Terry Kiser had finished a monthlong renovation project at Park View Village Mobile Home Park in Grimes and decided he'd check in with his client to see if everything was satisfactory. He called her cell phone.
Norine Toledo burst into tears at the sound of his voice.
"I told him what happened to all his hard work," she said. "I told him how my place was trashed. Vandalized. How all my clothes were cut to pieces, how there was paint on everything. All my appliances were ruined, and all the cords were cut."
The bathroom sinks had been bashed to pieces with a hammer. Most of her Precious Moments figurines were painted with red enamel. The screens to all of her televisions, including the 56-inch set, were painted. The intruder turned on all the water faucets in the residence and left them running.
Her mattress, which she had owned for just three days, was destroyed. Insulation beneath the home became soaked and frozen. Water pipes were frozen.
Bleach water was splashed on the carpets along with paint. One shoe in each pair of her shoes was destroyed.
"I would try to tell people what her place looked like but you just can't tell it in words," Kiser said. "I tell people that everything in her place was painted or destroyed and they look at me, like, OK. And I say, 'No, you don't understand. When I say everything, I mean everything.' "
An arrest warrant on felony criminal mischief has been issued for Norine Toledo's soon-to-be ex-husband, Paul Toledo, 48. At last report he was still at large.
To the rescue
But Norine Toledo's story is not just about vandalism. It's about how three workmen came to her rescue.
Toledo had hired Kiser and his partner Greg Guzman of A-1 Renovations and John Braathen of the Des Moines Painting Co. to remodel her house.
After the vandalism, the men spent weeks of their spare time working to fix the damage.
They had started to remodel Toledo's house in December. By the second half of January, the makeover was complete. Toledo had her home just the way she wanted it.
One Friday in late January, a taxicab arrived with bouquets of flowers. They were from her estranged husband. He apparently wanted to move back in with her. But she told him it was over, that the divorce would proceed. Three days later she came home to a nightmare. Everything she owned had been destroyed. Damage was around $50,000.
The home was unfit for human habitation. She moved out. About the same time Kiser, Guzman and Braathen told her not to worry about a thing. They promised to return her place to the way it was. For free.
Toledo still had to buy most of the new materials. She dug into her retirement savings to buy new furniture and carpet and sinks and almost everything else. A spokesman for Budget Blinds called and told Toledo they were going to replace her blinds for free.
"It was personal"
"For the three of us, it was personal," Kiser said. "We'd spent a month on the house. We had to help her out."
Said Braathen: "We just couldn't turn our backs on her."
For the next two weeks, the three workers put in a full day of work and then went to Toledo's home in Grimes and worked a second shift.
"I gave them each a key so they could come and go anytime they wanted to," Toledo said. "They were just great. Sometimes they'd still be in here working at 1 o'clock in the morning. And they'd have to go to work again later in the morning."
The work was tedious. When the screen to the 56-inch television set was painted beige, the paint also filled all of the hundreds of holes in the 44-inch-long speaker. Braathen took a small drill bit and manually cleaned the speaker holes one at a time. He has finished 42 inches of speaker holes and still has 2 inches to go.
"When you're a painter, you learn how to remove paint," Braathen said.
Hours of work
Kiser said every room in the home took hours and hours of work. "Basically, we turned it back into a construction site again," he said.
After two weeks, Braathen suggested everyone take a break.
"I didn't know if we'd ever really be finished," Toledo said. Later, Braathen, Kiser and Guzman returned and went at it again for another week. Slowly, the signs of vandalism started to disappear. The home was looking good again.
Last week, Toledo was ready to give a tour. She showed photographs of what the house looked like after the vandalism. It's a different place now. But paint can still be found in a few spots on china cabinets, on the dining room chair cushions, and on the pots and pans in the cabinets under the kitchen island.
Good samaritans to the rescue of vandalism victim
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