Sword and Scale Host

In the last few weeks, police responded to a string of late-night burglaries.

The suspect, Thomas Nuff, was quickly caught.

He admitted to everything, saying he was broke and desperate.

Hotels were getting expensive.

Tom had just been released from prison after serving 15 years.

Since then, he'd bounced between hotels, old girlfriends, and temporary stays with people willing to help, including a pen pal named Regina Capobianco.

She and her boyfriend even gave him a ride from prison.

He stayed at her place a couple of nights, but mostly kept his distance.

She had a good heart, but she was a little unpredictable.

Then Regina stopped answering her phone.

Her sister worried.

The police had been to her house already, but they didn't execute a full search.

Neighbors had seen stickers on the door about a potential foreclosure and just assumed John was evicted.

Now weeks had passed.

They go back.

And what they find inside is worse than anything anyone's imagined.

What they walk into is a hoarder's nightmare.

Trash bags, boxes, rotting food.

The air is thick and sour.

The kind of stench you think is garbage until you realize it's not.