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When a Mesa woman had a cup of acid thrown in her face by an unidentified woman earlier this month — just days after an almost identical attack in Vancouver — we have to admit that the idea of a traveling, serial acid-tosser crossed our minds.
That, it now seems, would be impossible. Unless the “victim” in Vancouver also is the person who tossed acid in the face of the Mesa victim, Derri Velarde.
Straight from the WTF files: we got word today that the victim in the Vancouver attack actually threw the acid on herself.
According to Seattle’s Komo News, the Vancouver victim, Bethany Storro, admitted to police that she was the one who threw acid on herself.
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From Komo News:
“During the course of the investigation, several discrepancies began to emerge regarding the alleged attack,” said Vancouver Police Chief Clifford Cook.
“It just kept cascading, and it was like a domino effect,” said Cmdr. Marla Schuman. “You look at the time (of the attack) – at night, when people don’t usually wouldn’t be wearing sunglasses, etc. So it was all those little things that didn’t add up.” Storro had said she was wearing sunglasses when she was attack — a decision she claimed ended up saving her eyes.
“As further information began to unfold, our investigators applied for and received authorization for a search warrant,” Cook said.
Detectives served a search warrant on Storro’s home on Thursday morning and retrieved several items that are being investigated.
We called Mesa Police Detective Steve Berry to see if there was any chance in hell that Velarde threw acid on herself like Storro did.
“We don’t have any indication of that at all,” Berry says.
In the Mesa case, Berry says there were independent victims who saw the attack, although none of them was able to get a good look at the attacker.
Berry says cops still don’t have a suspect in the case.
Check out a sketch of the suspect below. If this looks like someone you know, call the Mesa Police Department at 480-644-2211.
