10 On Your Side: New lease on life

VIRGINIA BEACH, Va. (WAVY) - What Tyson Rotruck witnessed when he got home one January afternoon has left him sleepless for nights, leaving no other option but to contact 10 On Your Side.

Last November, Rotruck had moved in with his fiancee, Kimberly McMillan, to the Harbor Inn Apartments at Shore Drive and Diamond Springs Road, operated by Meredith Management. 

Although their relationship was rocky, Rotruck and McMillan had known each other since high school and were on the right track when they moved in together along with their 6-year-old daughter Victoria.

"She gave me what I wanted and after all these years, we had a child," Rotruck said. "It was the best time. She loved the place. I had found an an apartment to reunite us and to get our lives going again."

Just when everything was coming together for the young couple, things took a turn for the worst.

Rotruck came home Jan. 12 to his daughter sitting alone in a living room chair. 

"'Daddy, I've been really upset,'" Rotruck remembered his daughter saying. "'I've been knocking on the door trying to speak to mommy and she won't answer the door and I've been crying... she wanted to lie down because she had a headache.'"

Rotruck then made his way to the bedroom, not knowing his life was about to change.

"I opened up the door and Kim was laying down... dead. Right there on the floor. I was scared. There was a knife on the floor," Rotruck siad.

McMillan had taken her own life. Meredith Management cut out the rug where McMillan was found. Rotruck needed more closure. He couldn't sleep at night and didn't want to come home to the apartment he once shared with the love of his life. 

"I am not going back in that house. I am  already having problems sleeping since this incident," Rotruck said.

He sent a text message to property manager Carolyn Moore, telling her he needed to get out of his lease.

"I told her, 'I am not coming back over there. I want to get out of the lease, can you get me out of the lease?'" Rotruck said.

Moore responded with the following:  "Tyson, I spoke with Mary at the corporate office and they will transfer you to another apt [sic], but can't let you out of the lease."

Rotruck texted her back: "Nope, I'm gone."

"It was insensitive, it was heartless, it was stunning. The only thing I could think of was it was cruel. It was cruel," Rotruck said.

Rotruck then contacted 10 On Your Side.

"I know you can get this done," Rotruck said.

10 On Your Side tracked down the landlord at Meredith Management's leasing office. Following an afternoon of unanswered door-knocking from WAVY crews, Meredith Management Vice President Page Lea stepped outside of the office.

"We are happy to let him out of his lease and return his security deposit refund," Lea said.  "We have decided to change our position and that's all we are going to comment on right now."

Andy Fox and 10 On Your Side brought back the good news to Rotruck, who was speechless and teary-eyed.

With a little nudging, a corporation put what is right ahead of money and convenience.