A couple recently found themselves in a precarious situation at an Airbnb in Florida.
On April 4, Tanyka and Adani Harold shared a TikTok video in which they claimed they were locked inside a property they’d rented in Plantation, Florida, near Fort Lauderdale.
There were several other disturbing details inside the room, including blacked-out windows and a back door inside the bathroom.
Highlights
- A couple got locked inside a room they rented on Airbnb for a two-day stay in Florida, an experience they described as a “kidnapping” attempt.
- The Plantation property had a defective door lock, concrete walls, black windows, as well as several other concerning issues.
- Local authorities helped them escape, but later said the incident was not “criminal” or “illegal.”
The couple was left with no other option than to seek help from local authorities, anxiously waiting while they recorded their ordeal.
“The police definitely need to investigate that,” one user commented under their video.
The room Tanyka and Adani rented had inside-out locks on the door
Image credits: TikTok/tee_ba3
After several attempts at seeking help from the host and Airbnb’s customer support, the Harolds were rescued by local authorities.
In multiple videos on their TikTok channels, Tanyka and Adani provided several photos and videos as evidence of what they went through.
“Me and my husband almost got kidnapped in Plantation, Florida,” Tanyka said in their first post about the situation. “We had to call the cops to get out.”
Image credits: TikTok/tee_ba3
According to the couple, they rented the property for two days, from April 2 to April 4, and received a confirmation message from the host, Vincent A. Baumert. The two were in the city to attend a memorial, and upon hearing that, Baumert offered them his condolences.
On the day of boarding, Tanyka and Adani punched in the provided code at the front door and found their rented room door open. They entered. Tanyka went to the bathroom, and Adani shut the door. There was a knob and a traditional latch on the inside of the door.
Image credits: Unsplash (Not the actual photo)
Soon, they realized they were trapped in the room, as the doorknob was installed the wrong way and could be locked from the outside.
“I noticed that the doorknob was turned ‘inside out,’ meaning someone put it in backwards,” Adani wrote in a message to Airbnb and later shared the screenshots on TikTok. “The lock should’ve been inside the room, not outside, where someone else can lock it and lock us inside.”
The pair was rescued by local authorities after the hosts failed to help
Image credits: TikTok/tee_ba3
While Adani texted with the Airbnb representative, Tanyka called the hosts after first texting them and receiving no response.
The hosts said that they were currently in Miami, an hour away from the Plantation property. They first claimed it was “impossible” for them to be locked inside, then suggested using a butter knife or a key to break out, and eventually said that a “tenant” of theirs who was also living in the same house would help them get out through the bathroom.
Adani explained in one of the videos that the bathroom in their room had a back door that opened into the backyard, but it was also locked from the outside. He expressed concern that this would allow anyone to walk in on someone using the bathroom at any time.
In the meantime, the couple had also dialed 911 and asked for police assistance.
Eventually, the alleged tenant entered the room through the bathroom door. At the same time, authorities from the Broward County Sheriff’s Office opened the room’s door, allowing the couple to leave.
Image credits: TikTok/tee_ba3
The officer who helped them allegedly suggested that the door may have had a “weird design,” which did not sit well with the Harolds.
Tanyka described the experience as “real-life Jeffrey Epstein stuff” in their initial video. The couple checked into a hotel after being rescued.
There were several other concerning details at the rented property
While on call with Tanyka, the hosts argued among themselves about whether the door had a lock. At one point, Baumert told his wife to “shut the f*ck up” and let him think. “She wasn’t really acting surprised,” Adani’s message to Airbnb read.
The couple further revealed that the room they were in looked “painted” in the photos on Airbnb’s website, but was actually made of concrete. The windows in the room were painted black and were locked from the outside.
Image credits: TikTok/tee_ba3
Tanyka also mentioned three “eviction notices” outside the main door and later shared pictures of them. Upon closer look, the documents turned out to be something else.
The first one was a message, signed by Vincent A. Baumert, to the Sheriff’s Office that any “Writ of Possession” associated with the property was “void and unenforceable.”
A writ of possession is a court order issued after a landlord wins an eviction lawsuit or a buyer wins a foreclosure case, authorizing law enforcement to physically remove occupants and return possession of the property to the owner.
Image credits: TikTok/tee_ba3
“Any attempt to enter or remove occupants will be considered a trespass and federal violation,” the document read. While it was not an eviction notice, it could be a sign that legal eviction proceedings took place.
The second document declared Baumert as the “lawful possessor” and Vincent Allen Baumert Living Trust as the “legal owner” of the property. It said “no person or entity” was allowed to “enter, occupy, impact, access, or interfere” with the property unless they had a “valid court order or express permission from the trustee.”
The language in these documents is similar to that often used by self-declared “sovereign citizens,” individuals who believe they are not subject to U.S. laws, authorities, or taxation.
“Sovereign citizens are notorious for picking fights with local government and law enforcement,” according to Penn State Law Review. “Sovereign citizens, usually after they have been ticketed for moving violations or unpaid taxes, subvert the legal system to try to prove their claims.”
Such arguments rarely hold up in court, the publication adds.
The police said the incident was “strange but not illegal”
Image credits: Google Street View
In a subsequent update, Tanyka shared a video of Adani speaking with the Broward County Sheriff’s Office regarding the incident.
What the authorities said cannot be clearly heard in the clip, but Tanyka’s caption clarified that they “didn’t say much of anything,” but mentioned that this wasn’t the first time they had received such a complaint about the property.
“They said it was strange but not illegal,” the caption read.
Image credits: TikTok/tee_ba3
“The cop said nothing criminal happened because we didn't stay locked in the room the whole day. He literally said there was a previous call that sounded super similar to us.”
In another update, Tanyka shared that they got back their money from Airbnb, even though during their initial conversation with customer support, they were denied a full refund.
In a response to one comment under a post, she revealed that they have sought legal help, and the attorney mirrored the police’s statement: “We spoke with a lawyer, and he said that there was nothing legally he could find.”
“They gave our money back, but that's not really what we were concerned about. We really wanted to bring awareness and have Airbnb hire inspectors to check out the houses, cause our safety was seriously in jeopardy.”
Image credits: TikTok/tee_ba3
To that end, the couple shared other listings that Baumert had under his name and posted a Change.org petition titled “Make Airbnb safer for its guests,” petitioned by one Alia Harold.
"Shortest horror movie ever." Netizens were shocked to hear about Tanyka and Adani Harold's Airbnb ordeal
