Charla Nash's Family Sues

Three months after Travis the Chimp attacked Charla Nash and left her with $700,000 in medical bills (and counting), the family has decided to sue Sandra Herold, Travis' owner. They are asking for $50 million. Catch the full story Charla Nash and Travis the Chimp here and here.


Charla was badly mauled by the chimp and lost both hands, her nose, her lips, her eyelids and the bone structure in her face. She may have suffered some brain damage. She is blind and faces years of medical procedures. She remains in "critical but stable" condition and has made "significant neurological and psychological improvement," her doctors said.

"She is now awake and is able to communicate with her family and caregivers," physicians at the Cleveland clinic said in a statement.

"However, full cognitive recovery could take up to a year. As we have begun to communicate with her, it is clear that her injury has left her completely blind in both eyes, with no chance for improvement."

The doctors have said that they will focus first on her facial trauma but to think about a facial transplant "is premature at this time."

The attorneys for both sides came together Wednesday (5/6/09) in Stamford Superior Court before Judge Edward R. Karazin Jr. and reached a preliminary agreement that up to $10 million of Sandra Herold's assets will be frozen, stipulating that Herold may not dispose of or cause a dissipation in value of six parcels of property and three businesses she owns in Stamford. The value of the holdings are worth an estimated $4 million.

The agreement also calls for Herold to turn over to Matthew Newman (Charla Nash's lawyer) by June 1 documents he has requested that may further identify her assets, followed by Herold being deposed by June 15 to fully determine the location and value of her assets.

Judge Edward R. Karazin asked Herold's attorney, Robert Golger, to confirm he concurred with what was being stipulated. Karazin then said he found probable cause that an amount equal to or greater than $10 million would be awarded if the case went in the Nash family's favor. Newman afterward  told reporters it would probably be a minimum of three years before the case came to trial.

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Charla Nash, Sandra Herold and Travis the Chimp

Charla Nash,55, is in critical but stable condition after seven hours of surgery by four teams of surgeons. Charla was the victim of a savage, brutal and unprovoked attack by Travis the chimpanzee, owned by her longtime friend Sandra Herold. According to Dr. Kevin Miller:

Nash's vital signs are improving but that she received extensive injuries to her face and hands. Miller said she is making good, but small, progress after being treated by hand specialists and plastic surgeons, as well as specialists in ophthalmology, orthopedics and trauma.

Charla was attacked by the 14-year-old, 200 pound Travis the chimpanzee, who for no apparent reason, went berserk and jumped Charla as soon as she got out of her car. Her friend, the chimp's owner, Sandra Herold was having trouble controlling Travis and had called Charla to come over and help her.

Upon seeing Travis attack Charla, Sandra frantically called 911, got a knife and rushed to help her friend while still on the phone. She stabbed the chimp several times with the knife and even used a shovel to strike him. Here is the 911 called made by Sandra Herold: Travis can also be heard in the background attacking Charla as the operator stays on the line and Sandra hysterically tries to explain what is going on. She screams:  "The chimp killed my friend", "He ripped her face off", "She's dead, she's dead", "please hurry", "I think I'm going to faint". Read all about it here.

Travis was eventually shot multiple times as he attempted to attack one of the police officer. When it was all over Travis' body was removed from the home and taken to two separate locations: The head was taken to the state lab for a rabies test and the body was taken to the University of Connecticut for an animal autopsy. Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin said this is standard procedure.

Sandra Herold gave an interview in which she said she thought of the 200-pound chimp as her son. Her house was full of toys that Travis used to play with. She had pictures of him everywhere and even said that he would sleep with her. In the interview she describes the events leading up to Travis being killed by the police and talks about how she felt having to stab him.

Chimp Attacks Woman - Shot by Police

Travis the 200-pound, 14-year-old chimpanzee is dead. He was shot by the police after going berserk and mauling a woman and attacking others, including his owner. It brought a sad and violent end to the famous chimp who starred in TV commercials for Old Navy and Coca-Cola. He even appeared once on the "Maury Povich Show" and took part in a television pilot.

Sandra Herold,70, and her husband Jerome (now deceased) got Travis when he was only three days old. They treated him like their own child. At the time of his death the 14-year-old chimp was toilet trained, dressed himself, took his own bath, ate at the table and drank wine from a stemmed glass. He brushed his teeth using a Water Pik, logged onto the computer to look at pictures, and watched television using the remote control. He even had his own room.

It all began around 3:30 p.m. when Sandra Herold called her friend, Charla Nash, 55, to come and help her with Travis. He had been misbehaving. He had taken the keys to the car and was trying to open car doors, which he apparently did to indicate he wanted to go for a ride. Before Charla arrived Herold was able to coax Travis back into the house.

Travis had had a bout with Lyme disease - which can cause panic attacks, paranoia, personality changes and mood swings in people. Herold gave Travis some tea laced with Xanax, a prescription drug used to treat panic and anxiety disorders, to calm him. However when Charla Nash drove up to the house Travis ran out and began to attack her.

"It was a very serious attack. She suffered a tremendous loss of blood, terrible facial injuries, body injuries and hand injuries," Stamford police Capt. Richard Conklin said.

When Herold saw what was happening, she called 911, grabbed a butcher knife and ran outside to help her friend. Herold had to stab her beloved, longtime pet numerous times in an effort to save her friend who was being brutally mauled by the chimpanzee. Travis ran away and started roaming on Herold's property as police arrived. Officers set up security so medics could reach the critically injured woman lying on the ground.

"The EMS personnel were reluctant to go in (to treat the injured woman) because there was an enraged chimpanzee on the loose," Conklin said.

As Charla Nash was being treated, the chimpanzee returned and went after several of the officers, who retreated into their cars. Travis tried to open the passenger door of a cruiser, smashing the side-view mirror. When he couldn't get it open, the chimp went around to the driver's-side door and opened it. The officer in the cruiser had no choice but to shoot the chimp. Travis, who was shot multiple times in the upper torso, then fled. Officers followed the trail of his blood down the driveway, into the open door of the home, through the house and to his living quarters, a room filled with ropes and a "zoo-like cage". The chimp was already dead when the officers arrived.

"He's been raised almost like a child by this family," Conklin said. "He rides in a car every day, he opens doors, he's a very unique animal in that aspect. We have no indication of what provoked this behavior at all."

The injured woman, Charla Nash, was hospitalized in "very serious" condition at Stamford Hospital. The injuries are "life-changing, if not life-threatening," Mayor Dannel Malloy said. The chimp brutally attacked her face and hands in particular.

Travis's owner, Sandra Herold, 70, is also hospitalized. She may have had a mild heart attack, reported those at the scene but Stamford Hospital is not releasing any information about her condition. Two police officers also suffered injuries.