Housing Crisis: When Your “Landlord” is a Murderer

In the summer of 2021, Tabatha Pope and her boyfriend were living out of a cheap motel, struggling to make ends meet. Then, she found an affordable apartment just outside downtown Houston, and it seemed like her luck was finally turning around.

But when she moved in, something wasn’t right. There were buckets on the floor filled with a thick, red substance that looked a lot like blood, and crimson stains on the walls. It was clear that something terrible had happened here. And as she learned more, Tabatha came to a disturbing conclusion: the perpetrator may have been the person she thought was her landlord.

In a feature for New York magazine, Ian Frisch recounts the surreal story of Tabatha Pope’s nightmare on West Clay Street.

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