Florida woman crawled out of my hotel mirror to rob me

My coworkers and I returned to our hotel after a day of work. As I opened my room, I saw a woman standing in the bathroom holding my bags and clothes. I asked what she was doing, and she mumbled that her key still worked. She dropped my belongings, fumbled with a purse and a white plastic bag, and hurried toward the door.

I asked what was in the bag. She insisted that it contained only her things and showed it to me. I did not immediately see anything that belonged to me, so I let her leave. When I looked around the room, I realized it had been ransacked. My electronics were still there, but my clothes, underwear, bikini, passport, and medication had been shoved into bags. Someone had gone through everything.

I ran outside to look for the woman, but could not find her. My coworker and I went to the lobby, reported the break in, and called the police. When we returned to the room, we found a metal bat with a flashlight attached lying on the bed. The woman had also left behind a necklace.

The officers searched the room and took our statements. Drywall fragments in the sink caught my attention. We checked the door and windows but found no sign of forced entry. The hotel staff insisted that the woman could not have used a spare key.

After the officers left, I kept staring at the drywall in the sink and the mirror above it. Something about the fragments did not make sense. I asked two coworkers to help me pull the mirror away from the wall. Behind it was a hole large enough for a person to squeeze through.

The police returned to inspect it. Inside the narrow space between the rows of rooms, they found a pillow, blankets, cigarettes, clothes, and toothbrushes. The woman had apparently been living inside the wall behind the mirror. She could move through access holes into other rooms and could have entered mine whenever it was unoccupied.

The holes had been made during a renovation and then covered with mirrors instead of being properly sealed. The woman may have been staying there for a long time. I remembered occasionally smelling cigarette smoke in the bathroom and assuming it came from another room through the vents. It had actually been coming from the other side of my mirror.

My coworkers and I packed our belongings and left immediately. I still think about how easily someone had been able to hide inside the wall, watch hotel rooms, and enter them without using the doors. I will never look at an unfamiliar hotel mirror the same way again.