Guests at Cambria Hotel Cry Foul at Threatening Behavior by Staff
Black women on social media have taken to twitter to share their horror stories about the Cambria Hotel in DC where they are saying that they are being harassed, threatened and in some cases, “staff” are showing up in their hotel rooms without being requested to be there.
In light of the news of Gabby Petito and the lack of media coverage people of color get when they vanish, more cases of attempted violence and forced trafficking have been making their way online. Some social media users took to the popular social media channel to highlight the cases of Jelani Day and Lauren Cho. Cho has been missing since June 2021 and hasn’t been located.
The remains of Day, however have been recovered:
Day, an Illinois State University grad student, disappeared on Aug. 24 and was reported missing soon after by his family and a professor. His car was found two days later in a wooded area near where his body was ultimately discovered in the Illinois River under what police have said were “unusual circumstances.”
Little information has been released since Day’s body was identified weeks after it was found in September in the Illinois River near Peru, a far southwest Chicago suburb. The location was miles from where Day was last seen, but not far from where his car had been discovered days earlier.
Another frightening case has been that of Miya Marcano, who was a 19 year old student at Valencia College and had been dealing with unwanted harassment from staff member at Ardan Villas, where she was staying and was employed.
Authorities believe Caballero — a maintenance worker at the Arden Villas apartments — had accessed Marcano’s apartment without her permission, Mina previously said. An arrest warrant had been issued for Caballero for burglary.
”We now know that a maintenance-issued master key fob, which Caballero was known to be in possession of, was used to enter Miya’s apartment Friday afternoon, at about 4:30. This would have been about 30 minutes before she should finish her shift at the apartment complex,” the sheriff said Monday.
There are so many frightening aspects of Miya’s case, and the fact that Armando Caballero was able to access Miya’s residence without needing her permission, tampering with her apartment windows to carry out this kidnapping and then the reports of hesitancy by law enforcement to even broach the case is frightening and shows how Missing White Woman Syndrome really impairs our ability to provide the justice that is due to the families of victims.
When investigators entered Miya’s apartment, Fox35 Orlando reported that:
When they went inside her apartment, the lawyer said the following was discovered:
Miya’s door had a mini dresser that prevented access from the front of her bedroom door
Entry into Miya’s room had to be done via her back window
The deputy noticed the window had been tampered with
Callabero came back to the crime scene after Miya’s family had a chance to examine her apartment:
“Upon entering Miya’s room, they found a box cutter under a rug that didn’t belong to Miya. A short time later, Armando Caballero arrived in front of Miya’s apartment and asked Miya’s aunt ‘are you looking for Miya?’ This was approximately 4:00 a.m. Caballero was off work and had no reason for being at the Arden Villas.”
Not wanting the scene to be contaminated, the security guard on duty attempted to give the fingerprints he lifted from Miya’s window to the deputies but was told by the deputies to keep them as he chuckled and said, ‘this isn’t a high priority case.’”
Miya’s neighbors raised a ton of red flags about the repeated violations of the apartment complex. They say:
Students who live in the complex, which has around 200 units, said the management hadn’t been communicating during the ordeal and that they want safety taken more seriously. “There are concerns that are ongoing,” said Julia Veiga, who recently moved into the complex and helped organize a protest held earlier this month. “Security measures could have potentially saved Miya’s life.” Veiga said among the requests: a staffed security gate, improved lighting and comprehensive background checks for workers.
Black Women Talk about the Cambria Hotel in Washington D.C.
Maya Angelique, a twitter user wrote about her experience at staying at the Cambria Hotel chain in D.C. and the frightening experiences she has had:
She posted this update a few hours ago:
Other users noted that this isn’t the first time that they have heard about the hotel and the suspicious things they have experienced while staying there:
The man:
- Was able to open the door but Maya repeatedly shoved it closed and the man ran away.
Maya mentioned feeling she was being watched and under watch from the people around her. That, coupled with the fact the hotel was in a sketchy part of town, did nothing to reassure her.
The hotel responded to Maya in several different ways:
- When she reported the incident of the man trying to gain entry without permission, the front desk staff said they were “aware of the situation” and that is was housekeeping trying to gain entry [at 1 AM]
- Staff was very nonchalant toward Maya and didn’t take her seriously
- They refused to change her room or refund her in time. She would’ve had to wait 7–12 days for a refund.
- They also sent this text messsage:
The thread is long and extensive and much more detail. One thing is for sure though, there are a long string of actions that happened towards women and when it comes to gender based violence that people experience. There is a chain of events that happened that led up to disappearances and this one is a critical remind her of that.
If you know someone or you are at risk for human trafficking, please call the National Human Trafficking Hotline to report it. Please do not stay silent. Here is some contact information.
Call: Call 1–888–373–7888 ( TTY: 711)|
Report human trafficking:https://humantraffickinghotline.org/report-trafficking
