Getting Answers: Maintenance crew empties Idaho Falls Woman’s apartment without permission

IDAHO FALLS, Idaho (KIFI) - An Idaho Falls woman says she lost everything after a maintenance crew came into her apartment without permission and emptied it out. 

18-year-old K'ryn Millet told Local News 8 she first moved into the apartment after high school.

She says she was in good standing with the management company until a car accident in December 2023 left her unable to work.

As a result she fell behind on her bills and was a breath away from being evicted, even receiving a notice of eviction.

But through talking to her property management company she made a written agreement to pay the debt and keep her apartment.

Or so she thought. 

Last weekend she came home from her boyfriend's to see a maintenance crew clearing out her apartment.

"I open the door and they're like, 'Hello? You're not supposed to be here. Nobody's supposed to be here," K'ryn said.

"And I was like, 'Well, this is my apartment.' And he goes, '"'well, I don't know you. I just know that I was supposed to come clean it up and that nobody's supposed to be here, so you need to leave.'"

"She showed up crying and she said, 'they've emptied my whole apartment,'" K'ryn's mother Sarah Jaynes told me.

"And I said, 'What do you mean?' She said, 'Everything is gone, mama. They took everything.'"

Everything she owned, from clothes to precious memories; Including a one of a kind dresser her dad made by hand for her 18th birthday, was gone.

The family filed a police report, but was told by Idaho Falls police the issue the issue is a civil matter.

"Have you been able to get any of that back?" I asked as we scrolled through photos of her long-gone belongings.

"No, I have not. No," K'ryn answered.

According to Blue Pines Property Management, they never authorized anyone to throw away K'ryn's belongings or change the locks.

"The property owner had hired an independent maintenance repair man outside of our company, and unbeknownst to us," property manager Tyson Luthy explained. "It was one of the owners hired hands outside of our company. We really had no knowledge of it. We didn't ask for that to be done.  We're pretty much on the tenant side."

I called one of the two landlords in response, he seemed genuinely shocked and almost as confused as the family about how this happened.

"I want to get to the bottom of it instantly. We have we have a renter that we've known for years. He's a really handy guy," property owner Rick Christensen said.

"He seen an eviction notice last Friday on that door. And so he called the Blue Pine office. The guy he usually talks to Casey, who does great, he was on vacation. So he told the girl, I see an eviction notice, do you want us to do anything? She says, yes, you can clean it out."

To recap, the landlord’s says his maintenance employee called Blue Pine management Friday, April 19. 

The maintenance man was unable to talk with the property manager that Blue Pine assigned to the building, but another Blue Pine employee gave the go-ahead for the apartment to be cleaned out.

Christensen says he was told there was nothing to indicate the apartment shouldn't be evicted. 

"He said it was a mess," Christensen said. "It was deep in garbage. He says there were two mattresses when the power had been out for two weeks. When they opened the fridge and everything throughout the fridge was ruined and must have been dead meat."

After sharing this information with Blue Pine property management, they told Local News 8 the maintenance man is authorized by the apartment owner to access the apartment keys.

But say they were never asked about a haul off or evicting the tenant.

“He (the maintenance man) made that call himself," Luthy said. "So when he says that, 'he saw a notice and asked our office,' that's not true. All he did, in fact, is just come into the office and ask for the key, which he's already been authorized to get.”

Idaho law requires landlords to file a complaint and both parties to attend a court hearing before they take any action.

Even after the hearing the property manager must first obtain a writ of removal from the sheriff’s office before entering the tenants home.

None of these steps were taken according to Blue Pine.

“You don't just post a notice on the door and then you can go inside," Luthy said. "You got to go through the court system and that whole thing.”

To their credit, Blue Pine has reached out to K'ryn and her family and offered to sit down and talk through the situation with the property owner.

The family says they feel like everyone is pointing fingers instead of taking responsibility.

"They invaded the privacy of her home, her sanctity," a visibly frustrated Sarah Jaynes said. "It's just mind boggling to me that the only response anybody has is. I'm so sorry. I have no idea how this happened.”

“How would you like them to respond?” I asked K'ryn.

"I just want my stuff back," the 18-year-old said. "In...somewhere that I can actually call home.”

K'ryn's family has also been in contact with a lawyers office and expects to meet for consultation on April 30.

As for K'ryn herself, she is now without a home, and as her mother puts it "has had to couch surf" at her parent's place since this weekend.