Worst Roommate Ever (2022) s01e05 Episode Script

1 I got the call at work from my mom.
"We have a problem, Alex.
" My stomach drops.
They move in, but then they won't pay, and they won't leave.
If you don't stop squatters right away, it can take months to get them out.
Jamison Bachman was a very scary person.
The suspect will be charged with first-degree murder.
You've made me uncomfortable, unsafe in my own home.
Get the motherfucker out.
I was, at the time, working in a law firm, and I talked to my attorneys that I worked with and told them the information that I had.
They were like, "You're in very deep," and they helped me with the letter.
I gave it to him in writing, and the attorneys that I worked for advised me to get him out as soon as possible.
"You're in danger.
" I said, "I think we have to enlist the landlord.
" Landlord wanted no part of it.
And Jamison Bachman understood enough about tenancy laws to know that once he was in the apartment, there was no way he was going to leave, except on his own terms.
He was a serial squatter who had terrorized roommates up and down the East Coast, and he was living in my house.
I didn't know what to do, so I thought about how to do this properly, legally.
I'm gonna have to do things that are gonna make him uncomfortable, to make my home a place that he did not wanna be anymore.
I knew of some of Jamison's dislikes, which included smoking, drinking, rap music, loud noise.
So I took those dislikes, I came up with an idea to have a party.
I was gonna have Jameson whiskey served to send farewell to Jamison.
Bring on the ruckus.
I'm a Wu-Tang girl, baby.
That's a story for another time.
Alex invited probably 20 or 30 friends.
I was there.
I wanted to be a part of the party.
Jamison was in his room.
He had an online tutoring business, and it was in the time slot when he normally did his online tutoring.
People were smoking pot.
I was blasting Wu-Tang, punk rock, things that were very obnoxious.
People knelt down and blew cigarette smoke under his door.
And I knew one thing that would make him very uncomfortable was that I knew of his sordid past.
So everyone was talking about him so that he was being bombarded on all senses.
Probably about 11:00, 11:30, he came out of the room.
And my friends were like, "Hey! He came out.
" "Whoa, this is exciting.
" He didn't really understand what was going on until he saw my apartment was littered with the quotes from his website and the article from the city paper.
Time's up, squatter.
I know your name.
Jamison Bachman, you're not going to take over my space.
But he put on a really good face, like a kind of a joker smile, which is when I said, "Don't you wanna join the party?" He said, "No, no, no.
" He went back into his room, came back out with the dog, and walked out.
Alex's friend took a screwdriver and took the door handle off of his bedroom door, so he couldn't lock himself in there.
Jamison came back in, slammed his way into his room, and then discovered he couldn't lock his door, so he was really annoyed.
He was kind of bristling with anger.
He was pacing in his room.
I turned up the music.
I cranked it louder.
And we will party every day until it's over.
Unless it happens to you, it's hard to understand.
But it can happen.
It happened to me.
It happened to other people.
I didn't know Jamison was a squatter.
If I had a crystal ball, and I'd have known, I never would have let him in my home.
Biggest mistake.
Once they're in, you can't get them out.
It's not that easy.
Jamison lived there with me for almost four years.
And, you know, people say, "Well, God, Arleen, four years he was with you?" I mean, yeah.
I couldn't get rid of him.
At one point, I was ready to leave, but I knew he wouldn't pay the rent, and I didn't wanna screw my landlord, Peter, so I stayed, but something had to give.
It just had to.
It was just unbearable.
It was October 13th, 2010.
I, you know, got the cable bill, and I handed it to Jamison.
I said, "Here, I need you to pay this from now on because I'm not paying it anymore.
" He refused to pay anything and I just I just lost it.
So I slapped him.
He was in my face, so I slapped him.
He was choking me, and I thought, at that point, he was gonna kill me, so I kicked him really hard with my knee, and he let go.
And I ran out of the apartment.
I called 911, and then he called 911.
So two police officers came.
One for me.
One for him.
And I'm telling the police officer what happened.
He said, "Go to family court tomorrow morning and get an order of protection against him.
" But before I got an order of protection against him, Jamison went and got an order of protection against me.
And they served me with the papers, but Jamison didn't say he wanted me out.
So we were living together with two orders against each other, so You've got dueling orders of protection.
It was just This went on for about six weeks.
That's when the shit hit the fan, so to speak.
It was November 17, 2010.
I went to Peter, my landlord, and I told him what was going on, and I said, "I want Jamison out.
I can't get him out.
He won't leave.
" "Would you come with me to tenant court to file eviction?" So we went that morning, and Jamison must have overheard me.
And when I came back home, I was in the mirror, and I was putting on a little bit of makeup.
He was behind me.
Just standing there, glaring at me.
Dark, dark eyes.
Gave me the chills.
He then left, just abruptly left, and I got on the subway, went into the city.
My phone rings.
It's Peter, my landlord.
He's like, "Arleen, the cops are here looking for you.
" So, went to the precinct, the detective came out and said, "Arleen, I have to arrest you.
" And I said, "For what?" He said, "Because you came after Jamison with a knife.
" I said, "Really.
When did that happen?" He says, "This morning.
" I said, "That didn't happen.
" Apparently, he called the police, telling them that I came at him with a knife.
It was a felony charge.
Then they took me to Central Booking and threw me in a cell with, like, ten other women.
I never thought anything like that would ever happen.
I mean, you can't make this up, you know? It's just It was just unbelievable to me, and I was just in shock.
I was there overnight, and the judge calls me in.
And the judge said, "You can't go back to your home uh and you're on probation for a year.
" I pleaded with him.
I said, you know, "It's my apartment.
" "I pay the rent.
I pay all the bills.
" It doesn't matter because he got the order of protection against me first, so that gave Jamison the power to stay there.
I felt like I was in The Twilight Zone.
I didn't know what to do.
I just remember it was about 11 o'clock at night.
I remember, you know, getting close to Queens Boulevard and seeing the bus come, and I thought about throwing myself in front of it.
I can't even describe the feeling.
He had my cats.
Two were very ill, and they needed medication.
So to go back to the apartment, I had to get a court order.
And that took time.
But before I could get in to the apartment, he took the two sick cats to a kill shelter.
By the time I got to them, one of my cats I had to euthanize 'cause she was just too far gone, and he kept two of my other cats, Abby and Emma.
And I just felt like I failed my cats, you know, by leaving this monster with them.
He was a sociopath, Jamison.
Well, after Arleen got arrested, she was ordered to stay away.
Kicked out of her own apartment.
Now, Jamison Bachman was my tenant.
His hobby was wreaking havoc on people's lives.
Did he wreak havoc on your life? He sure did.
It was all-out war.
It was me trying to get him out.
Jamison would constantly harass myself and my tenant by making life as miserable as possible.
He was running water constantly, 24/7.
You know, to increase the water bill, so I have to pay more.
When I tried to shut it off, the police would come, "You're gonna get arrested.
" He knew all the laws.
And he would throw kitty litter out the back window into my yard.
He'd walk from room to room with this huge log and drop it on the floor to annoy the tenant downstairs.
He started to threaten me with the Housing Authority, and he started to file the complaints, and I was spending time in court more than I have in my whole life.
These are the court documents.
Over 50 pages of stuff.
When we'd go to court, I'd have other lawyers come into the room, listen to Jamison, and tell me that I have a problem.
Jamison knew the law better than the court system.
- Even though he wasn't a lawyer.
- Yes.
The scariest thing is a brilliant psycho, you know.
It went on and on, and he managed to stay there for over another year.
It was February 2012 when Jamison was evicted.
When he finally had to leave, I went over there.
He took two of my other cats, and I pleaded with him to give them back to me, and he wouldn't.
He got in the U-Haul truck and just drove off.
I don't know what ever happened to them.
I'm sorry.
This is where I used to live.
The apartment I had bought in 2006.
This was supposed to be my forever home, and now I can't afford to retire.
That was my balcony, the third going up.
I remember that balcony well because it's where I used to put my Christmas lights up, the big globe ones, and I took a picture.
One of the last Christmas pictures I took before things changed.
You have to understand that when I first met him, nowhere in my mind did he strike me as a person that was sneaky, you know? He didn't portray that until he was served with the eviction papers, and he threatened that he was gonna take my home.
That's when he started becoming more vocal, and his tone was more angry towards me.
I remember laying in my bed thinking, "Oh, I'm scared I might lose my home.
" "But Soni, Sonia, you should be more scared that that man is right next door to you.
" And that's when I started thinking, "Who's to say that he's not going into my room?" "I think I'm gonna test it.
" And that's when I found a long, empty wine bottle.
And just before I left that night, I put it just behind my door, and I closed it, and I left to work.
And the next morning, nine o'clock when I came in, I noticed that the bottle was moved against the wall, and I said right there, "Got you.
" So even though his door was open, I cordially knocked, and I said, "Jamison, you cannot be going into my room.
" "My room is off-limits.
" And right there, I saw that his ear went from a cream color to beat red.
It got really red, and he swung around his chair, and he got up immediately.
Then he came, and he faced me.
And he's a tall man.
He's, like, 6'2 ".
You know, I'm 5'2".
So he said, "Oh, you think I'm going into your room?" I said, "Yeah.
" He goes, "Go ahead, bring it on.
" And he got me angry to the point that I did a palm heel strike to the door, and I hit it, and I said, "Get your face off my face 'cause you're barking up the wrong tree, asshole.
" And I know that the reason why I felt empowered was because I had an experience where a friend of mine was murdered actually.
I took self-defense, and I'm a third-degree brown belt in jiujitsu.
I looked at him and said, "I'm not one of your young, innocent girls that you can take advantage of.
" "I know how to defend myself.
" And he just kept going, like, "Go ahead! Go ahead, bring it on!" He started getting closer.
And I said, "What?" I said, "You're not even worth the breath that I'm breathing on you.
" "And you know what? I'm gonna go to church.
" And I just walked I left him like that, so angry, and I felt so good going, "Ha!" Kind of walking away.
And I just walked.
I left the place, and I went to church.
You can see it swirling over my shoulder, what's being called a superstorm tonight.
The hurricane wrapped up in a giant nor'easter, pumped up by the jet stream.
I was waiting for the court date in order to evict Jamison from the apartment, but Hurricane Sandy arrived.
We're in Rockaway, of Queens in New York City, and it's one of the areas New York City officials have told to evacuate.
And so I left Jamison at the apartment, and I went to Brooklyn, where my mother lives.
I came home two weeks after the hurricane, and when I arrived to the apartment, Jamison was gone.
And I knew that there's nothing for him here now.
He took everything from his room.
His animals were gone.
And I don't know what he did after that.
Once I fell behind due to Jamison's saga, I could never recover.
I lost my home due to foreclosure.
And it still hurts me today, you know, because I loved my home.
I had such a beautiful home, and I don't have it, you know? And I don't know that I'll ever be able to afford anything like that.
Yeah.
It sucks.
After he left, in my heart, I couldn't be at rest thinking, you know, "Where is this man?" "And what is he doing today? Did he straighten up or not?" And this is when I did a search for him online, and I said, "Oh, my God.
" "He just left and did the same thing to someone else.
" I agreed to come talk with you today because there's more to Jamison than a serial squatter and a violent man.
Jamison was a very complicated person.
I later found out that his family was disappointed in him.
While his brother Harry was very successful, even his grandfather, whom he revered, said, "You were the horse I bet on, and you let me down.
" I got a feeling of resentment and anger from him.
For 30 years, I had absolutely no contact with Jammy.
So I was always still curious about him, wanted to know how he was, wanted to know if he was still alive, wanted to know what his life was like, and then I found him on Facebook.
And then we started calling each other and texting and catching up on news.
As flawed as he was, he still knew me my whole life.
I wanted to hold on to that.
We had a lot of good laughs together.
When we reconnected, he would often say, "I don't know why I keep running into all these crazy women that do these things to me.
" He was always the victim.
There were story after story after story, talking about the latest person whose apartment he was squatting in and the disagreement he was having with them.
And he would say, "Oh, I should go medieval on her.
" I just felt that he was blowing off steam to me.
I never imagined that he would actually do anything like that.
That the ending would be what it was.
The Jameson whiskey ran out.
The party was over.
People were tired.
I was tired.
My mom was like, "Okay, wrap this up.
" Everyone went home.
And the next morning, I woke up earlier than normal.
Maybe 4:30.
I was brushing my teeth.
Jamison came out of his room, went into the kitchen.
For him to come out at 4:30 in the morning was unusual.
He's uncomfortable.
Now I'm, like, brushing my teeth, like "What? Couldn't sleep so well?" Hmm.
And then the door swings open, and Jamison comes in like a storm.
And he gripped my throat like this.
Like, pulled me and pushed me up against the wall.
Held me up against the wall, choking me.
And got this close to my face.
Looked me in my eyes and said, "You made a grave mistake, you stupid girl.
" And he left.
He walked out and went into his room.
My adrenaline rose.
My heartbeat rose.
The anger inside me rose.
I went and I threw open his bedroom door.
I said, "What did you just say to me?" He's feeding his cat.
He had a knife in his hand.
He came at me, slammed the door.
My leg's in the frame.
Over and over and over again.
Ten times at least.
And then slashed at my legs with the knife.
I thought, "Oh, hell no.
" "No.
" When I got to Alex's apartment, the police were already there, and they were questioning her about what she knew and what was going on.
One of the officers recognized that I had something on my neck.
And he said, "Did somebody grip you up?" And I said, "Yes.
" "I was choked by that man over there.
" The officer said, "Do you have any other marks?" "I think I'm bleeding.
" He walked over to Jamison and put him in handcuffs.
The police did say that it would be a good idea for Alex to file for an order for protection.
So we did that, and the judge granted the order of protection with eviction.
Confirmation then comes that he has been placed in jail.
I could breathe a little bit.
But I realized that I had very limited time.
I needed to clear out his belongings, right? I went to work fast.
Really unsettling things I uncovered.
I saw lots and lots of documents.
Other cases of people he had affected before, including Arleen and Sonia.
And then I came across a plastic case that housed, at one point, a gun.
But where's the gun? There's a gun somewhere.
I was very afraid that if he got out of jail, he would come and kill her.
The District Attorney's Office contacted me to let me know his brother, Harry, bailed him out of jail.
Everyone was on pins and needles about where he was staying.
"Keep Alex safe.
" My mom wanted me to move out.
She was very concerned for my safety, and I kept saying, "No.
I don't wanna go.
I cannot leave.
" But I couldn't stay that much longer.
The property management declined their right to renew my lease.
Because of what happened with Jamison? Yeah, I had to leave.
That's devastating.
I know.
I know.
You don't have to remind me.
I know.
How dare this man come into my space and take it away from me? Jamison had been released from jail.
We had a court hearing coming up, and I had to assure Jamison that his belongings were going to be returned to him in full.
I said, "Why don't we just do it at a police department parking lot?" I arrived with everything that he asked for.
Except the dog.
He got mad at this point and said, "You are a dead bitch.
" "You're fucking dead, bitch.
" "I'll kill you.
" And sped off.
I was scared.
The fact that I knew that there was a gun looming out there somewhere Talk about white as a sheet.
She was shaking, and I said, "You march your little behind right back into the police station.
" "He just violated your protection order.
" So there was a period of time where I didn't hear from Jamison.
And then he called me, and I said, "Where have you been? What's going on?" He said, well, he was in jail.
It took a while for his brother to bail him out.
We were texting, and his texts about his brother were very angry.
Because while Jamison was in jail, Harry didn't do this, and Harry didn't do that.
That it wasn't fair, that they wouldn't give him a place to live.
And he was just furious with his brother.
So I reached out to Harry and said I'm really worried about Jamison.
He said, "Don't get involved, Bob.
" "This is our issue.
" This was when I was worried the most.
At this point, he didn't have any money, no job, no place to live, no pets.
What did he say happened to his animals? He said that a woman kept Zach, and his cat had died.
He said Abigail died in his arms.
I did wonder if, uh if he killed the cat.
I don't like to think that, but I do wonder if he did.
Police say they were called around 12:15 Saturday afternoon to this home on the 400 block of North Sterling Road in Elkins Park.
Saturday, November 4th, 2017, Harry Bachman's wife had contacted the Cheltenham Township Police Department.
The call was for a welfare check after the victim didn't show up to meet a relative the night before.
I've been in the homicide unit for 20 years, and I've been a lieutenant there for the past nine years.
Harry Bachman's wife was concerned because he did not arrive as expected in Albany, New York.
Those concerns were heightened because Harry had sent a text to his wife the night before saying, "Guess who just arrived?" It was his brother.
When the officers went to see if Harry Bachman was at the residence, his Ford Escape was not parked in front of the house.
The officers entered the house.
Inside the dining room area, there were signs of a violent struggle.
There was a hole in the drywall of the dining room.
There was a broken plate and also a computer keyboard that had been smashed and had blood spatter smears all over the floor.
It was a scene of violence.
They then followed a blood trail down the basement stairs, where they found Harry.
His body had sustained apparent head trauma.
Blunt force trauma.
There was a pile of bloody clothes down in the kitchen of the residence.
The suspect had changed into Harry's clothing.
Then detectives found Harry's iPhone 7.
And there was a notification from a credit card company that there was a recent purchase at a nearby hotel.
So we sent a team of detectives over, and the hotel clerk identified Jamison Bachman as the individual who had checked into room 102.
At that time, we secured a search warrant and deployed a tactical response team to make entry into the room.
Jamison Bachman started swinging a camp-style axe.
He struck one of the officers in the face.
He struck another one in the arm.
He was eventually tased and taken into custody.
Sixty-year-old Jamison Bachman is charged with his brother's murder.
Now, according to the district attorney, there was an obvious struggle, and Harry Bachman died of what appeared to be blunt force trauma.
Jamison was recently bailed out of jail by Harry, but Harry would not allow him to stay at his home due to Jamison's alleged history of violence.
My very first feeling after complete shock was extreme anger.
What I think about most is Harry's family.
I just feel sad.
Jamison was in jail for killing his brother, Harry, and a court hearing was set for December 11th.
I showed up at court.
I waited for his arrival.
"Where the fuck was Bachman?" "Where could he possibly be? He loves court!" He was still winning on his terms when he hanged himself.
The failed part of him figured that if he took his life, he would take everybody else's ability to control him.
I feel sad.
But I'm glad he's not around.
I guess I wasn't surprised.
He would often say, you know, "I should just kill myself.
" I felt bad for him.
But at the same time, I felt mad.
'Cause he took the easy way out.
You know? He really needed to do time.
For all of the people's lives that he destroyed.
How dare he? First, he ended up destroying himself.
Then he killed his brother, the only person in the world left to help him.
And then he killed himself.
There is no question in my mind that the things that he did were evil.
He killed a father, a husband, a grandfather.
Um And he killed my best friend.
I do have to remind myself to let it go.
I'm in a good place.
I know that I'm a strong woman.
I survived him.
We move on from these things in life.
Sure.
Now my motto is, "Don't take care of anyone else until you can take care of yourself.
" That's what I'm doing.
I'm empowering myself.
I'm trying to rebuild my credit.
And I'm trying to be better about healing myself.
The top floor was my apartment.
I'm not unhappy about not being here.
I mean, I was for a long time, but now I'm over that.
When I talk to people, and I tell them my story, they don't believe they don't believe me.
And that's one of the reasons I'm doing this documentary, 'cause it's real.
I want people out there to know that this can really happen to the strongest person.
You can be strong, and it can still happen.
I'm a strong person.
I've never been weak.
But I've moved on, and I'm in a good place now.
I have a nice apartment in a nice area.
But roommate? Forget it.
Not doing it.