Dear Reader,
I am posting on here because my 8-month-old daughter, Whitney Savannah, and I urgently need help, and I honestly don't know where else to turn.
We were illegally evicted by Ilazabeth (Liz) Smith, who used to be my best friend since my junior year in high school and who is presently employed as Manager of Recruitment and Training at Fedex Headquarters in Memphis, TN.
Liz has been diagnosed with bipolar disorder and was on what seemed an effective medication regimen when we first arrived in Arlington on 3/30/2021. My daugher and I came here because Liz offered to rent me a room for in her home and help and support with my newborn child. Whitney was born on 12/31/2020 in Mountain View, CA, during Covid-19 and her father unexpectedly was no longer able to be part of his daugher's life when she was barely 6 weeks old and I was suddenly a single mother completely on my own with a newborn in the midst of quarantine during Covid-19 and completely without help.
While things were great initially and my daugher thrived and bonded with Liz' daughters who adored her and her mother, Beverly Beasley, whom she calls "granny" and I felt like coming here was the best choice I could have made for the two of us, in late May/early June, my friend Liz went off her medication regimen and started acting erratically and out of character shortly thereafter.
These were intitially isolated incidents that I assumed were possibly the result of her beng stressed at work or stressed about her pending divorce/separation from her spouse and her being a single mother with three young daughters, the incidents quickly became more frequent and severe in nature, and it got to the point that Liz would get mad at me over no matter what did and also randomly started accusing me of things I did not do. I did not know she was bipolar nor that she frequently ceased to take her medication untkl her mother told me when the situation startd getting out of hand.
At first, Liz started reading things into things I said or statements I made ithat did not make sense or were not logical (One time, I told her during a conversation "I want to do what's best for my child" which she implid to mean that she was NOT doing what was best for her chidren.) She would then get furious at me and no matter how hard I tried to reason with her she would not believe me that I did not mean to imply that in anyway) I put up with the situation for over 2.5 months because I had spent most of my saving on the move and on replacing large items as furniture that were too expensive to ship from CA given we had agreed to make the living arrangement permanent, and I did not have enough money to return to California.
Things escalated to the point that on the last two occasions that my friend got mad, she told me and to get out of her house. The first time this occurred, her mother, who helps her with childcare 24/7 and who is financially dependent on her stood up to her om my behalf and told her she could not let her put me and the baby out on the street, and Liz apologized a few days later and promised to set up an appointment and get back on her bipolar medication regimen.
I honestly believed her and I wanted my best friend back because she is an amazing caring person when she is on her medication, and things seemed okay for 1.5 weeks and she agreed in writing to continue to rent to me through March 31, 2022 when her lease expired.
However the very next day (August 5th) her mood changed drastically and she got mad over yet another thing, and after months of dealing with her mood swings and worrying about what would happen next and never once saying anything back to her when she yelled at me or said hurtful things about me or my child, I finally told her that I could no longer take it and that I would find a way to move out because I was an emotional wreck and at the verge of a nervous breakdown and I texted her that I needed her to leave me alone and give me the 30days required by law to move out and stop interacting with me during that time because I was at the verge of a nervous breakdown.
Someone who identified as bipolar told me that the illness makes you see people as either being on your side or your enemy and that it was possible that her stopping her medication caused her to be chemically imbalances and exacerbated those symptoms because I could not and still cannot believe what occurred next.
After I coneyed to her what I believed to be reasonable, Liz reacted by called the police 3 times within 48 hours and accusing me of things I did not do that were simply false. She cut me off from the internet and told her mother that I was not allowed to be in any other part of the house. She made accusations of “identity theft” and told the police that I had tried to access her email account and or possibly some other accounts, That was false and I had done no such thing and I could simply not believe that she would hate me so much to make false accusations and to call the police and try to tell them I was a career criminal and later a racist.
The third time the police was called the officer advised me to leave given he did not feel it was a safe situation and so I took my child and got a hotel for a wek with the help of someone from my church, That was August 5th, and my daughter and I have been staying at a hotel in the area for 3.5 weeks now. I had no access to my mail and most of my property with the exception of some items me and an acquaintance who owned a truck were able to recover a few days later.
I asked for help from the church I was attending to move out my property but when we set a date that Liz was agreeable to, I learned that I had been locked out of the house and she had installed an extra lock.
I filed a police report for wrongful eviction, and Liz tried to tell the police that I was racist and that she did not want me in the house because she was worried that me or the people from my churc would Hirt her or her family because we were part of the “Arian Nation” or something of that sort. My daughter is half black and my best friend is black and I don’t know if she truly believed that or whether she was just vindictive, but this is wrong. My property was dumped on the front lawn after 3 weeks of mo access and sustained major damage given it was out in the heat all day before I could get people to come pick it up and lotions, baby oils and other baby products spilled over electronics and clothing and my bed and these are not items I can afford to replace.
I have had a very hard time dealing with this and I honestly have no idea what to do because I have never as much as been to Memphis before in my life and would have never moved here had I known she was bipolar and could go off her medication and that this would end with me and my child staying at a hotel for weeks. I want to move back to California and forget any of this happened and move on with my life, but I cannot do that without help. Moving from San Jose, CA, to Memphis was very expensive and cost over 5000usd and to rent a place in California you have to put down first months rent and deposit which in the SF Bay Area averages 2000-2200 for a 1BD 1BA.
I have a Master’s degree and work in Informaton Technology and specialize in Localization - the adaptation of digital content from English into other languages and have last worked as a contractor on-site at Amazon, and previously worked at Apple, Google, Cisco Systems and Facebook on various localization and quality assurance projects. I am highly employable in the SF Bay Area but I need to go back home and I cannot do that without help.
I realize that I can file a suit for wrongful eviction and be reimbursed for damages and relocation expanses and the rent I paid her, but for that I will need an attorney, and don’t have the funds to pay for one after staying at a hotel for weeks. Liz’s brother, Richard Obi, offered to come down from California to help me move because he felt awful for what happened but while he can help me get things packed up and make the 30 hour drive with the baby he does not have the means to help financially. I don’t have any family in the US (I am originally from Germany) and am an only child and the rest of my family there does not have the means to help me.
This entire experience has been emotionally devastating and I am a single mother with an 8 month-old baby girl whom I love more than anything and I feel I completely failed her as a parent but I honestly had no idea about my friends illness or what it meant, nor that she would go off her medication and act this way because she is a very caring person when she when she is herself and I had no idea this could or would happen.
I came here for support and because I wanted to do what was best for my child and wanted her to have people who loved her in her life and have a connection to her African American heritage since she is half black her father is not in her life, and based on the information that was available to me at the time, I did what I felt was the best decision for my child.
I am extremely embarrassed to ask strangers for help and this is extremely hummiliating. It is very hard for me to ask for help because I am intelligent and educated and have been able to take care of myself for most of my life, and if it were just me, I would figure things out on my own because part of me feels that this is somehow my fault because I did truly believe that this person was my best friend and I trusted her with my child and I simply don’t understand how she could do this because she knew I did not have the financial means to return to CA and we discussed this at length before agreeing to the rental.
While I realize she is mentally ill and needs to be on medication, I am having a very hard time coming to terms with what happened because I simply don’t understand how it is possible for someone to make a 180 degree personality turn from a caring, cocerned, loving friend and not as much as blink knowing that this puts me in an impossible situation that I cannot get out of on my own. Most of all, I simply cannot believe how she or anyone for that matter is able do put an 8 month old baby out on the street because I could not do that to anyone's child not even my worst enemies much less someone I called a friend. My daughter, Whitney is a happy, healthy, beautiful little baby and I so badly want to be the best parent I can be and give her the best life I possibly can. But she put me in an impossible situation that has drained my savings, and I am scared out of my mind that we will end up homeless sleeping in my car, and I can't let this happen and I honestly don[t know what to do.
Everything in this story is true and I can furnish documentation, including police reports, statements from third paries, as well as texts and emails from her all of which will confirm this story.
I like to believe that I am a good person, and I honestly do try to treat others the way I want to be treated. I have never done anything to harm her nor anything to deserve this and neither has my child, so if there is any way you can help in whatever way please do because I need help to get out of this situation and to get back home and I need my baby to be okay.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
K. Lovell
