A family who discovered a hidden camera in their rental home's shower, only for the house to burn down three weeks later, is moving forward with a civil lawsuit as they continue to seek answers.
The Boone family made the disturbing discovery in December 2022, when a beeping sound led them to a camera hidden behind a two-way mirror in the shower wall.
“You had a camera filming kids, filming my wife and me in the shower,” Barry Boone said during a previous interview with WTKR. “I mean that is the most devastating, torturous thing you could do.”
Watch: Video shows moment Portmsouth family finds hidden camera in shower
The Boones have 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.
Three weeks later, the house was destroyed by a fire.
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 Zachary Handlin, the Boone’s family attorney.
Watch previous coverage: Family seeks answers after hidden camera found in Portsmouth rental home before fire
The case was marked inactive in October 2024.
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.”
The Boones did take a few pictures of the damage from the fire.
Watch previous coverage: Family frustrated no arrests made after finding hidden camera in rental home that burned down
"Most people would expect if their abode burned down that there would be answers," said Handlin. "Maybe not immediately, but certainly within two years, and that hasn't happened here."
The Boones filed a civil lawsuit in August 2023 against the couple who owned the home when the cameras were discovered, and the fire broke out.
WTKR has learned that the couple has since sold the home, divorced and moved out of state.
The male owner has not responded to the suit, and a default judgment hearing is scheduled for Oct. 23.
The owner's ex-wife responded to the lawsuit through her attorney, claiming she was also a victim and had no knowledge of the camera.
Watch related: Portsmouth family finds hidden camera in bathroom; 2.5 weeks later, fire destroys house
In recent weeks, police gave the family a document outlining the timeline of events stating they executed a search warrant at the home, executed a search warrant on the male owner’s email account and the FBI conducted tests among other actions, but no evidence was found, and the case was inactive as of October 2024.
However, the report does shown that Portsmouth Police attempted to call the male owner twice, but it states the phone numbers they had for him were not working.
Investigative Reporter Margaret Kavanagh has been covering this case since it happened. She has repeatedly tried to contact the owners through phone, email and text, but she has not been successful in getting any kind of response.
The Boone family says they remain fearful that whoever installed the camera could do it again.
Handlin said the family wants the public to know what happened to them and want the person responsible to be brought to justice.
