Acid attacker: 'Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?'

[teko]

Acid attacker: 'Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?'
Wash. woman in serious condition after unprovoked attack in VancouverAdvertisement | ad info
.msnbc.com staff and news service reports
updated 9/1/2010 7:19:13 AM ET
Share Print Font: +-VANCOUVER, Wash. — A 28-year-old woman severely burned when a stranger threw an acid-like liquid in her face was listed in serious condition in a Oregon hospital.

Bethany Storro, of Vancouver, Wash., was getting something out of her car in downtown Vancouver when the attack happened Monday evening, her mother Nancy Neuwelt told The Oregonian.

Neuwelt said a young woman walked up to her daughter, said: "Hey pretty girl, do you want to drink this?" and tossed a cup of liquid in Storro's face.

"I’m a nice girl and I don’t know why this happened," Storro, 28, said Tuesday in her hospital room in the Oregon Burn Center at Legacy Emanuel Medical Center in Portland, The Columbian newspaper reported.

Storro said the pain was the most excruciating she had ever experienced, her mother told The Columbian.

"It was burning through her shirt. She took off her shirt and she was trying to wipe her face," Neuwelt said, according to the newspaper.

'Felt like her heart stopped'
Storro "kind of remembers walking in circles," Neuwelt added. "She felt like her heart stopped at one point."

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.She collapsed, screaming for help, only to realize she was not being heard. She got back up and stumbled toward a group of people, The Oregonian reported.

"Thank you for all of your thoughts and prayers," Storro said in a written statement Tuesday, The Oregonian reported. "I appreciate all of the well wishes being sent my way. I do ask, if anyone should know the woman who assaulted me, please contact the Vancouver Police."

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Old school
..Neuwelt said her daughter was wearing a pair of sunglasses she had bought shortly before the attack and that may have saved her eyesight. Still, Storro's family said her face will take months to heal.

"It's very bizarre, very random and very weird, and we don’t understand it," Neuwelt told The Columbian, speaking by phone from her daughter's bedside.

"She’s having a hard time," she added. "It's changed her life now and her emotions are all over the place."

Recently moved to city
Neuwelt told The Columbian that her daughter had recently moved to Vancouver and was single with no children.

"She wanted to make a fresh start and this happened," Neuwelt, a worship leader and administrative assistant at a local church, told the paper. "Bethany is a really great, fun, energetic and adorable girl, and she didn’t deserve this."

"I am so disgusted with society right now!" Storro’s brother, Abraham Neuwelt of Seattle, said on his Facebook page, The Columbian reported.

"Yesterday my little sister got some form of acid thrown into her face while walking through downtown Vancouver, WA. She is currently in the hospital with severe burns and could face permanent damage. This incident was totally unprovoked and malicious in nature. If you believe in prayer, now is the time to ask for a full recovery and that the assailant be brought to justice!"

Vancouver police spokeswoman Kim Kapp said doctors and authorities were trying to determine what kind of substance caused Storro's facial burns.

Police said the assailant was described as a black woman between 25 and 35, who wore a green shirt and khaki shorts, The Columbian reported. She had medium-length black hair that was pulled back.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

[specialmom]

Honestly, I feel sorry for her as well.  I hope that while she is paying back the significant cost of the investigation that there is some left over to address her mental health issues.

I actually did think she was quite pretty as well before she did this to herself.  

Can you imagine how her parents feel?  Sad.

[teko]

meli you make good points of course, but I still feel like she should pay for causing all the fear that resulted and for filing a false report. She had the capability of conjuring up a story good enough to pass it all off. So tho she obviously has mental issues, she could think straight enuff to conjure it all up. Regardless, the truth is out now. I still want to know if that copy cat report was a hoax too.

[melimeli]

I think she is mentally ill and that she should not be punished other than court mandated psycotherapy and to repay the cost of the investigation.  I actually feel sorry for her.  I live over here and so I watched it all go down.  She is hard of hearing ( like speaks like a deaf person but don't know the extent of it)  Seems like she has a loving family and they are baffled too... They are returning all of the money that was donated and have appoligized for their daughter.  I don't like it when people report phony crimes either but this is different than a false rape or something...  Someone that would poor ACID on their face is mentally ill... I am just glad she didn't go into a store and shoot 5 poeple or something...

[adgal]

I think she should get whatever penalty would be given to her attacker had their been one.  I hate it when people waste time and resources with phony crimes...an attention seeker.

Dermabrasion....chemical peels..hmm...brings whole new meaning..lol.

[Sarajmt]

Mikesimon:  Good one!!

Hate Crime?  HMM????  I wonder if self loathing is a crime???  But had it been an actual attack by a stranger, I do agree it should be prosecuted under special circumstances.

[Trinity4]

Chemical peel gone wrong.

[teko]

LOL, good point.

[nygirl7]

They should have known it was a hoax as soon as they heard her say the person called her a "pretty girl".....well I guess they did they just needed to prove it was not so!

[teko]

I guess a couple of homeless people witnessed it and came forth. I think this is a crime in more ways than one. I mean, people were actually scared and I would love to know what happened with the so called copy cat incident or was that made up by the media? And of course she blamed it on a black person, go figure, artist sketch and all! Yep she needs to be held accountable and they are not saying why in gods name she would do such a thing to herself or how?

[mikesimon]

I thought it was a poor attempt at dermabrasion.

[teko]

Anyone remember this one? Turns out this was a hoax and the victim did this to herself! Sick puppy!

[teko]

She should be charged with a hate crime! They had the victim on the news this morning and was interviewing her! She has bandages all over her head with only openings for eyes and mouth. Poor thing! I hope they can reverse most of the damage, but she was describing how she heard the acid sizzling into her skin! I cannot even imagine. Why oh why would anyone do something so vile!

[Tarnished_Brass]

Do you think that if the woman that did this is caught she will be charged with a "hate crime"?

[adgal]

I agree April.  I just do not nor will ever understand what anyone gets out of doing something like this...evil and sick do seem the only words to properly describe. Watch, they will catch the women that did this and it will be over something like her boyfriend left her for a prettier women, so she hates attractive women or something equally crazy.  

[April2]

What is wrong with our world anymore? Do we really have that many evil, sick, unbalanced people out there walking around?!