A Canadian couple returned home to a nightmarish scene, their house trashed and destroyed in what police can only explain as the result of a “drug-induced orgy.”
Mark and Star King returned home to Calgary, Canada, in the residential area of Sage Hill to find their beloved house in a state of disrepair, littered with broken furniture, shattered glass and used condoms, among other garbage, reports the
Calgary Herald.
After renting out their two-story house through the popular accommodation website AirBnb, the couple left their keys and home entrusted to their new houseguests, who they believed to be four adults in town for a family wedding. Little did they know their guests brought company — “a party bus and upwards of one hundred people,” neighbors reported.
The Kings received concerned texts and calls from neighbors regarding their new houseguests when the party bus appeared in their driveway. Meanwhile, police received several different noise complaints over the weekend and finally shut down the party when a fight broke out on the front lawn.
Mark King told the Calgary Herald of his initial reaction upon seeing the wreckage:
“For me, my first feeling was shock. I couldn’t process it. This is our home, this is our sanctuary. We’ve got a five year old and a one year old, and the sense of violation … the lie that was told and the trust that I had in somebody, and then this happens.”
When the Kings arrived at their house, police were already at the scene. Although the couple were the legal owners of the property, they were unable to enter their home under the Airbnb agreement that deemed the renters as legal tenants during their stay. This meant that their houseguests’ privacy was protected under the Residential Tenancies Act, and Mark recalls having to plead with them before “they finally called taxi cabs and slowly evacuated.”
When the couple entered their house for the first time since they left it, they were “almost knocked over by the fumes.”
Constable Attila Horvath, the lead investigator, said the King house was soiled with bodily fluids, including urine, vomit and semen. Standing in their now unrecognizable home, the Kings could smell the stench of liquor and marijuana, which were among the apparent substances used throughout the three-day party. One of the girls in the home also told Star King that the partiers had been taking ecstasy as well.
Constable Attila Horvath said of the scene:
“In my nine years of policing, I have never seen anything like it.”
Police estimated the home’s repairs to cost upwards of $50,000-75,000 and told the couple that the hazardous materials crew would have to enter the home before cleanup could begin.
An Airbnb spokesman has released a statement regarding the incident saying that the company has reimbursed the Kings for the damages through their $1 million host insurance guarantee.
Jacob Kerr, an Airbnb spokesman, said:
“We have zero tolerance for this kind of behaviour and our team is working quickly to make this right.
“We have banned this guest from Airbnb, and our trust and safety team will offer its full assistance to law enforcement in any investigation of this incident. We have been in very close contact with these hosts and we are working quickly to reimburse them under our $1 million host guarantee, which covers a host’s property in the rare event of damages. Over 35 million guests have stayed on Airbnb, and property damage is extremely rare.”
The culprits held responsible may be fined over $5,000 for mischief to property. Even with the guarantee of payment for the damages, the Kings have been left distraught and traumatized by what used to be their home, now buried under piles of rubbish and rotten food.
Mark King said:
“The drugs, the sex … everything imaginable that would violate a home has happened here. We don’t want to touch anything. We don’t want to sleep in these beds again. We can’t walk on these carpets in bare feet ever again.”
