting in the trash. It was when she looked further that she saw something truly shocking.
“I went dumpster diving, and I found my dad’s urn, with all of my dad’s ashes all over the floor, sticking to the bottom of the dumpster,” Lacara revealed in the video.
Lacara’s dad sadly passed away in December at the age of just 50 years old, and the landlord had opted to leave behind the prayer card bearing his photograph.
Last year, Lacara moved into the apartment along with her boyfriend and their one-year-old daughter. The couple saw a Facebook advertisement for a short-term six-month lease, which suited the young family well, and had paid the rent right up until the end of March.
However, the couple had no idea that the landlord had been allegedly sub-letting the apartment without the owner knowing. The sub-letter lived in the apartment herself for a decade and had allegedly bought a house and was attempting to get out of the lease early and get her security deposit back.
On February 22, Lacara’s family took a short break to Mexico, posting about their holiday on Instagram.
After the landlord saw her post, Lacara claimed she sent her a text informing her that she had to be out of the apartment by that very weekend, allegedly threatening that she would leave all her possessions outside.
Lacara reported the alleged threats to Brick Police Department and she was reassured that what the landlord was suggesting was illegal.
However, when Lacara returned home, the apartment had been completely emptied, with the landlord having allegedly thrown out ‘literally anything you could think of’, including her baby’s crib and toys.
Lacara set up a GoFundMe page — which has raised more than $3,000 at the time of writing.
“Every room is wiped out clean they even took the handles off every doorknob (when I tell you everything is gone it looks like it’s a brand new apartment ready to be moved into),” she said.
“ON TOP of my entire apartment being robbed, this lady took my father’s ashes who just passed away December 10th of 2020, and poured them into a trash bin outside of our apartment complex.”
“I’m 22 years old and this woman took my entire life from me,” she said. “The law is doing its best to give me the justice we deserve but we’re starting from the bottom, and it can take months or maybe even longer to recover our items.”
TooFab reported that the building owner is reportedly now seeking an eviction notice, and will be renting out the apartment to a new tenant next month. The young mom and her family are still living in the empty apartment for now, and have nowhere else to go.
Lacara believes the landlord could get charged for burglary and made to pay restitution under a court-ordered. However, under New Jersey law, this is reportedly considered nearly impossible for the victim to collect.