NASHVILLE, Tenn. (WKRN) – A woman’s home was broken into while she and her sons were sleeping. Conese Halliburton said the suspect was an Airbnb guest visiting from out of town.
Halliburton has lived in the 12South neighborhood for nearly 30 years. She said it used to be a bad area, but her home had never been broken into until last weekend.
She said a guest from one of the Airbnbs on her street, Ashwood Avenue, walked to her house and broke down the front door.
“It’s like ‘Boom! Boom! Boom beating at the door,” Halliburton told News 2. “You heard the big boom and that was my door getting kicked in. My sons were trying to stop him and he’s like, ‘this is my m*****f*****n house, this is my house!’ He kept repeating it.”
Some of the incidents were captured on her neighbor’s surveillance cameras.
The video shows a man getting out of a car in front of one of the short-term rental properties at 2:30 a.m. on July 9. You can see the man walking away from the homes at 1212 and 1210 Ashwood Avenue and toward Halliburton’s house.
Halliburton said when the suspect entered her house, he wouldn’t leave. Finally, her son threatened the man.
“My oldest son said, ‘I will kill you if you don’t get out of my house,'” Halliburton told News 2.
She said the man finally left and what he said next is also captured on video. He threatened to break every bone in her neck and then, called her the n-word.
Halliburton called police and said Metro responded quickly. However, officers couldn’t find the suspect.
“I was adamant with the police officers. I said, ‘I know they’re in that Airbnb because you cannot disappear that fast in the dark with all these cars coming.'”
The next day, Halliburton confronted the Airbnb guests with her neighbor. The confrontation is also captured on surveillance video. A man in the group can be heard apologizing for breaking into her house.
After the exchange, Halliburton called police again to report the suspect. Officers arrived two hours later.
Metro police said they prioritize 911 calls by severity. She said by the time police arrived, the men were gone.
“It’s traumatizing. I’m working on no sleep at all. I’m out here having nightmares,” Halliburton told News 2. “My kids are having nightmares. They’re staying up all night because he’s still out there.”
Halliburton said there are ongoing issues at 1212 and 1210 Ashwood Avenue. She isn’t alone in her complaints.
Two weeks earlier Halliburton’s neighbor, Rachel Roddick, said she was woken up by another group of guests across the street.
The exchange was also captured on her surveillance cameras. She said she asked the guests to quiet down and one of them confronted her.
“I’m not interested. I just got woken up,” she can be heard saying to at least one man. “I deal with this every weekend.”
Roddick called police and when she went inside her home to speak with them on the phone, the man yelled obscenities at her.
“They just don’t care,” Roddick told News 2. “There’s trash in the yard all the time. They just have no respect.”
She said when she calls police, it could take hours for an officer to respond. Records show officers have responded to the two homes five times this year.
Roddick also said she’s called the 24-hour STRP-complaint hotline Metro established through Host Compliance, which costs $1 million of taxpayer dollars a year.
Metro Codes said there have been 132 complaints filed through Host Compliance in the past 30 days across the city. The number has created a backlog and it will take time to investigate all of the complaints.
In the meantime, Roddick said, neighbors will have to have to deal with the issues.
News 2 reached out to Aerial Development, which owns 1212 and 1210 Ashwood Avenue. The company did not return our calls.
News 2 also reached out to Stay Domio, which manages the properties.
In a statement, it said, “While we were unable to confirm the details of the incident, we do not take concerns like this lightly. We aim to ensure a delightful experience for our guest and neighbors alike. Upon hearing of any violation of our house rules we take the necessary steps to ensure an appropriate and timely resolution. Our team is available 24/7 to handle any situations that may arise.”
News 2 noticed there are surveillance cameras on each short-term rental property. News 2 asked Stay Domio if they reviewed the video but they didn’t answer the question.
