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SAN JOSE
Woman now says finger in chili not hers
She lost digit to leopard kept outside her home in Nevada [font=geneva,arial] - Ryan Kim, Maria Alicia Gaura, Chronicle Staff Writers
[/font] [font=geneva,arial][size=-2] Friday, April 15, 2005
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A Nevada woman who fueled speculation that one of her fingers ended up in a bowl of chili at a San Jose Wendy's after it was bit off by a leopard believes her digit is too small to be the one that has garnered worldwide attention, her attorney said Thursday.
The tip of one of Sandy Allman's fingers was chomped Feb. 23 by a leopard kept outside her home in rural Pahrump, about an hour's drive from Las Vegas. She last saw her finger at a Las Vegas hospital, where doctors were unable to reattach it.
This week, Allman, through her attorney, said her finger seemed to match a digit that a Las Vegas woman said she had found in her chili at a San Jose Wendy's. Given another day to reflect, Allman is backing off that possibility, saying she was influenced to do so by quotes from the police pointing out the size difference between the two fingers.
"She has changed her mind. (Allman) said, 'There is a certain size discrepancy so I guess that's not my finger,' '' her attorney, Philip Sheldon, said Thursday. "She said if the police don't think it's the same, and they haven't asked yet for DNA, it probably isn't the same."
But authorities investigating the Wendy's finger have not ruled out a possible link between Allman's three-quarter-inch fingertip and a 1 1/2-inch fingertip that Las Vegas resident Anna Ayala says she found during her visit to the San Jose Wendy's.
"Right now, because it's an open investigation, anything is possible," said San Jose Police Officer Enrique Garcia. "We are certainly not ruling (Allman) out; no, not at all."
In Nye County, Nev., where Allman lives, Sheriff Tony DeMeo said a visual comparison of pictures of the two fingers suggested that the finger found at Wendy's appeared to be about a half-inch longer than Allman's finger tip. He said he was confident there was no link between her and Ayala.
"We can't say this is the same finger one way or another, but the only thing we can truthfully say is there is no connection between (Allman) and the person who found the finger in her food," DeMeo said.
After the leopard bite, Allman was rushed to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. Once she learned the finger could not be reattached, Sheldon said, Allman left it in a bag in the emergency room. "It's 100 percent sure that Sandra Allman didn't leave that hospital with that finger, and it's corroborated by another friend who was there the whole time," Sheldon said.
Hospital officials released a short statement Thursday acknowledging that Allman had been treated in the emergency room. A hospital spokeswoman declined to comment further, citing privacy concerns, except to say there was no record of Ayala's ever being treated or employed at the hospital.
Ayala, reached at her home Thursday, said neither had she planted the finger nor was there any connection between her and Allman or the hospital. She said she had withdrawn her claim against Wendy's on Monday after the intense media and police scrutiny began taking an emotional toll on her family.
"People can say what they want and destroy my family, but it's not true," Ayala said. "This is really ruining my kids and me and dragging my family through the mud. It's killing us."
The saga began at the Monterey Road Wendy's when Ayala says she bit into a finger while eating a bowl of chili. Ayala later filed a claim against the franchise owner.
The case took a sharp turn April 6 when police served a search warrant at Ayala's Las Vegas home. Authorities have not disclosed what they were searching for.
Santa Clara County's attempt to trace the ingredients in Wendy's chili back to their manufacturing source has not yet turned up anything that might explain the finger's presence.
"There are still a couple of loose ends," said Ben Gale, director of the county's Environmental Resources Agency. "But it's mostly done. We just haven't found anything," despite tracing items like the chili beans "back to the production line on the day these beans were canned."
The weird tale has drawn intense media attention, and San Jose police have been inundated with calls from reporters around the globe.
The Police Department's press information officers, who are somewhat harried even on a good day, began warning reporters Thursday that media calls were now likely to go unanswered. Instead, they promised to issue news releases if anything breaks.
"The investigation is ongoing, and there are a lot of things we can't discuss," said San Jose officer Garcia. "There is nothing new for us to provide to the public. (But) we are being overwhelmed by calls."
The lack of solid developments has most likely only drawn more attention to the mystery, with updates in newspapers from as far afield as Taipei and New Zealand.
Woman now says finger in chili not hers
She lost digit to leopard kept outside her home in Nevada [font=geneva,arial] - Ryan Kim, Maria Alicia Gaura, Chronicle Staff Writers
[/font] [font=geneva,arial][size=-2] Friday, April 15, 2005
[/size][/font]
A Nevada woman who fueled speculation that one of her fingers ended up in a bowl of chili at a San Jose Wendy's after it was bit off by a leopard believes her digit is too small to be the one that has garnered worldwide attention, her attorney said Thursday.
The tip of one of Sandy Allman's fingers was chomped Feb. 23 by a leopard kept outside her home in rural Pahrump, about an hour's drive from Las Vegas. She last saw her finger at a Las Vegas hospital, where doctors were unable to reattach it.
This week, Allman, through her attorney, said her finger seemed to match a digit that a Las Vegas woman said she had found in her chili at a San Jose Wendy's. Given another day to reflect, Allman is backing off that possibility, saying she was influenced to do so by quotes from the police pointing out the size difference between the two fingers.
"She has changed her mind. (Allman) said, 'There is a certain size discrepancy so I guess that's not my finger,' '' her attorney, Philip Sheldon, said Thursday. "She said if the police don't think it's the same, and they haven't asked yet for DNA, it probably isn't the same."
But authorities investigating the Wendy's finger have not ruled out a possible link between Allman's three-quarter-inch fingertip and a 1 1/2-inch fingertip that Las Vegas resident Anna Ayala says she found during her visit to the San Jose Wendy's.
"Right now, because it's an open investigation, anything is possible," said San Jose Police Officer Enrique Garcia. "We are certainly not ruling (Allman) out; no, not at all."
In Nye County, Nev., where Allman lives, Sheriff Tony DeMeo said a visual comparison of pictures of the two fingers suggested that the finger found at Wendy's appeared to be about a half-inch longer than Allman's finger tip. He said he was confident there was no link between her and Ayala.
"We can't say this is the same finger one way or another, but the only thing we can truthfully say is there is no connection between (Allman) and the person who found the finger in her food," DeMeo said.
After the leopard bite, Allman was rushed to Sunrise Hospital and Medical Center in Las Vegas. Once she learned the finger could not be reattached, Sheldon said, Allman left it in a bag in the emergency room. "It's 100 percent sure that Sandra Allman didn't leave that hospital with that finger, and it's corroborated by another friend who was there the whole time," Sheldon said.
Hospital officials released a short statement Thursday acknowledging that Allman had been treated in the emergency room. A hospital spokeswoman declined to comment further, citing privacy concerns, except to say there was no record of Ayala's ever being treated or employed at the hospital.
Ayala, reached at her home Thursday, said neither had she planted the finger nor was there any connection between her and Allman or the hospital. She said she had withdrawn her claim against Wendy's on Monday after the intense media and police scrutiny began taking an emotional toll on her family.
"People can say what they want and destroy my family, but it's not true," Ayala said. "This is really ruining my kids and me and dragging my family through the mud. It's killing us."
The saga began at the Monterey Road Wendy's when Ayala says she bit into a finger while eating a bowl of chili. Ayala later filed a claim against the franchise owner.
The case took a sharp turn April 6 when police served a search warrant at Ayala's Las Vegas home. Authorities have not disclosed what they were searching for.
Santa Clara County's attempt to trace the ingredients in Wendy's chili back to their manufacturing source has not yet turned up anything that might explain the finger's presence.
"There are still a couple of loose ends," said Ben Gale, director of the county's Environmental Resources Agency. "But it's mostly done. We just haven't found anything," despite tracing items like the chili beans "back to the production line on the day these beans were canned."
The weird tale has drawn intense media attention, and San Jose police have been inundated with calls from reporters around the globe.
The Police Department's press information officers, who are somewhat harried even on a good day, began warning reporters Thursday that media calls were now likely to go unanswered. Instead, they promised to issue news releases if anything breaks.
"The investigation is ongoing, and there are a lot of things we can't discuss," said San Jose officer Garcia. "There is nothing new for us to provide to the public. (But) we are being overwhelmed by calls."
The lack of solid developments has most likely only drawn more attention to the mystery, with updates in newspapers from as far afield as Taipei and New Zealand.
