After two floods, a fire and now looters, one Benbrook family has been through the ringer this year. Now they're fighting back and remembering the good in people.
Elisha Lane loved her home.
"I closed on it 7/7 of ‘17, it was supposed to be lucky," Lane said.
But before long, the house proved her wrong.
"We actually named her Murphy's Law," said Lane.
It started in January with one flood followed by another.
"The plumber didn't connect a line," Lane explained. "That was claim two."
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Lane and her son Corban had moved into a hotel when they got a call from a neighbor Tuesday night.
"She said, 'Honey your house is on fire,'" Lane recalled.
A neighbor's cell phone video shows flames tearing through the house.
"I keep making the joke that I'm not Job and I wish he would stop," said Lane.
And then came the looters.
"I was angry last night,” she said. “Angry."
Lane took that anger out with a can of spray paint.
"This is my home, stop violating me and my child," she said reading off one of the signs. Another says simply “Stop stealing what we have left.”
Lane is still not sure of all of what the looters took. She knows a leaf blower and pressure washer are gone from a shed out back but she still can't look through the house while firefighters are investigating. They are still searching for a cause but think it was likely electrical.
Now Lane is packing up anything left of value, while her 9-year-old does some serious thinking.
"You just don't want to grow up to be those people because it'll take you down the wrong path and then you'll be stranded," said Corban Kemp.
Lane is also searching for her neighbor on Estes Street who kicked down the door to look for her son during the fire because he didn’t know if anyone is home.
She wants to thank him, along with all the firefighters, friends and neighbors who’ve been there to support her. The neighbors now carefully watch Lane's house, and stop by to boost her spirits.
"We love you and there's still good people in this world to look out for you," neighbor Brandi Stuck said with a hug.
"I have no idea why my house has flooded twice and then it caught fire," Lane said. "But you just hold your face up to the light even though for the moment you don't see."
Keeping her head up, and her sense of humor strong.
"She definitely went out with a bang,” Lane said. “Touché, house, touché."
If you would like to help the Lane family, there is a GoFundMe page set up here: https://www.gofundme.com/help-elisha-and-corban-rebuild
