Woman only discovered that the home she was renting had been a serial killer's torture chamber after she seeing it in a TV documentary

Catrina McGhaw signed a lease on a property in Ferguson, Missouri, in March but then found out it had belonged to a probable serial killer

Maury Travis, 36, committed suicide in jail in 2002 before cops could quiz him about as many as 20 murders in the local area

When police searched his home, they found makeshift cells in the basement

McGhaw's landlord, also Travis' mom, refused to let her end her lease early



She took her complaint to the St. Louis Housing Authority which told her she can break the lease and she moves out later this month

A woman who discovered her rental home had once been a suspected serial killer’s torture chamber is moving out early after appealing to St. Louis public housing officials when her landlord wouldn't budge.



Catrina McGhaw only discovered that the house in Ferguson, Missouri, had been home to Maury Travis after a family member told her to watch a cold case documentary about serial killers on the A&E network.



Travis, a 36-year-old waiter, committed suicide in jail in 2002 after he was charged with killing two St. Louis area women.



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Catrina McGhaw, left, only discovered that the house in Ferguson, Missouri, had been home to Maury Travis, right, after a family member told her to watch a cold case documentary about serial killers on the A&E network

Police however believe he was responsible for as many as 20 murders in the area. Prior to his capture, Travis had sent a map to identify victim 17 to a local newspaper.



Police were able to trace the map, which he made using a web program, to his computer.



When police searched his home, they found makeshift cells in the basement and videos of Travis tormenting women before tying them up to a wooden beam that still stands to this day.



‘This whole basement was his torture chamber and it’s not okay,’ McGhaw told KMOV.

When police searched the home when Travis lived there, they found makeshift cells in his basement and videos of him tormenting women before tying them up to a wooden beam

After discovering that her rental home had once been a serial killer's torture chamber, McGhaw is moving out early after appealing to St. Louis public housing officials when her landlord wouldn't budge

The landlord even gave her the dining room table; the same one from the crime scene photos.



‘When she showed us the house, she said you can have this table if you want,’ said McGhaw, who had signed a lease in March.



The landlord turned out to be Sandra Travis, the killer’s mother.



The tenant begged to get out of her lease, but Sandra Travis wasn't sympathetic. She told KMOV that she had told McGhaw about the home's grim past.



McGhaw denies that and claims she would have remembered if she had been informed that people had been murdered in the basement.



The tenant then took her complaint to the St. Louis Housing Authority which told her she can break the lease and she moves out later this month.