The long, strange saga of the Palm Springs Airbnb squatters has concluded after the two brothers sneaked out of owner Cory Tschogl's condo.

"It's almost like closure, but I still feel very emotionally and mentally uneasy," said Tschogl, who rented out her Southern California vacation pad to Maksym and Denys Pashanin in late May, only to have them stop paying after 30 days and refuse to leave. That was just long enough for them to gain renters' rights under California law, making eviction an expensive and drawn-out process.

No one saw the brothers leave. But a combination of sources - the neighbors, Tschogl's father who lived nearby and often checked on the condo, and what she called a "24-hour stakeout private investigation service" hired by Airbnb - eventually concluded that they had vanished.

The Pashanins missed an Aug. 19 deadline to respond in writing to an unlawful detainer notice, which legally returned the condo to Tschogl's possession. She flew down on Aug. 20 and did a walk-through.

"I was pleasantly surprised there was no obvious damage," she said. "There was more wear and tear than you'd expect, but no holes in the wall or anything crazy like a hurricane blew through it."

The case attracted a heap of media interest since it was first reported by The Chronicle in late July. Along the way, it emerged that the brothers had raised $40,000 for a video game on the crowdfunding service Kickstarter, which never materialized. Airbnb and Kickstarter both banned the brothers, and Maksym Pashanin, or someone with access to his Kickstarter account, crowed on site that he would "squat again."

"The press involvement led by (The Chronicle) pushed everything forward so (the squatters left) four months earlier than expected, and I'm very grateful," Tschogl said. "As crazy and stressful as the media attention was, I'm happy the story went viral."

Airbnb, which initially was slow in responding to Tschogl's calls and e-mails about the situation, stepped up much more after media involvement, she said.

"Airbnb covered almost all of my out-of-pocket expenses to the point where I feel satisfied," she said.

Tschogl said she doesn't feel she will be able to keep the condo. "I'm not even staying there; I'm in a hotel," she said. "I felt violated by what happened."