Conn. Chimp Was on Xanax During Attack

Sandra Herold was being sued for $50M

(NEWSER) - The owner of the chimpanzee that mauled and blinded a Connecticut woman in 2009 has died, her lawyer tells the Stamford Advocate . Sandra Herold, 72, suffered an aortic aneurysm. She was being sued for $50 million by the family of mauling victim Charla Nash, and "her heart, which had been broken so many times before could take no more," the lawyer said. More»

Charla Nash hopes to undergo additional reconstructive surgery

(NEWSER) - Charla Nash, who was mauled and blinded by a friend’s chimpanzee in February 2009, left the Cleveland Clinic yesterday. She “has made great progress in her recovery,” the hospital said in a statement. Nash will continue rehabilitation at a Boston-area assisted-living center and hopes to undergo more reconstructive surgery, the AP reports. In January, the Cleveland Clinic told Nash’s family it could not perform a face and hand transplant. More»

Charla Nash must pursue justice in civil court, Conn. prosecutor says

(NEWSER) - The woman whose pet chimpanzee mauled her friend, leaving her blind and disfigured, will not face criminal charges, a prosecutor said today. To win its case, 'the state would have to prove beyond a reasonable doubt that the person was aware of and consciously disregarded a substantial and unjustifiable risk," the state's attorney for Stamford, Conn., said. Sandra Herold's conduct didn't meet that standard, he found, so the case is a matter for the civil courts, where Charla Nash has already sued Herold for $59 million, NBC Connecticut reports. More»

'I want the nightmares to stop,' says Charla Nash

(NEWSER) - A woman viciously attacked early this year by a crazed pet chimpanzee discussed her ordeal and revealed her ravaged face on the Oprah Winfrey Show yesterday. Charla Nash lost her nose, lips, eyelid—and hands—in the attack by a Connecticut neighbor's chimp. Doctors also removed both eyes because of severe infection. "I want to get healthy. I don't want to wake up with nightmares," she said. Oprah gently lifted a veil from Nash's face to show stunned viewers the damage. More»

(NEWSER) - Charla Nash, the Connecticut woman nearly mauled to death by a friend’s pet chimp, has been making dramatic progress in recent weeks and is now talking, moving, and asking for her daughter, the New York Daily News reports. Doctors had feared Nash would never recover. “For a time we were very worried,” said her twin brother, Stephen. “Now it’s more hopeful.” More»