Woman Spots Remote Control Activated Lock on Gas Station Women’s Restroom Door

A social media user was disturbed by the presence of an external lock fitted to the women's restroom in a Texas gas station. Heather (@nochillheather) posted a viral TikTok where she shows off the lock. Moreover, she reported the find to local authorities, who came and dealt with the issue swiftly.

Heather begins her video with a recording of a gray day decorated with a brown and white "Employees Only" sign on it. From the get go, she starts highlighting the disparities in the ways that this door, along with the Men's restroom, differ from the women's bathroom at the gas station.

"I'm at the Exxon, Boonville Road. This is the employee's, this is women's, men's," she says as she records the area, putting all of the doors on camera. She also includes footage of the exit door and another one with "private" signage on it.

"Exit, OK? Whatever this is, private, OK?"

The TikToker goes on, "Notice how all these doors are empty except for the women's." Heather points out that the door appears to have two locking mechanisms affixed to it. One bolt-action box is attached to the top portion of the women's bathroom door.

Furthermore, there appears to be another key-turn lock installed in the middle of the door — both of these mechanisms can be reached from the outside of the door. Meaning that anyone who walks into this women's restroom could be locked inside the room by someone on the outside.

It's also worth mentioning the placement of the women's restroom: it's situated between the men's room and employee's only room. The private room also appears to be adjacent with the same size as the exit door.

This set up appears troubling when one considers that other social media users have posted "trap doors" they've found in some establishments. Like this one motel visitor who noticed there was a way to access their room via a hatch inside of a closet.

Upon inspecting the hatch, they noticed it led to a crawl space that spanned the entirety of the motel. Presumably, if someone could access the bottom of the hotel, they could, in turn, gain entry into this particular room.

Hypothetically, if there were a way to access the employee's only room from the outside, and that room was connected to the women's room, a person could be locked inside the bathroom. And then someone from outside the gas station could go inside of the men's, and then access the women's room, if such a setup exists.

Furthermore, local news outlet KXXV writes that a "human trafficking task force" was created in Bryan, Texas, in order to combat instances of kidnapping by assisting "law enforcement in taking down traffickers."

World Population Review writes that California and Texas were the states with the highest cases of reported human trafficking incidents in 2023.

Heather, in her video, questions the placement of the locks, starting with the bolt box fixed to the exterior top of the women's restroom door. "What is this? And why can it be unlocked and locked?" she asks, twisting a knob located at the bottom of the metal box.

"Is someone in there? Because I've knocked." She explains in a text overlay that this, indeed, wasn't the case. "No one was in there as I waited 8 minutes for an empty locked door," Heather writes.

"And I don't know," as she continues to record, a chirping sound can be heard in the video.

Heather says that this noise was made from the box she just interacted with, presumably because she just engaged the lock switch. "What does that mean?" she asks aloud. "Why is it only on the women's restroom? Men's? Nah. Exit, nah. Private, nah. Employee only nah. But for women's, we have this lock that looks like it can be remote controlled."

"Make it make sense," she asks. Following this, her video pauses, showing a close-up photo of the lock in question, which is emblazoned with the words Hua Xing Qiang on it. A search online reveals that this manufacturer does, in fact, manufacture remote locks.

Next, Heather's video transitions to her recording her feet as authorities speak to whoever owns the gas station.

"Police talking to who I assume is the manager there." A worker off-camera can be heard stating that they can call their boss. "You can, but you can call him after you remove it," the officer says, indicating that the two are indeed having a discussion pertaining to the lock on the door.

It's also worth noting that human traffickers do target young women of college age, and there are resources online that warn women of trafficking efforts on campuses. Bryan is, in fact, home to a U.S. college with the largest student population in the country, at just under 80,000 per last assessment.

At the end of her clip, Heather shows off a picture of a member of the Fire Department standing outside with the gas station worker. She penned a quote, which appears to be appended to what the man told the worker: "You can call your boss, but no matter how he feels about it, it's coming down today in front of me with my tools or yours."