NEED TO KNOW
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Jason Hurwitz rented out a spare bedroom in his Malibu home to Ellie Mae McNulty, who was later revealed to be an alleged malicious home occupant.
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«"I really felt like she was invading our home and terrorizing us, but she did it with a smile," he says in the new Hulu documentary series. «"Squatters: Get the hell out of my house.".
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McNulty also allegedly stalked a man with stage IV cancer and an elderly widow.
A man and his roommate decided to rent out the spare bedroom in their three-bedroom home in Malibu, California. Little did they know at the time that it would turn into a nightmare.
New documentary series "« Squatters: Get the hell out of my house."» explores the experiences of people living in squatters' homes. The series, executive produced by Mark Consuelos and Kelly Ripa, premiered on Thursday, June 4, and all six episodes are now available to watch.
In the second episode, "The Malibu Parasite," Jason Hurwitz discusses his relationship with an eccentric woman named Ellie May McNulty.
Gurvits says he and his roommate, Kesia, posted an ad online for a spare room. Kesia later informed him that McNulty had answered the ad and was moving in. According to Gurvits, McNulty, an aspiring actress, told them her uncle was helping her with expenses and would send money for the deposit.
Jason Hurwitz in "Squatters: Get the Hell Out of My House!" (Photo: ABC News Studios)
Meanwhile, Gurvits and Kesia allowed her to move into their home.
«"She was quiet. She didn't cause any problems. It wasn't until about seven days after she moved in that I asked Kesia, 'Could you ask Ellie about the deposit again?' And she made up an excuse that her uncle was away and couldn't do it. She just avoided answering," he recalls in the episode.
Over time, Gurvits and Kesia became more aggressive in confronting Ellie. But, according to him, she always responded calmly.
«"No matter how angry we were with her, she remained the same. She was like Chucky. It seemed she had such power over us that the angrier we got, the weaker we became. It felt like she had invaded our home and was terrorizing us, but she did it with a smile," says Gurvits.
According to Gurwitz, after about a month, McNulty began to act more "hostile," and then he realized that an impostor had taken up residence in their home.
California law states that if someone occupies a property for more than 30 days, they must, in some cases, be evicted through a formal eviction process. After researching the laws, Gurvits learned that the eviction process could take over six months and cost him over $15,000.
He eventually succeeded in kicking McNulty out of the house by exploiting a loophole. After McNulty attempted to obtain a temporary restraining order against him for alleged online defamation, he called the Los Angeles police and requested a restraining order against her for civil harassment. When the police convinced McNulty to leave the house to talk, he managed to lock her out.
McNulty did not respond to a request for comment from the documentary series' producers.
A still from the filming of "Squatters: Get the Hell Out of My House!" Photo: ABC News Studios.
Later, a journalist contacted Gurvits for an article in Vanity Fair . The article, published in January 2025, called McNulty a "serial squatter." It told the story of a 65-year-old man named Alden Marin, who had been diagnosed with stage IV melanoma and claimed McNulty had stalked him.
He said that in 2021, he invited her to stay at his apartment for a few days while she waited for her new one to be ready, after which she refused to leave. In the article, he claimed she verbally abused him and never paid rent. At one point, he said, she told him she was waiting for an inheritance from her grandmother so she could rent a new apartment.
Several months later, Marin was admitted to a psychiatric ward where he was diagnosed with severe depression and a possible psychotic break, according to Vanity Fair . In a court document seen by the publication, he attributed his mental state to "the threatening presence, deteriorating conditions, and bullying by the Defendant, who put extreme pressure on me when I was simply trying to live in my own home.".
While Marin was in the hospital, McNulty allegedly changed the locks on his home. Eventually, a judge ordered her to leave the house.
Vanity Fair magazine reported that she also allegedly took advantage of an elderly widow who rented a room in her Santa Monica home to McNulty. According to a source cited in the VF article, the widow paid her "tens of thousands of dollars" to move out.
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The publication reported that McNulty was involved in at least four lawsuits related to rental housing.
The film "Squatters: Get the Hell Out of My House"« Now available to watch on Hulu and Hulu on Disney+.
Read the original article on People.