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Woman finds people living in her apartment

Thursday, July 16, 2009

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Matt Franklin
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GRAND BLANC TOWNSHIP (WJRT) -- (07/16/09)--A Grand Blanc Township woman returned home from an out-of-town trip to find some unexpected visitors.

She says at first she thought she was being robbed, only to find out a couple had been living her apartment for three days.

It's something very unusual that no one would expect to happen.

Nancy Norris was gone for about a week. She was out west for her late sister's memorial, and returned home to plan a funeral service in Michigan.

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But when she got home and got out of the car, she looked up at her second-floor apartment and noticed something wasn't right.

"At first I thought maybe I had left light on, but then I saw the bedroom light was on, and I saw someone moving around in my bedroom," she said.

Norris initially thought burglars were cleaning out her apartment at Fox Hill Glens in Grand Blanc Township before her very eyes.

She called 911 and police questioned the couple inside.

"'These people say it's their apartment. Are you sure that it's your apartment?' Norris recalled of the police response. "And I said, 'I've lived here for almost seven years.'"

Norris was told the two had been living in her home for three days, staying in what they thought was a temporary furnished apartment at the complex.

"Then the officer went back upstairs, and he brings a lease down to me, and he says, 'Look at it. They have a lease for your apartment.'

It was the right apartment number, but the wrong building.

So with all of the family photos, a fully stocked kitchen, and a closet full of clothes, did the visiting apartment dwellers notice anything strange?

"They said, 'Well, we did think it was a little unusual.' And the police said, 'You didn't make a call to the office to check?' They said, 'No,'" Norris said.

But how did they couple get inside? Norris says it was a key given to the two by Fox Hill Glens.

"When they came over they got in the outside door, and when they put their key in my apartment door, it opened the door," she said.

And Norris says the couple used that same key to get into the correct apartment. The complex put new locks on her door.

"'If you want to charge somebody for doing something, it's the couple in your apartment you should talk to,'" Norris said regarding the complex's response.

But despite just signing a new lease, Norris says she hasn't stayed in her apartment since the incident, saying the incident shattered her sense of security.

"These were not guests; these were strangers invading my privacy," she said.

We did get a statement from Craig McAra, the lawyer for Eldon Auker Associates, which manages Fox Hill Glens.

He says the company is always committed to the safety and well-being of its tenants.

They are investigating the matter, but can't comment due to potential legal issues involving the case.

Norris has retained an attorney, and says she's considering taking legal action.