Wilmington Housing Authority allegedly discards woman’s belongings, cremated remains

WILMINGTON, NC (WWAY) — Alyssa Garcia says when she returned home after visiting her mother last month, she found her apartment in the Creekwood community completely empty. 

Garcia has lived there with her 5 kids for ten years. 

She says maintenance staff threw away everything, including toys, food, and the cremated remains of her son, who died at four months old. 

When Garcia confronted office staff, she was told it was a mistake. 

“The leasing management said, ‘What do you mean all your stuff is gone?’ So, she went back there, and then she came back literally almost in tears. She said, ‘We mistaked your apartment. We thought you were still at 922,’” Garcia recalled. 

A neighbor—who asked to remain anonymous—says they saw maintenance throwing items from the second-floor window. 

“I went across the street and I was like, ‘She moved?’ and the maintenance guy was like, ‘Yeah, in the middle of the night,’” the neighbor said. 

The neighbor adds other items were being given away to other residents. 

“A few people came to ask for the furniture, and he said that he couldn’t hand it to them physically, he could meet them at the back door,” they said. 

The public housing community is managed by the Wilmington Housing Authority. 

When WWAY sat down with CEO Tyrone Garrett earlier this week, we asked him about the situation. 

“I probably want to limit my comments on it, because there may be some litigation involved. But I do know from our standpoint, there was a subletting of the unit,” Garrett said. 

Although property management initially admitted fault—according to Garcia—WHA now says Garcia was subleasing the apartment, without providing any evidence other than a background check that lists Garcia’s previous address. 

Garcia says the move is an attempt to skirt responsibility. 

“After I went to Creekwood and they admitted fault, they said that ‘we mistake your apartment,’ they admitted fault,” Garcia noted. “But as soon as they got onto the phone with central office, everything completely changed.” 

Garcia says since the ordeal, WHA has refused to negotiate or provide any compensation—despite Garrett telling us otherwise. 

“We’ll sit down and talk to the resident and see exactly how we can mitigate the particular issues,” Garrett told WWAY. 

“I have emailed him, I have called him, I emailed him yesterday actually. No response from him whatsoever,” Garcia said. 

Garcia notes she has always paid rent on time and never received any notice that her belongings would be removed, or that she had done anything wrong.

Garcia’s mother has also started a GoFundMe to help cover the costs of her belongings.