The 'Serial Squatter' Who Tormented Malibu's Elite: Report

MALIBU, CA — A woman has been using California’s tenant-friendly rental laws to take advantage of — and terrorize — Malibu residents, according to Vanity Fair.

The publication recently published an in-depth look into “serial squatter” Ellie Mae McNulty, who in the fall of 2021 moved in with Alden Marin, an artist and cancer patient living in the Point Dume area.

McNulty originally said she would only stay a few days while her home was being completed, but days turned into a month, and the polite and kind guest Marin had welcomed turned rude and demanding, according to Vanity Fair, eventually contributing to a psychiatric emergency Marin suffered in early 2022.

McNulty used Marin’s credit cards, changed the locks on the home while he was hospitalized, and flushed cloth napkins in the toilet, clogging the pipes, the outlet reported, adding she asked for as much as $20,000 to leave. McNulty has said Marin had the locks changed with her possessions inside the residence, according to the article.

California law stipulates that guests — even those who don’t pay rent, like McNulty — can be considered tenants, although a judge eventually ordered McNulty to vacate after Marin took her to court in 2022, according to Vanity Fair.

Marin’s sister, Mindy Marin, found over 10 legal cases going back nearly two decades involving McNulty, with the most recent tied to people living around Point Dume, the outlet reported.

Past victims included a widow in her 80s in Santa Monica, a yoga teacher who McNulty didn’t pay for rent or classes, and many more, according to Vanity Fair.

Read more from Vanity Fair.