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Getting Medieval on your ass
Location: 13th century Europe
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Quote:
LAS VEGAS (AP) -- The Las Vegas woman who claimed she bit into a human finger along with her Wendy's chili has decided not to sue, her lawyer confirmed Wednesday.
Attorney Jeffrey Janoff said Anna Ayala was dropping her claim because after police investigations, DNA tests, a search of her home and intense publicity, "it's been very difficult for her emotionally."
He wouldn't say whether the decision had anything to do with a report that a woman in Nevada had lost her finger a month earlier in a leopard attack.
San Jose police investigating Ayala's claim said they were looking into a possible connection with Sandy Allman, a woman who lost part of a digit in a Feb. 23 leopard attack at an exotic animal compound at her home in Pahrump, a rural Nevada town about 60 miles west of Las Vegas.
A lawyer for Allman, 59, said Allman believes the fingertip was hers, but that Allman had "absolutely no connection with Ms. Ayala."
"She thinks it's her finger," lawyer Philip Sheldon, said from his office in Encino, Calif. "She wants to participate in any DNA testing and any final resolution of that matter."
Sheldon said Allman last saw the 3/4 of an inch tip of her middle finger packed with ice in a plastic bag on an emergency room table at Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas early Feb. 24 where he said she sought treatment after the leopard attack.
Allman left it after doctors told her it could not be reattached, Sheldon said.
"She has no idea what happened to the finger after she left the hospital," Sheldon said.
Sunrise Hospital spokeswoman Glenda McCartney said she had no public record of Allman being treated at the hospital. She also said there was no record of Ayala working at the hospital.
Sheldon said Allman realized the piece of finger that San Jose police said Ayala found in her chili was twice as long as the one Allman lost. Allman would welcome a reward if the finger is hers, the lawyer said.
San Jose police spokeswoman Gina Tepoorten said police were in contact with Allman, and added that authorities were receiving many tips from around the country about lost digits, spurred by a $50,000 reward offered by Wendy's.
Tepoorten said one woman reported she lost a finger while breaking up a dog fight, "and apparently the hospital lost her finger."
Ayala was visiting relatives in San Jose on Wednesday and could not be reached for comment. Her son, Guadalupe Reyes, 18, told The Associated Press that Ayala doesn't know Allman.
"Mom doesn't even know how to get to Pahrump," Reyes said.
He said his mother was distressed by all the attention.
"The way I see it, it's like a big show," Reyes said. "Everyone's saying this and that. It's ridiculous. People are just trying to get the $50,000."
Tepoorten said Ayala was not considered "a suspect."
"She's not our main focus in the investigation," Tepoorten said, without elaborating.
Ayala, 39, was at a Wendy's restaurant in San Jose on March 22 when she claimed she scooped up the 11/2-inch-long fingertip. She later filed a claim with the franchise owner, Fresno-based JEM Management, Corp., which her attorney had said was the first step before filing a lawsuit.
Court records show Ayala has a history of making claims against corporations, including a former employer, General Motors and a fast-food restaurant.
She said Friday in an interview with The AP that she filed a claim against an El Pollo Loco restaurant in Las Vegas after her daughter became ill after eating there, but called it "something very different" from the Wendy's case.
El Pollo Loco spokeswoman Julie Weeks said Wednesday from Irvine, Calif., that the company made no payment to Ayala after her February 2004 claim on behalf of her daughter, Genesis.
"We reviewed the claim and made the decision not to make payment on that claim," Weeks said.
Ayala said last week after police searched her home and seized items that she was being victimized.
"Lies, lies, lies, that's all I am hearing," Ayala said. "They should look at Wendy's. What are they hiding?"
Clark County District Attorney David Roger said documents relating to the search warrant were sealed.
Wendy's spokesman Denny Lynch declined to comment on Ayala's decision to drop the lawsuit but said a reward hotline to receive tips will remain open. Wendy's has offered $50,000 to the first person providing verifiable information leading to the positive identification of the origin of the finger.
"It's very important to us to find out what really happened at the restaurant," Lynch said. "We are manning the hotlines, and we are more anxious than you are to find out what really happened.
"We're not going to engage in any speculation as to where it came from," Lynch added.
The director of an exotic animal sanctuary in Texas called the Wendy's hotline Tuesday to suggest that the finger might have come from Allman.
"What are the odds?" asked Carol Asvestas, who runs the Wild Animal Orphanage in San Antonio and had gone to Pahrump to rescue several exotic animals at Allman's request.
San Jose police said it would take DNA tests to determine whether the fingers are one and the same.
Wendy's maintains the finger did not enter the food chain in its ingredients. All the employees at the San Jose store were found to have all their fingers, and no suppliers of Wendy's ingredients have reported any hand or finger injuries, the company said. Officials also still had not confirmed whether the finger was cooked, as initial news reports indicated.
The Santa Clara County Coroner's Office was using a partial fingerprint to attempt to find a match in an electronic database but came up empty. DNA testing is being conducted.
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http://kron.com/Global/story.asp?s=3205872
I added the bold for emphasis.
Heh heh, Pahrump.  |