A Florida woman suddenly ended her stay at a Kentucky Airbnb and was instructed by police to find a hotel room after she returned from a night out and made a troubling discovery.
Laura Schilling flew into Lexington late last week with her daughter, three friends, and her mother for an equestrian competition. She first noticed something was off after the group arrived at the rental.
Schilling claimed that after being away from the property, they returned to find that someone had "unlocked" the deadbolt on the front door, although they had only used the garage to enter the Airbnb, according to the New York Post.
"Later that night, when we returned, the girls hung out, and we got ready for bed around 11:30," she said.
Schilling noticed that all the windows in the home had been opened to a similar position, even though they were certain all of them had been closed when they left for dinner.
But what prompted the mother to call the police was that when she opened the window, she saw a car that had been parked across the street with tinted windows.
When she looked up at the vehicle, the car immediately revved its engine and took off.
An officer was called to the home shortly after.
"I feel like somebody was here to take the girls," Schilling explained.
She told the officer that she felt like "we could have woken up to something very different tomorrow morning. And he said, 'Trust your gut.'"
Police advised her to leave the Airbnb and find a rental for the duration of their stay.
Law enforcement officers waited while the women collected their belongings before escorting them from the home.
"The deputy felt strongly that we had been set up for someone to take the girls that night after we had gone to bed," Schilling recalled.
She explained to the Airbnb host, identified only as Rosanna, about the door being open the first night and the windows being open after they came back from dinner, as alleged in messages.
"Oh my gosh," the host responded.
Schilling had been skeptical of the host based on the picture she used as her profile photo to advertise the home on Airbnb.
It had a sort of smudge, suggesting the possibility that it might be fake.
The mother has yet to hear back from Airbnb regarding the harrowing experience.
