Click here to read a transcript of the family’s press conference.
The name of Andrew Kaltur, a neighbor of Joe and Nancy Neuwelt’s, was misspelled in Saturday’s newspaper.
Why did Bethany Storro burn herself with acid — then claim that a black woman threw it her face?
As thousands who are following the story asked for answers, Storro’s parents, Joe and Nancy Neuwelt, told reporters even they don’t know — and that they had no idea their daughter was lying about her injuries until police arrived at their home Thursday morning with a search warrant.
“As to the questions as to why she did this, there were no signs, and we really don’t know why at this point,” Nancy Neuwelt said Friday. “But it is our hope that the medical community can find the answers.
“She is obviously dealing with some deep internal emotional and psychological problems that we had no knowledge of, and we hope she’ll get the help she needs,” the mother added. “We’ll be there for her. She has a long road ahead of her, but she’s on the road and we’ll walk it with her.”
Vancouver police detectives have not yet responded to The Columbian’s questions about what Storro said when she reportedly confessed to fabricating the story and inflicting severe burns to her own face.
Detectives also have not revealed what they learned, after more than two weeks of methodical probing, that suddenly enabled them to convince a judge to sign their search warrant application late this week.
But if police were mum, Storro’s neighbors on West McLoughlin Boulevard readily spoke with a reporter and expressed their admiration for her parents.
“Just the kind of neighbors you’d really like to have,” said Andrew Wheeler, 33, an attorney who lives across the street.
The area is thick with large trees and lined with older one- and two-story homes, most nicely maintained like the Neuwelts’.
Wheeler said he’d met Storro, 28, briefly once and had formed no impression of her, but said she didn’t seem as outgoing as her parents.
Andrew Kaltur, who lives two doors down, also praised the Neuwelts, saying the father was friendly and had offered to help him fix a broken pipe and let him borrow a ladder.
Kaltur described Storro as “pretty quiet” and “very close to her parents.”
He described a scene a few years ago when Storro, he and others were sitting on a porch when a couple of homeless people walked by and were invited to join them.
Kaltur said Storro “seemed to understand them” and seemed sympathetic to them. Someone invited the men to share some food.
As one of the homeless men strummed a mandolin, “We all chatted and sang songs,” he said, adding that Storro seemed to be enjoying herself.
If Storro applied strong acid to her face, she likely had no idea how painful it would be, said Kaltur, who said he works for a large chemical company and has worked with chemicals for 30 years.
“She wouldn’t know the pain she would go through, I don’t think,” he said.
Kaltur said he once spilled a single drop of 93 percent sulfuric acid on one leg. He said it immediately sizzled through his pants and “the pain was incredibly strong. I couldn’t stand it.”
He said he still supports Storro and her family and hopes to help them.
“I believe she’s ill and she needs help, and anyone in this situation deserves some help, no matter what reason she had to do that,” he said.
As a parent, Kaltur said, he knows that children sometimes hide things from their parents. He said “anyone can make a mistake” and that we all can be buffeted by strong forces that drive our thoughts and actions.
“Our brains are so complicated that we never know what will happen,” he said. “We have to be watchful and help people all the time.”
Later Friday evening, a sign on the Neuwelts’ front door said they weren’t taking more questions and added: “Thank you for allowing us to have our privacy.”
The Neuwelts’ home is about a dozen blocks from Esther Short Park, where Storro, screaming in pain, dropped to the ground shortly before nightfall Aug. 30 and soon began telling the tale that drew national attention, put area residents on edge — and raised questions about why she claimed that her phantom assailant was black.
Police detectives on Thursday confronted Storro with discrepancies in her story and said she confessed to the fabrication.
Investigators, a police spokeswoman said, spent Friday working on reports that will be forwarded to the Clark County Prosecutor’s Office for review. Storro could face charges of falsifying a police report and theft by deception, a consequence of the victim compensation fund established at Riverview Community Bank to help Storro manage her medical bills.
Kim Kapp, the police spokeswoman, said the reports could be finished late next week. Evidence, too, is still being processed, she said, as detectives wrap up a case that consumed hundreds of hours as they tracked about 100 tips reported over the course of the more than two-week investigation.
“She has made some statements about what motivated her, but we really can’t release those now, as the detectives are still interviewing her,” Cmdr. Marla Schuman said Thursday.
If the motive, from the police department’s perspective, has been fully formed, they’re not ready to share. “That would not be a detail we would release to the media before we release it to the prosecutor’s office,” Kapp said. “In some cases, we may not fully know motive.”
Storro, who staged a press conference at the Oregon Burn Center three days after suffering the burns, was something of a national sweetheart until recent days, when her decision to back out of a scheduled appearance on The Oprah Winfrey Show fueled speculation that her wounds may have been self-inflicted.
Nonetheless, there were many posters this week to the Facebook page, “Send Hugs to Bethany Storro,” who refused to believe Storro’s version of events could be fictitious. The page, on Friday, was renamed, simply: “Bethany Storro Hoax.”
The Columbian made fruitless overtures Friday to House of the Lord Christian Academy in Oldtown, Idaho, where Storro’s Facebook page says she graduated.
The Priest River Police Department said Storro was never reported the victim of a crime while she lived there.
A decree of divorce obtained by The Columbian revealed little more than the start and end dates of her marriage to Travis Storro: Jan. 4, 2002, to Aug. 28, 2009.
The couple had no children and owned no property together as of the dissolution of the marriage they began when Bethany was 21. Assets divided between them included a 1996 black Chevrolet Blazer, which Bethany Storro kept, an Ikea dresser, couch and a television.
Storro was born in Vancouver before spending a lengthy stint in Idaho, which apparently drew to an end around the same time as her marriage.
Employees at the Safeway in Washougal where Bethany Storro worked declined to discuss her on Friday. One employee offered only that Bethany Storro started in the bakery a couple months ago and then transferred to the deli, where she worked nights.
During a press conference Friday, Joe Neuwelt promised that “all the money that was donated — communitywide, nationwide, worldwide — will be returned.”
“We are not holding back any monies for any reason whatsoever,” he said. “All money will be returned in the appropriate manner. That will be guaranteed.”
A spokesman with Riverview Community Bank, where a fund was established to assist Storro with her medical bills, said efforts are under way to return money to donors, “whose overwhelming support was not a surprise to us.”
“We are working with the local authorities to identify the donors, and we will be in contact with Safeway management, which is really the one that spearheaded this fundraising account, to determine the best course of action,” said Kim Capeloto, Riverview’s executive vice president in charge of operations and marketing.
He said he could not disclose the amount donated to Storro. Contributions, Capeloto said, came from all over the country.
The account was established by Safeway Inc. It was opened at the urging of the co-workers who were unwilling to discuss Storro less than 24 hours after her lies came to light.
“No matter the outcome, it’s a tragic story,” Capeloto said. “We certainly feel for the individuals that have been impacted, from friends to family. The support of the community was not a surprise to us. We would expect to see the same level of support from the community in the future should additional causes arise.”
