01/31/2003

By Jeff McShan / 11 News

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Within a few months after Norma King rented and moved into a townhome in the 7500 block of Delmonte, strange things started to happen. First, she found a dead bat. Next, she began hearing screeching noises and then came the smell and the bat feces dripping down from behind the home's crown molding.

"It's a very strong scent of bat guano," says King's friend Jamie Adams. "If you've ever been to a cave or cavern, you know that smell."

King says not only can you hear them in the walls, but you can see them nearly every night. Around 5:30 p.m. Thursday, 11 News set up cameras to see if these bats showed themselves and the crew didn't have to wait long. One by one, bats started leaving the home, some squeezing between openings in the bricks.

Worried for her safety and that of her infant daughter, King moved out.

"The landlord had the gall to attempt to charge Norma King, the tenant, for problems with the premises that were a direct result of the situation with the bats," says Geoffrey Berg, one of King's attorneys.

"It appears to me to be a pretty obvious attempt to intimidate her into not filing a lawsuit and not pursuing her rights," says attorney Sanford Dow, who explained King plans to file a suit against the landlord.

The woman who owns the townhome lives in Branson, Mo., and was unavailable for comment.

"She hasn't called since the day I told her we were going to start moving out because we felt like we were in danger," says King. "She hasn't even called me."

King, her child and Adams are all in the process of being tested for various diseases after escaping from a townhome they feel is more like a cave.