Bethany Storro 'Acid Attack' Was Self-Inflicted, According To Police (GRAPHIC PHOTO)

VANCOUVER, Wash. (Associated Press) - A woman who gained sympathy worldwide after she claimed a random assailant threw acid on her face came forward Thursday with a startling admission: She inflicted the attack on herself.

Vancouver police chief Clifford Cook said Bethany Storro admitted under police questioning to fabricating a story about the attack, in which she suffered severe burns.

Cook said he did not know a motive for Storro's actions, but added she is "very remorseful." He said Storro was still being interviewed by detectives.

The police chief said that "during the course of the investigation, several discrepancies began to emerge regarding the alleged attack," leading police to search her home earlier Thursday and interview her.

"During the interview, Ms. Storro admitted the injuries were self-inflicted," Cook said.
Police had been seeking a black woman with a ponytail after Storro described the Aug. 30 attack. She had said the woman asked her, "Hey, pretty girl, want something to drink?" then threw acid in her face.

She recounted details of the alleged attack at a news conference, with her head wrapped in bandages and her parents by her side. She said she wanted to know why the unnamed assailant had attacked her.

After the incident, Storro made several media appearances, but a planned interview on "The Oprah Winfrey Show" was canceled. She said she had received correspondence from people around the world concerned for her well being.

Storro's story rocked Vancouver, a suburb of Portland, Ore., with about 165,000 residents near the Washington-Oregon border. Funds were set up for Storro at Umpquah and Riverview Community banks, which did not return requests for comment Thursday.

Vancouver police Commander Marla Schuman said detectives were working on a way to return any money donated to Storro.

Schuman said the alleged attack and the probe stretched the resources of Vancouver's small police department.

"It's been hundreds of hours," Schuman said about the time invested in the investigation. "It really took a toll on the department and the resources that we have."

Cook said any decision to charge Storro with a crime would be left to the Clark County Prosecuting Attorney's Office. Clark County Senior Deputy Prosecutor John Fairgrieve did not immediately return a call from The Associated Press seeking comment Thursday.

"She is extremely upset," Schuman said. "In many ways, this got bigger than she expected."
Schuman was asked whether Storro will face a charge of filing a false police report, to which she responded: "At this point, yes, that would certainly fit."

A telephone number for Storro's parents, Joseph and Nancy Neuwelt, could not be located Thursday. The couple has called the alleged attack "an act of evil," but said the family would persevere.

A burn surgeon who operated on Storro said the substance thrown on her face was an acid as strong as hydrochloric or sulfuric acid. Police said Thursday that they haven't yet identified the substance Storro used, nor did they find any evidence of acid in her home or car.

WARNING: GRAPHIC PHOTO BELOW

This image provided by the Legacy Emanuel Medical Center shows Bethany Storro prior to surgery in Portland, Ore. Vancouver, Wash. Police Chief Clifford Cook said that Bethany Storro admitted to fabricating a story about the attack in which she suffered severe burns on Thursday, Sept. 16, 2010. Cook said he does not know a motive for Storro's actions, but added she is "very remorseful." (AP Photo/Legacy Emanuel Medical Center)

Comments

[Cali Saracen]

12:59 AM on 09/19/2010

She's not crazy she is s criminal who should be sent to jail. Y is it that this type is deemed " needs help" but the so called black attacker there were calls to find and kill the person. This twit endangered peoples lives with her lies

[ejg123]

12:53 AM on 09/19/2010

This comment thread has completely gone off a different track from the actual article. I just think that this woman should somehow have to apologize to everyone, and pay back everyone that had to become involved in this "case." She is obviously ill mentally, and I must pray that she is able to somehow get help.

[Numskll]

03:16 PM on 09/18/2010

This story is bieing heavily moderated so as to include exactly two narrative strands. weird.

[fratricide08]

01:35 PM on 09/18/2010

The comments about race have me thinking... Criminals and even victims of real crimes have done this throughout history to escape blame, make up a believable story, or to simply make themselves believe (often through the manipulation of others and their own desire to believe those manipulators) that the perpetrator has been caught and punished - the Jew, the Catholic, the Muslim, the non-Puritan, the foreigner, the person who just doesn't 'fit' all get their turns. I do think this girl is crazy as a loon but it says something about where we're at that this engendered so much reaction and hatred against black folks.

As the story was told, it SHOULD have generated sympathy (no one deserves to be hurt like that) but it SHOULD NOT have engendered hatred against anyone. Even if the attacker had been real, it shouldn't have made some people hate a whole group and to be honest it shouldn't engender a subsequent backlash against a different group either despite those hurt and angry feelings being legitimate. We have to stop blaming whole groups -- especially when we know good and well that the whole concept of race is a myth set to divide us. People are people and until we learn that even the delusional psychotics among us, let alone the intelligent criminal who wants outta being blamed, are gonna catch on to what reactionaries want to hear.

[G FORCE]

01:23 PM on 09/18/2010

SICK PEOPLE OUT THERE!!

[aceholiday]

01:07 PM on 09/18/2010

an ugly failure

[Fingerbo]

12:53 PM on 09/18/2010

She's obviously got mental problems, but as usual, it's like that episode of "South Park" where Butters goes missing and the first instinct is: blame a black (or other non-white) person.

[chachachamp]

12:48 PM on 09/18/2010

External factors, including a bout with PMS could offer some explanation as to Ms. Storro's intentional bodily disfigurement. Whatever the motive or intended outcome of this action, trying to extract a rational explanation could prove fruitless. Body chemistry, hormonal imbalance, poor diet/ nutrion or substance abuse should all be considered as triggers for this bizarre behavior.

[1will]

12:08 PM on 09/18/2010

http://www.fbi.gov has statistics on violent crime in America. If you're curious how violent crime stats are broken down (who commits the crimes, victims, ages, sex, etc) then give it a visit. Some of you are going to get your feelings hurt.

[Numskll]

02:57 PM on 09/18/2010

er , how so?

[thefooligan5]

03:30 PM on 09/18/2010

Statistics are nice but they don't tell the whole story. It's important to question why the numbers are the way the are.

[bazokbros]

10:32 AM on 09/18/2010

What she did was motivated through a political statement. Here were are again with the fallacy that attractive young white women are angelic vessels of purity figures that embody being American. That logic suppoesdly makes her story seems all the more tragic. Her misguided idea of self muiltation shows how outrageous and extreme our political discourse has become that people think extremist behavior is revolutionary and patriotic.

Seems almost identical to the girl who carved the backward's "B" on her face saying Obama supporters did this. I'm pretty certain it's the same motive here as a simpleton white girl, who knew that using "white as good" and "black as evil" was the most dramatic way to promote her agenda of "They" want to fundamentally destroy "Us". I'm sure we'll find her religious beliefs will be an underlying cause for her doing this.

[thefooligan5]

03:31 PM on 09/18/2010

She could also just be depressed and looking for attention.

[Zanubiyah]

10:28 AM on 09/18/2010

Perhaps she should be made to pay the bill...for taxing the police "...seeking a black woman with a ponytail..." she made up.

This person is not mentally ill. She used the public discourse to create a criminal she knew would be beliveable. She shoud be made to pay for her lies.

[techjockey]

02:55 PM on 09/18/2010

She is completely mentally ill. Self disfugurement is a big sign of that. The blaming of a "black person" is also a part of that mental illness combined with inbred bigotry.
Fortuantly the police never really bought her story & no witchhunt ensued.
I find your harsh lack of empathy for someone so obviously deranged quite out of sync with many of your other posts calling for restraint in judging other marginalized groups.

[Zanubiyah]

11:44 PM on 09/18/2010

techjockey...

I wonder if you would have had any 'empathy' had the police found a Black woman with a pony tail...you know...any one will do...walking past the scene of the crime, and this criminal pointed her out, and on her lyes would have been put in prison for nothing.

So...no, self disfigurement is a sign of mental illness...but fabricating a offender is a lie. She should pay for her lie.

[esblofeld]

09:32 PM on 09/18/2010

Of course she should pay restitution for wasting police resources (a crime). The racial angle is unpleasant and depressing, but it's immaterial as a matter of law in this kind of case. Also, she is in all likelihood mentally ill. Self-mutilation is one of the strongest indicators of social disorders.

[Passenger57]

09:19 AM on 09/18/2010

This is the first time I've seen a photo of the damage the acid did, and my first thought was that - after why she had to blame a Black person - for a random, toss-in-the-face act, it sure looks neatly done (as in all over her face rather than one side or one area of her face)...it almost looks like she used a cream of some sort...

[yakmeat]

01:10 PM on 09/18/2010

That's what I was thinking too, and I'm no forensics expert.

If someone throws a cup full of anything in your face, you'll instinctively turn away BEFORE you can think about turning away. You'll still probably get hit, but one side of your face will take the bulk of the impact.

It also looks like the area around her eyes was avoided with nearly stencil-like precision. The pattern looks almost more like a sunburn after a day out skiing. This could be from wearing glasses, but if the acid was liquid, it seems very unlikely that at least a trickle or two would not find its way behind the lenses.

[jabreal00]

09:02 AM on 09/18/2010

Sheesh, the old minority did it to me card fell apart. She another disturbed individual who is desperate for attention. Any takers that she's a Beck listener and Palin supporter?

[leanjhuls2]

07:50 AM on 09/18/2010

It ain't that graphic. It just looked like she was a victim of a china-made skin cream.

[Sambadaddy]

07:20 AM on 09/18/2010

Her disfigurement is a metaphor for baseless hatred. It's epidemic.