Courtesy Marcella Bracamonte(UPLAND, Calif.) — The live-in nanny who was fired but refused to leave has apparently left.
Diane Stretton baffled Marcella and Ralph Bracamonte of Upland, California, when, they said, she stopped working after several months, was dismissed, but refused to move out.
Stretton’s standoff with the Bracamonte family became public this week and Stretton left the house early Thursday morning.
“She left around 7 a.m. yesterday morning and she never came back,” Marcella Bracamonte told ABC News.
“I have no idea where she goes. I don’t know what happened,” she said.
The mom said that when Stretton left Thursday, there was no indication that she wasn’t coming back and her belongings were still in her room.
Stretton has not responded to numerous phone calls from ABC News.
The Bracamontes hired Stretton in early March to help with their three young children. After several months of work, Stretton abruptly stopped, according to the Bracamontes.
Stretton’s sudden departure came after weeks of urging by the Bracamontes that she resume helping out with the children and perform some housework in return for room and board, which was their original agreement, Marcella Bracamonte said. Stretton claimed that she had chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, which prevented her from helping around the house, Marcella Bracamonte said.
When the Bracamontes asked her earlier this month to sign a notice that she would move out in 30 days, Stretton refused to sign and slammed her door, the mother said. Mrs. Bracamonte claims that Stretton, 64, even threatened to sue the family for wrongful firing and elder abuse.
“I’m a prisoner in my home, because literally I’m afraid to go anywhere,” Mrs. Bracamonte said.
Stretton has continued to live with the Bracamontes, coming out of her room to eat, Marcella Bracamonte said.
Police refused to intervene, saying it was a civil matter. Lt. John Moore of the Upland Police Department told ABC News that “generally, once somebody has established residency, you have to go through a formal eviction process.”
Bracamonte found that Stretton has a lengthy history of filing lawsuits and is included in California’s Vexatious Litigant Lists for her many unsuccessful suits.
Those lawsuits are largely directed at her family, frequently suing her two sisters trying to block the sale of family property. Last year, Stretton even sued her son, Michael, according to court records, for property damage and personal injury. Stretton also has a daughter.
Stretton’s sisters and her son could not be reached for comment.
Stretton apparently has long had a strained relationship with her family. Court documents show that when Stretton’s father, John Richardson, died in 2000, his will included Stretton’s two sisters, Donna Tobey and Sharon Freeburn. Richardson “specifically and expressly omitted Stretton,” according to court documents.
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