Creepy surprise in couch bought on Craigslist costs family $3,000

WEST COLUMBIA, S.C. -- A family says they got more than they bargained for after buying a used couch last month.

Katie Johns and her son discovered small red patches on their skin and went to the doctor.

The diagnosis? Bites from bed bugs.

“When I feel a tickle on my arm, like maybe the hair on my arm moves or I have a little itchy spot, I immediately think that I have a bug crawling on me,” Johns told WIS.

Johns says the $225 couch has cost her $3,000 in extermination costs. In the past month, her home has been torn apart trying to deal with the bed bugs.



“Turned on the flashlight and got right down beside my bed and saw one bug,” Johns told WIS. “I’m looking some more, and I see another one. I bagged five bugs. When the exterminators came and they actually pulled the couch apart, it was immediately clear that the couch — in fact, that one section of the couch, was infested.”

Johns said she’s not seeking retribution or a new couch. She just wants to warn others to be more careful.