Three women who were targeted by a violent serial squatter have spoken out about their horrific experiences with the seemingly-charming man – who went on to murder his own brother in a fit of rage after destroying the lives of dozens of victims.
Jamison Bachman, from Pennsylvania, would rent a room in people’s homes – often using a fake name and pretending to be a lawyer – only to then go out of his way to make their lives a nightmare by destroying their property, moving and touching their personal belongings, and refusing to pay rent.
The ‘serial squatter’ would often make up a back story – like a family member being sick or his old house being destroyed – to explain why he needed a place to live, and would start by posing as the perfect roommate – coming off as neat, polite, and well-educated.
However, after a few days of living together, he would turn into a terror – doing whatever he could to make his roommates unhappy, like stealing their lightbulbs and purposely clogging the toilet with cat litter.
Bachman – who had a law degree but never passed the Bar Exam – wouldn’t give them money for rent, and when they tried to argue with him about it, he used his knowledge of the law to avoid paying, claiming that they broke the lease.
Many women who were targeted by a violent serial squatter have spoken out about their horrific experiences with the man (pictured) – who ended up killing his own brother
Jamison Bachman (pictured as a teen), from Pennsylvania, would rent a room in people’s homes – often using a fake name and pretending to be a lawyer
He then went out of his way to make their lives a nightmare by destroying their property, moving and touching their belongings, and refusing to pay rent. One of his victims is pictured
The ‘serial squatter’ would often make up a fake back story, and would pose as the perfect roommate – coming off as neat, polite, and well-educated. Two of his victims are pictured
He would sometimes get violent – choking one of his former roommates and cutting another with a knife – and in some cases, he made them so miserable that he drove the women out of their homes and kept it for himself.
Eventually, Bachman killed his own brother in cold blood – after he refused to let him stay with him – and while he was on trial for the murder, he took his own life.
Now, Bachman’s hideous actions have been covered in two episodes of the recent Netflix docuseries Worst Roommate Ever, and his terrible tactics have shaken many people on the internet.
Bachman grew up in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Cheltenham High School in 1974. His father, Jim, owned a construction company, while his mother, Joan, was a stay-at-home mom.
Intelligencer reported that growing up, he had a lot of resentment towards his father, who was reportedly abusive, and favored his older brother, Harry.
Friends described Bachman as ‘smart’ and ‘charming,’ as well as self-confident and competitive, and they said they thought he had a ‘bright future,’ despite his rough family background.
However, after he witnessed a brutal murder during his freshman year at Tulane University in New Orleans, Louisiana, his friends noticed a major change in Bachman.
According to Associated Press, Bachman’s close friend Ken Gutzeit was killed in a frat house after an argument broke out between him and 25-year-old student librarian Randell Vidrine in January of 1976 – while Bachman was watching. Gutzeit, 20, bled to death after his neck was slashed by Vidrine.
However, after a few days of living together, he would turn into a terror, doing what he could to make his roommates unhappy – like stealing lightbulbs and purposely clogging the toilet
Bachman grew up in Elkins Park, Pennsylvania, and graduated from Cheltenham High School in 1974. He is pictured in his high school yearbook
His friend Bob Friedman (pictured) described Bachman as ‘smart’ and ‘charming,’ as well as self-confident and competitive
A childhood friend of Bachman’s, named Bob Friedman, told Netflix that the incident turned him into a ‘very dark’ and ‘very paranoid’ person.
‘That’s the kind of traumatic, life-changing event that changes your whole worldview,’ Friedman said.
Bachman went on to get his masters in History at Georgetown University, and at age 45, he began studying law at the University of Miami.
He received his law degree but never passed the bar exam – failing on his first try in 2003.
His teachers told Intelligencer that he was a ‘remarkable’ student with ‘extraordinary talents.’
Alex Miller, 35, from Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, was looking for a roommate in 2017, so she put up an ad on Craigslist.
Bachman responded to her ad using a fake name – Jed Creek – and claimed that he was a New York lawyer who needed to move to the area to take care of his ailing brother, who was suffering from Hepatitis C.
The two met for coffee at a local Starbucks, and after the brief meetup, Miller rented him the extra room in her apartment.
He offered to pay her the first month’s rent for the room right right away, and wrote her a check for $800, which cleared – despite the name and address on the check being left blank.
Miller recalled being relieved when she found Bachman, after spending weeks struggling to look for a roommate.
‘Here was a courtly gentleman,’ she recalled to Intelligencer. ‘An experienced lawyer who’d lived in Europe and the Middle East.’
But right away, things started to turn weird. Miller said Bachman moved in with just six plastic bins, his dog, and a cat – which he hadn’t told her about before hand.
He didn’t have a mattress or a bed – he simply slept on a big pile of comforters on the floor.
And while they were living together, she claimed that he would often move her personal items around, and he even took the lightbulbs out of the lights in their shared living space to use in his own room.
He also decided to remove the chairs from the kitchen and bring them into his bedroom, using them to make himself a desk.
However, after Bachman witnessed a brutal murder during college, he changed – turning into a ‘very dark’ and ‘very paranoid’ person, according to Friedman (pictured with Bachman as kids)
Alex Miller (pictured), 35, from Chestnut Hill, Pennsylvania, met Bachman in 2017 after he answered her Craigslist ad, and they soon became roommates
He rented the room under a fake name – Jed Creek – and pretended to be a lawyer from New York, but refused to pay rent. Pictured is the apartment they shared together
After problems started to arise, Miller’s mom decided to google Bachman’s phone number – and she soon uncovered his true identity. Miller and her mom, Susan, are pictured together
After 11 days of living together, Miller asked him to pay his portion of the utility bills and he refused, claiming that they covered a period of time before he had moved in.
‘We can handle this in court if you would prefer,’ Miller said he told her.
She claimed that Bachman then said he wasn’t going to pay his share of the rent either, because he had found a cigarette butt in the toilet, and that she had broken the ‘warranty of habitability’ and ‘covenant of quiet enjoyment.’
‘We agreed he would share the cost of paying the bills,’ she explained in the Netflix series.
‘Later, Jed would laugh at me when I asked for him to pay the bills. When he laughed, at me, it was sinister. It was demeaning. It was patronizing, like I was stupid.’
After problems started to arise, Miller’s mom, Susan, decided to google Bachman’s phone number – and she soon realized that his name wasn’t Jed Creek after all.
Instead, she was shocked to uncover his true identity – a ‘serial squatter who had terrorized roommates up and down the East Coast,’ Miller recalled.
After making the discovery, Miller decided to throw a big house party in an attempt to get drive Bachman out, since she read online from his previous victims that he hated parties, drinking, smoking, and loud rap music.
Miller tried to drive him out by throwing a party but it resulted in him choking her, slamming her leg in a door, and cutting her thigh with a knife. He was then arrested and evicted
Another former roommate, named Arleen Hairbaedian (pictured), 47, had a physical altercation with Bachman while he was living with her in Queens in 2006
After he allegedly filed a fake police report against her, she was forbidden to go near him or the apartment. He then took over her home as his own. The apartment is pictured
However, her plan didn’t work, and instead, it resulted in Bachman choking Miller, as well as slamming her leg in a door, and cutting her thigh with a knife.
After the incident, he was arrested, and charged with aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, simple assault, and possession of an instrument of crime, leading to him getting evicted from the apartment.
‘He seemed to relish the anguish of those who had taken him in without realizing that they would soon be pulled into a terrifying battle for their home,’ Intelligencer reported.
‘Nothing they did could satisfy or appease him, because the objective was not material gain but, seemingly, the sadistic pleasure of watching them squirm as he displaced them.’
Melissa Frost lived with Bachman in 2012, after he claimed that his house had been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy.
She let him stay with her for free, however, he soon turned into an awful roommate – kicking down doors, purposely scuffing the floors, and even clogging the toilets with cat litter.
‘He went from being this cordial, polite person who understood he was a guest in my house to someone who was approaching me aggressively and flat-out saying, “This is my house now,”‘ she explained to Intelligencer.
She said he once almost pushed her down the stairs, and after she called the police about it, her cat suddenly went missing.
Sonia Acevedo, 53, shared an apartment with Bachman in Rockaway Beach, New York, and said he was often violent, leaving her terrified for her well-being and her personal belongings
When she was home, she said she would barricade the door to her room with a chair to ensure he wasn’t going to come in and hurt her. The building they lived in together is pictured
Another woman, named Melissa Frost, claimed Bachman (pictured) once almost pushed her down the stairs, and after she called the police about it, her cat suddenly went missing
And although she couldn’t prove he had something to do with the feline’s disappearance, she had a strong feeling he had done something to her precious pet.
After that, she said she asked him to leave but she said he simply laughed and told her, ‘You’ve got your whole life in front of you. You’re pretty, and you’re talented, and you’ve got this house – well, you don’t have this house anymore. This house is my house.’
‘It was like something out of a movie,’ she said.
Another former roommate, named Arleen Hairbaedian, 47, had a physical altercation with Bachman while he was living with her in Queens in 2006.
After he refused to pay rent, she slapped him – and in response, he grabbed her by the throat.
She then tried to get him evicted, but he reportedly retaliated by filing a police report in which he claimed that she tried to stab him, although Hairbaedian said that never happened.
However, after the report, she was forbidden to go near him or the apartment. He then took over her home, and brought two of her cats to a kill shelter to be euthanized.
Sonia Acevedo, 53, shared an apartment with Bachman in Rockaway Beach, New York, and said he was often violent – even swinging a chair at her once – leaving her terrified for her well-being and her personal belongings.
When she was home, she said she would barricade the door to her room with a chair to ensure he wasn’t going to come in and hurt her, and when she was out, she would leave an empty wine bottle in her entranceway to see if it was knocked over or moved when she came home.
In November 2017, Bachman killed his brother Harry (pictured) in his Elkins Park home. The cause of death was ‘blunt force trauma to the head and body’
On December 8, 2017, Bachman (pictured) hung himself in his jail cell at Montgomery County Correctional Facility and died at age 60
In November 2017, Bachman killed his brother Harry in his Elkins Park home, after Harry bailed him out of jail following the incident with Miller. The cause of death was ‘blunt force trauma to the head and body.’
It was reported that Bachman got mad at his brother after he and his wife, Caroline Bachman, refused to let him stay at their home.
After the murder, Bachman was caught using Harry’s credit card to book a hotel room, as well as driving his car.
A SWAT team surrounded the hotel, but Bachman tried to fight back using an axe – cutting one police officer in the face, and another in the arm, before he was finally taken into custody.
On December 8, 2017, he hung himself in his jail cell at Montgomery County Correctional Facility and died at age 60.
‘How dare he?’ Miller said, while discussing his death in the Netflix series. ‘First, he ended up destroying himself. Then he killed his brother, the only person in the world left to help him. And then he killed himself.’
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