Stockton Woman's Home Overrun By Bedbugs

STOCKTON, Calif. (CBS13) – A grandmother says she has been at the mercy of bedbugs for months and has the bite marks to prove it, but has received few answers and solutions from her landlord.

Irene Blackston, who turns 80 in just over a week, says she first told her property manager about the bedbug infestation in March, but two different fumigation appointments were cancelled and the insects still torment her every time she sleeps.

She even scraped some of the pests into an old jar as proof of the constant irritant inside her unit at the Royal Arms Apartment complex in Stockton.

"I woke up… felt something biting on me and it looked like a zillion bedbugs came out of nowhere," Blackston said. "I'm getting bitten every time I lay down in the bed, day or night."

A dense pattern of bite marks are visible all across her back from the infestation.

Blackston, who has raised 10 kids, taken care of 60 grandchildren and has welcomed 40 great-grandchildren, said it feels like nobody is taking care of her.

"The landlord needs to gut up off their butt and do what needs to be done, move us out of here or fumigate it so we can live like human beings instead of prisoners," she said.

CBS13's requests for comment Wednesday were forwarded to a Citrus Heights company called Classic Realty Consultants.