‘I Thought He’d Choke Me or Rape Me’ (Exclusive)

• Natali Khomenko shared a TikTok video claiming she found a person hiding beneath her mattress in a resort room in Tokyo

• “I believed that he’ll choke me or rape me or kill me in these seconds. I used to be like, ‘that’s it. That’s it,” Khomenko defined.

• Khomenko says she is talking out to assist forestall additional incidents from occurring to different feminine solo vacationers

Natali Khomenko at all times wished to journey to Japan. So, to have a good time her thirty second birthday, she and her husband made a plan to journey there within the spring. Nonetheless, on the final minute when her husband couldn’t be part of her due to work, she determined to go alone.

“It was a gift to me to go to Japan,” she tells PEOPLE.

The Ukrainian inventive producer flew from her residence in Thailand and arrived in Tokyo on March 29, checking into her resort round 10 p.m. The following morning, she left her resort round 10 a.m. to absorb Tokyo’s temples, Ueno Park, meals markets and cafes. She arrived again at her resort round 7:30 p.m.

“I used to be so drained,” she says by the point she returned to her resort. “I simply laid down on my mattress with my cellphone. I wished to guide a prepare from Tokyo.

Then she seen a “bizarre scent.”

“It was rotten. It was like a useless animal however a candy odor,” she says. “I spotted the scent was coming from beneath the mattress.  And with none unhealthy ideas I simply leaned ahead to examine beneath the mattress. I leaned ahead and I simply noticed him. I noticed the eyes.”

Wish to sustain with the newest crime protection? Join PEOPLE’s free True Crime newsletter for breaking crime information, ongoing trial protection and particulars of intriguing unsolved instances.

Khomenko says the person, who gave the impression to be in his 20s or 30s, was mendacity on his stomach. “His arms have been bent just a little bit. Considered one of his legs was just a little bit bent. He was very quiet. It was solely the scent that helped me to identify him.”

She instantly screamed and watched in horror because the intruder wearing all black crawled out from beneath the mattress, stood up and stared at her.

“He was quietly looking at me for 3 seconds whereas I used to be screaming,” she says. “After which he began to scream. I believed that he’ll choke me or rape me or kill me in these seconds. I used to be like, ‘that’s it. That’s it.’”

Khomenko says she was completely paralyzed with concern. “I couldn’t transfer,” she says. “I used to be simply screaming and standing very stiff.”

Seconds later, the intruder circled and dashed out the resort room door. She tried to name the entrance desk. “I began to dial the reception, however I couldn’t as a result of I used to be in panic mode, and I couldn’t perceive which quantity I ought to dial.”

Vacationers within the subsequent room heard her screams and referred to as resort employees, who then referred to as police.

Khomenko says after a search of the room they discovered the intruder’s energy financial institution and a USB cable beneath the mattress.

“It’s simply my thought that he positively wished to spend the night time,” she says. “Perhaps he wished to document me and that’s why he took the facility financial institution. As a result of the digicam is taking quite a lot of batteries from the cellphone and that’s why he wanted to recharge it. He was ready.”

Khomenko says she requested the resort employees how the person might have gained entry to her room. “How did it occur that this particular person entered my room? And she or he didn’t have a solution for me. She was like, ‘I don’t know. I don’t know.’”

After she spoke to the police, Khomenko says she checked her baggage to see if something was lacking.

“He didn’t take something,” she says.

She instantly checked out of the resort and her husband booked her into one other one. Nonetheless, the remainder of her journey was stuffed with anxiousness. “I didn’t sleep in any respect within the new resorts,” she says. “I used to be in shock. I couldn’t sleep. I used to be speaking to my family until 4 a.m.”

The resort would later inform her that it did not have cameras, making it troublesome for police to establish the intruder. The resort declined her request for $1,600 to recoup her bills after the incident, she stated, however did reimburse her for the three nights she deliberate to remain there.

Khomenko reached out to the Ukrainian embassy and on April 25 spoke out concerning the incident on TikTok in a put up that has since gone viral.

“It was very scary,” she recollects. “It was an absolute violation. All my experiences, my birthday, every part was ruined.”

A part of the rationale she has spoken out, she says, is to stop this from occurring to different feminine solo vacationers.

“I wished to convey consciousness,” she famous. “Plenty of solo vacationers wrote to me that they’re grateful that I shared with this this story as a result of they might not think about that it might occur, particularly in Japan.” 

Learn the unique article on People