TEMPE, Ariz. -- A grieving widow who lost her husband to suicide less than three weeks ago said she recently received a bill from her former apartment complex, asking her to pay more than $16,000 for cleaning costs and breaking her lease."I got to the bottom (of the bill) where it said total due from resident -- $16,000. I can't even explain what was going through my head. I was just in shock," Candice Reinke said.
Reinke, 22, said her husband, Shane Waddell, took his own life in their apartment on Sept. 3.
The pair had only been married since April. They moved into the Lake Front Apartments in Tempe shortly after.
"There are nightmares, emptiness, sadness and so many questions that I don't get any answers to,” Reinke said. “Then, finding this bill in the mail -- I was like, ‘One more thing?’”
A bulk of the charge -- totaling more than $12,000 -- was for bio-hazard cleaning costs.
“I thought, ‘How am I supposed to pay this? Why won't anyone talk to me from (the apartment management)? Don't they have policies in place? Insurance that's supposed to step in?'" Reinke said.
Reinke said she called the apartment manager and tried calling the district manager in hopes of working something out, but said she got nowhere.
"I tried to explain to her. Imagine how you'd feel, finding your husband like that. This was the man I was supposed to celebrate my 50th anniversary with, the person I was supposed to spend the rest of my life with," said Reinke.
CBS 5 News went to Lake Front apartments to try to get answers. The manager deferred questions to the district manager, then told her assistant to take down our questions.
CBS 5 News also left messages for the district manager. As of Wednesday night, there was no response.
Reinke said she received an angry call from the district manager shortly after CBS 5 News visited the property. Reinke said she was told the management would make a decision on the charges by Friday.
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