02/17/2026
Locked Out
Introduction
Client’s wife traveled throughout the US presenting material to health care industry workers who were preparing to take licensing examinations. She had recently hired a male to assist with the presentation of the material. Client had observed some changes in his wife’s behavior that led him to suspect that the relationship between her and the new assistant was beyond that of colleagues.
Investigation Details
The first period of surveillance occurred during a trip the two went to New Orleans to conduct a three-day review course. The course was at the Hilton Garden Inn located at 821 Gravier Street, New Orleans, Louisiana, 70112. The two suspects were seen several times during the three days of surveillance in the hotel restaurant throughout the area near the conference room. There was no inappropriate conduct observed.
My client informed that the following week the two were scheduled to travel to Atlanta for a two-day review course presentation. The location of the class was at Embassy Suites, 267 Marietta Street, Atlanta, Georgia, 30313. I made reservations for two rooms at the same hotel.
I arrived at the hotel after the the suspects checked in. I approached the concierge with some cash in my hand. I told him that I needed to know the room number that Ms. ###X was in. As I asked the question, I laid the cash on the desk. He provided the room number.
I then walked to the front desk to check in. I told the front desk clerk that I was friends with Ms. ###X who was in Room ###X. I asked if there was anyway possible, I could get the room directly across the hall from her. The desk clerk checked to see if the room was available and fortunately it was.
I sent the guy that was working with me to the bar area where a reception for the course attendees was taking place. I went up to the room with my luggage and surveillance equipment.
After I got to the room, I removed the peephole from the door and replaced it with a wired peephole camera. The camera came equipped with a power cord and audio-visual cables that connected to a monitor and recorder.
About 45 minutes later the guy helping me called to tell me the suspects were walking out of the bar area toward the elevators. I turned the recorder on and sat down where I could see the monitor. I watched as the two approached the door where my client’s wife stopped at the door of her room but the man kept walking.
I was aggravated because I needed to catch them going into the same room together. My thoughts were that they probably had adjoining rooms which meant they could just open the doors on the inside of the rooms leaving me with no opportunity to catch them going into the same room overnight.
I started trying to think of my next move to catch them. About 10 minutes passed when I noticed that the man had returned to her room dressed in shorts, a t-shirt, and flip flops. He knocked on the door; I was able to see her open the door to let him in. It was just a matter of time before we would have what we needed.
What happened next would be what sealed the deal for my client. It would be about 10 seconds of video that would cause his wife to settle on his terms.
I could not believe what I was seeing. She opened the door to her room dressed in a skimpy negligée holding a room service tray. As she bent over to place the tray in the hallway the door began to close and hit her in the butt pushing her into the hall. The door closes locking her out of the room. She begins pounding on the door to get back in. As she is looking left and right to see if anyone was in the hallway, I could read her lips as she said, “Oh Sh*t”!!
*Image is not from the actual investigation.
