PORTSMOUTH, Va. — News 3 is learning more details regarding a disturbing case out of Portsmouth involving a family who found a hidden camera in the shower of their rental home, then lost everything when the house burned down.
Investigative Reporter Margaret Kavanagh initially reported on this story back in January 2023 and has continued to dig into the situation.
Previous coverage: Family still wants answers after hidden camera found in Portsmouth rental home
Back on January 16, 2023, Martin Luther King Day, on North Street near Court Street in Olde Towne Portsmouth, a two-alarm fire broke out.
WTKR was there to cover the fire that night.
Barry and Sineathia Boone took a trip to Charlotte and said their teenage son woke up to flames throughout the home they rented. Luckily, he wasn’t hurt and his teenage sister wasn’t home.
The house was destroyed.
“It was really devastating for the whole entire family,” said Sineathia Boone.
Previous coverage: Portsmouth family finds hidden camera in bathroom; Weeks later, fire destroys house
Documents obtained by News 3 outline how the fire department reported, “pictures and a deep investigation were not possible due to the damage associated to the fire and the ruling of the cause being undetermined.”
The fire happened just a few weeks after they found a hidden camera behind the two-way mirror inside their shower.
The family called police, and the authorities began their first investigation.
The Boones recently contacted Kavanagh out of extreme frustration for what they say is a lack of answers and accountability. No one was ever arrested for the camera found in their shower.
Attorney Zach Handlin is now representing the family.
“It's just terrible and the fact that their house burns down two weeks later, come on, this is ripe for a serious investigation,” said Handlin.
Kavanagh continues to ask city officials how the case was investigated and filed several Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests with the city, the fire department and police.
The Portsmouth Fire Department provided us with two fire reports that outline the response to the flames. The report states, in part, that smoke was coming from the roof. It also states a second alarm was called and the “ceiling fell in on them due to the water from the third floor and fire between floors." At one point, the report mentions putting out the fire in the bathroom area.
The family bathroom is in the same place where the hidden camera had been found with a long cord attached to it a few weeks before the fire.
The Boones provided News 3 with a video, shown below, they took the day the camera was discovered behind the two-way mirror. They were horrified and felt extremely violated.
Watch: Video shows moment Portsmouth family finds hidden camera in shower of rental home
The Boones had two teenagers who were both minors at the time. They said they had been living in the house for 16 months before finding the camera.
They said there was a power outage in December of 2022 and then they started hearing a ringing coming from the bathroom wall. The Boone's teenage daughter used her cell phone to take a picture of the two-way mirror and saw a light coming from behind the mirror.
Contractors then pulled the two-way mirror out of the shower wall and discovered the camera while it was still ringing.
Portsmouth police recently told News 3 officers and a federal law enforcement agency retrieved the hard drive connected to the camera and did not locate any files or recordings. Therefore, they said due to a lack of evidence, no one was charged.
Portsmouth's Commonwealth’s Attorney said their office wasn’t involved because no charges were filed.
“This is a travesty. I can't believe that nobody has prosecuted anyone as a result of what happened,” said Handlin.
In a statement regarding the fire, the city said “investigators determined that the cause of the fire was electrical, but the ultimate cause of the issue was undermined." Additionally, they said, “there was heavy damage and a roof collapse that made the investigation difficult” and the “fire was not ruled suspicious."
Through the FOIA request we filed, we also obtained a portion of the fire report that read: “This is the complete report. Pictures and a deep investigation were not possible due to the damage associated to the fire and the ruling of the cause being undetermined.”
“We are living in the house, doing what we are supposed to do, and we feel like our privacy was neglected. Then, two weeks later, we lose everything and it’s one thing after the next and we still haven’t gotten any justice for this,” said Sineathia Boone.
Ricardo Frost is the Vice President of RFK Solutionz and an IT expert. News 3 showed him the video of the Boones discovering the camera to analyze. He said there is a possibility the camera could have been livestreaming, but it's unclear if this was part of the law enforcement investigation.
“From the placement of the cameras, the type of equipment that the cameras were using, the ethernet connections. Yes, it’s definitely possible it could have been a livestream that was happening in real time. That might be one of the reasons why they were not able to find any information or data on the hard drives,” said Frost.
Handlin said now they are seeking civil litigation.
“I think the system has failed them at this point. It's been two years, and they're sitting here and they don't have the answers that they deserve,” said Handlin.
To add to all the problems the family has faced, Barry Boone said he cut his leg when he went back into the home after the fire, then the cut got infected and he lost his leg.
The family said it has been an awful string of events, but they want the person who put the camera in the shower to face justice.
