A man in New Jersey returned to his home after Superstorm Sandy only to find it had vanished -- and not from the storm. At issue is who tore it down and why?
The Jersey shore homeowner reached out to us after finding his summer home had vanished along with everything inside. So we called the state looking for answers.
"The township didn't know what happened. I called the governor's office and asked the assistant what happened. She said to me, 'Are you sure your house is gone? 'I said 'Miss, you misplace your pen or pencil. You don't misplace your house.'"
A picture taken by a neighbor just after the storm shows Maria's home had shifted off its foundation but it was still standing.
He said he was never told that his home would be demolished and all his possessions thrown away.
Maria contacted the New Jersey Department of Transportation to find out what happened.
He got a letter that states that "The DOT did not remove any structure that was not on the roadway... our objective... was to open the roadways."
But here is the problem, Maria said his home was not blocking a roadway and he said this picture proves it.
"It clearly was not in the street, clearly not in the street," Maria said. "There's a utility pole standing there. The house would have knocked that over if it was in the street."
So Fox 5 contacted the DOT, which is now telling us the utility pole was the problem.
In a statement, the department said: "The structure in question... was pushed off its foundation and jammed against another house that had come to rest in the middle of the street. The two houses had sandwiched a utility pole. Our crews did not take down any structure unless it was deemed to be unsafe..."