Family Claims Attack by Bugs in Hotel
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DYER COUNTY, Tenn. – One family visiting West Tennessee for a funeral claims they woke up covered in what appears to be bed bug bites, after staying just one night at a hotel in Dyersburg, Saturday. Melinda Edwards told WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News that she is traumatized after waking up at the Days Inn Hotel in Dyersburg with more than 20 apparent bugs biting and crawling across her skin. “I’m really angry,” said Edwards. “I mean it was like a nightmare. I thought I was having a nightmare. I flipped on the light and all of a sudden there was 15 to 20 huge bugs all over the white sheet. When I looked at myself, they were all over me.” Edwards said she called the hotel manager for help, and he moved her into another room. She reported painful bites on her face, chest, arms, side and back. “As he was pulling everything up, they were just everywhere,” said Edwards. “So I had to go to the hall. I will never stay in a hotel again. I will sleep in my car from now on.” Manager Vick Patel told WBBJ 7 Eyewitness News that this was the first report of a bug infestation. The rooms where the Edwards family was staying have since been closed, and he is working with staff to check every room. “You know what my stepmother is traumatized and they got their regular, normal staff there saying they’ve checked,” said family member Peter Labrizzi. “And that’s not sufficient enough what so ever.” Managers said they are aggressively trying to identify the bugs that caused their customers problems. Edwards said she is not the only one with bites. Several of her family members who were staying in other rooms found bite marks as well. “I probably got like 20 bites on me,” said nephew Lannie Carter. “They feel like a painful itchy mosquito bite, and they are filled with puss, irritated, red and hurt a little bit.” The family said they were in town from Chicago for a loved one’s funeral. They were refunded the money for their rooms, but had to throw away all of their clothes. “We are here for a reason that’s already hurtful enough, and to have to go through something like this is really terrible,” said Labrizzi. The hotel manager said he has contacted an exterminator and notified all of the other guests who are staying with them.
