Three Bay Area high school athletes in Southern California for a water polo tournament said they were startled by the frightening sounds of rattling at their hotel room door during the team’s stay in Orange County.
One of the teen girls said she awoke after midnight to the unsettling sound early Friday and saw a bent wire sliding under the door of their room at the Marriott Delta Hotel in Garden Grove.
“Our first thought was it was someone trying to come in there and kidnap us,” Charlotte, 17, told NBC Bay Area. “We were all just really scared.”
Charlotte recorded video of the wire, which had a loop at one end, moving back and forth before wrapping around the inside door handle. She grabbed the wire and tried speaking with the person moving it from outside in the hallway.
“Honestly it was probably one of the most scariest things that has really ever happened to me,” she said.
Someone on the other side of the door can be heard replying, “Hello? Is someone still here?”
NBC Bay Area reached out to the hotel and general manager, but did not receive a response.
Charlotte’s mother said she met with the hotel general manager and was told the incident involved a room check.
“They did confirm that it was an employee,” she said. “When I asked if the employee had been terminated, I was told that he was going to be terminated.”
The girls were given a gift basket and balloon, she said. They later switched rooms after the puzzling chain of events.
“I have no idea. Was it theft? Was it trafficking? I want to know,” Charlotte’s mother told NBC Bay Area. “The explanation that has been provided doesn’t add up.”
Charlotte’s mother, her coach and other parents filed a police report with the Garden Grove Police Department. Police said the agency is investigating whether the incident was a crime or misunderstanding.
“There is the maintenance records and things like that, so whatever communication the hotel has with their staff, work orders, our detectives want to look into that more,” said Sgt. Nick Jensen.