‘I just want my property back:’ Alleged squatters call police on metro Atlanta homeowner

A Villa Rica homeowner says she has spent the last several months trying to kick out a family she says is squatting in her home.

Jo Summers, 79, told Channel 2 Investigative Reporter Ashli Lincoln that everything came to a head when the squatters called the police on her.

"I feel so violated. It's just I never thought this could happen to me," Summers said. "For this to happen really just feels so bizarre, so intrusive."

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Summers said she used a popular home rental company to rent her home to a man and his family.

"I just could not hear this father say he's a father of three children and he's homeless," she said.

She told Lincoln that she gave the man a key to the house after he paid just $1,500 of a $5,400 balance for the first and last month's rent. When it came time for him to pay the rest, she says he went silent.

"Before I knew it, he was no longer in contact with me. He had taken over my home," Summers said.

Since August, Summers says she has been trying to collect more than $10,000 in back rent.

Lincoln went to the home and knocked on the door to speak with the alleged squatters, but no one ever came to the door.

While shooting video of the house, a woman who claims to live there spoke to Lincoln through a doorbell camera.

"This is ridiculous. Like, I don't know what any of this is about," she said.

"Do you have a lease to be in this property?" Lincoln asked.

"Please get off the property, ma'am," the woman responded.

She later spoke with Lincoln over the phone and denied the allegations of squatting. But she would not share a proof of lease or rent payments with Channel 2 Action News.

Summers said she started the court process by filing an eviction.

"It just goes to show you, it can happen to anyone," Summers said.