A southern-Indiana mom is trying to get herself out of a lease after waking up to hateful messages written all over her property last week, WDRB reports.
On Wednesday, Mia Frias-Russell woke to a disturbing sight that she said left her no longer feeling welcome in Campbellsburg, Ind.
"I was just shaking and in so much fear of who could have done it and why," Frias-Russell told the news station.
She was talking about the hateful messages—which included profanity and the n-word—that she said she found scrawled on her shed and her car. There was even sugar in her gas tank.
Frias-Russell told the news station that tension has been building for weeks.
"I have been getting yelled n—ger bitch out here mowing the grass several times," she said.
However, the single mother of three doesn't believe that her harrowing incidents have much to do with race. She blames it all on a custody battle, saying that a private detective recently came to the town and spread stories about her to her neighbors.
"That I am a drug user, drug abuser … that I'm a dangerous person, and none of those things are facts," she said. "I truly believe … it's gotten around to the wrong ignorant person, and this is what happened."
According to WDRB, the Indiana State Police are investigating the incident not just as a case of vandalism but as a possible hate crime.
"It's a very disturbing situation, obviously," Indiana State Police Sgt. Jerry Goodin told the station. "Either the person responsible for this is a child or an adult with a childlike mentality. We're taking it very seriously."
Frias-Russell's case went viral after she live-streamed her reaction on Facebook, where the video has been viewed more than a million times, WDRB notes.
"The community has been extremely supportive and come to my aid," she said. "Why not come over and get to know me instead of committing a crime like this?"
Read more at WDRB.