'If I could strangle...': Disabled woman got stuck on 4th floor of hotel for 42 days after elevator broke down

A disabled woman got stuck in a hotel for six weeks after its elevator broke down. She was living on the fourth floor of a WoodSpring Suites in Chesapeake, Virginia, Wavy reported. However, on April 17, the elevator in the building stopped working. There was no backup and no other facility she could use to leave the building. Her ordeal stretched for 42 days before she could finally step outside.

Joy Patton uses a motorised wheelchair to move around. She had been putting up at the extended-stay hotel while waiting for a more permanent residence which was accessible to her.

However, disaster struck when the elevator broke down. The management had a look and promised they would fix it soon. But nothing happened for weeks, forcing Patton to remain in her fourth-floor room. She missed her doctor's appointments and could not buy food or any other groceries. She was essentially held captive in the hotel.

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Patton told local media outlet Wavy that she suffers from "depression, anxiety, PTSD" and has "zero cartilage in either hip."

"I have arthritis in my knees and my ankles that are degenerative. Just a disease in my spine in Stage 3, and going on Stage 4 for congestive heart failure."

“Right now, if I could get away with strangling somebody right now, I would do it,” Joy Patton said.

Her husband, Matt Patton, says he walked up and down the stairs four to five times a day to run errands after an “out of service” sign appeared on the elevator on the first floor on April 10.

Hotel staff did not offer any help, Pattons claim

The Pattons say the hotel did not offer any help. Meanwhile, Jim Darter, president and CEO of Sandpiper Hospitality, told the outlet that, according to the local team, the couple refused to relocate to a lower floor. "We would be more than happy to re-accommodate Ms. Patton to another floor of the hotel if that would be her preference," he said.

However, Joy and Matt claim they were never offered a first-floor room. "We asked about a first floor for us, and they said nothing is available. We were offered nothing by the local management," she said.

The elevator was finally fixed on May 29, after 42 days, and the woman was finally able to step outside following the weeks-long ordeal.