'He slept in my bed every single night and liked sweet potatoes': Owner of chimp that mauled Charla Nash describes bizarre life with animal as victim launches court battle

• Charla Nash, 58, horrifically mauled by chimpanzee in 2009
• Had revolutionary full-face transplant in June 2011 and says she has feeling in various parts of her face
• Is suing state of Connecticut, seeking $150m in damages for not dealing with dangerous 200lb chimp Travis
• Chimp escaped in 2003 and roamed around Stamford before being caught
• Owner Sandra Herold slept with animal 'every night' and made Miss Nash cook him rice pudding

Sandra Herold, the deceased owner of Travis the chimp that mauled her friend and assistant Charla Nash's face, spoke openly and honestly about the bizarre world she and her animal lived in before the horrific attack.
Speaking to her attorney in sworn testimony, Mrs Herold told of how she and Travis would sleep together 'every night' and she would have Miss Nash purchase specially sized sweet potatoes for his enjoyment.
She also insisted that then Stamford Mayor Daniel Malloy, who is now governor of Connecticut, casually told her to 'not let him out again' after he escaped during 2003 and terrorized the downtown area.
On Feb. 16, 2009, the 200-pound chimpanzee mauled Miss Nash, causing her to lose her eyesight, lips, nose, and hands in the attack.
A hearing for Miss Nash's $150million lawsuit against the state will be held today to see if her claim that the state failed to protect the public, including herself, from a dangerous animal.

Recovery: Charla Nash sits in court today at a hearing to determine whether she may sue the state for $150 million in claimed damages

Attack: On Feb. 16, 2009, the 200-pound chimpanzee named Travis, left, mauled Charla Nash, right, causing her to lose her eyesight, lips, nose, and hands in the attack

She received a face transplant after the attack and now lives in a rehab center outside Boston, while Mrs Herold passed away from a ruptured aortic aneurysm at the age of 72.

 

Miss Nash has already filed a $50 million lawsuit against Mrs Herold's estate, but she is hoping that Mr Malloy's conversation with Mrs Herold, which he denies, will prove he was aware of the dangers of the animal's continued freedom.
In newly released transcripts published in the Hartford Courant, Mrs Herold told her attorney that Travis escaped from her SUV in October 2003.

Vacation: Sandra Herold, the deceased owner of Travis, spoke openly and honestly about the bizarre world she and her animal lived in before the horrific attack

Happy: Miss Nash, pictured here with Travis, worked for Mrs Herold performing odd jobs and caring for the animal

The animal eluded police capture and proceeded to romp all over cars in the downtown Stamford street before buckling himself back into the seat of her car.
'And when did you have this contact with Mayor Malloy?' her attorney asked.
'We used to take Travis for a ride every night and a lot of times went by his home,' Mrs Herold responded.
'And you had a conversation with him?' her attorney asked.
'A good conversation. You know, just friends. And we would stop. And he just said, "San, do me a favor? Don't let him get out again,"' she replied.

Reconstruction: In the attack, her eyes, nose, and lips were mauled off

Courageous: The survivor first revealed her mauled face on the Oprah Winfrey show; before the surgery, she kept a veil over her face

The Mayor has repeatedly denied that he ever had any conversations with Miss Herold about the animal. Miss Nash has also claimed that he knew about the 2003 rampage and did nothing.
'[He] allowed her to take Travis home and said [to] keep him locked up. I think it was said that if he got loose again, they were going to shoot him. That's what Sandra told me,' Miss Nash said in March.
But beyond the testimony about Mr Malloy, Mrs Herold gave more details about her life with the chimp that dined on lobster and steak and drank from wine glasses.
'I didn't consider him a pet, really,' she declared.

Court: Charla Nash, right, talks with attorney Bill Monaco before a hearing at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut

Injury: Charla Nash arrives for a hearing at the Legislative Office Building in Hartford, Connecticut

'Okay. Well, what did you consider him?' her attorney asked.
'Part of the family,' she responded.
She also told her attorney that the chimp would sleep in bed with her every night. The animal was shot dead by police during his vicious attack.
If Miss Nash's request to sue the state is denied by the Claims Commission, she can appeal to the legislature. Nash's lawyers have hired a lobbyist to represent her if necessary at the state Capitol.
The state has 'sovereign immunity' against most lawsuits unless such permission is granted.

Despite her legal woes, the face transplant recipient says she feels at home in her new skin.

'I have to depend on a lot of help. My life depends on really not being alone. I used to be very independent.'

Charla Nash

The brave 58-year-old woman, who nearly died in the horrific mauling, told the Hartford Courant that she feels no different than she did before the attack.
‘I just feel like it’s my face,’ she said. ‘It’s just not working real good.’
Ms Nash, a single mother from Stamford, Connecticut, told the Courant that she’s regaining movements in her face and can express herself with various motions.
‘Every day, my muscles get better,’ she said. 
Sandra Herold, who owned the 200-lb chimp Travis, died of an aneurism in 2010. Ms Nash said that if she could say anything to her former boss and friend, she would say she is ‘sorry that all this happened. And, nothing we can change now.’

She also said that Mrs Herold was a troubled woman, who cared more about the animal than her good friend.

On a rampage: Travis escaped in 2003 and roamed around Stamford, Connecticut before he was eventually re-captured

IN HER OWN WORDS: SANDRA HEROLD'S LIFE WITH TRAVIS THE CHIMP

Q: ‘So, is it your testimony that from the time you first purchased Travis [in 1995, when he was born] and brought him home to Stamford until your husband died [in 2004] you would bring Travis to Desire Me Motors daily?’

A: ‘Every single day.’

Q: ‘...You mean Monday through Sunday every week?’

A: ‘...If I was down there Monday through Friday, he was with me Monday through Friday. If we went down on Saturday, he was down on Saturday. When I was there, he was there. And everybody in town knew it.’
Q: ‘And when you first brought Travis home to Stamford did he have a bedroom?’

A: ‘Ours.’

Q: ‘Okay. So he stayed in the same room with you and your husband?’

A: ‘Slept in the same bed from the day he was brought home until the day he died.’

Q: ‘So, he would sleep in that bed every night with you — ‘

A: ‘Every single night.’

Q: ‘ — and your husband?’

A: ‘Yes.’

Q: ‘And after your husband died he would sleep with just you?’

A: ‘Yes.’

Mrs Herold also spoke of her employment of Miss Nash, saying she paid her $300 a week in cash.

Q: ‘Okay. And what was her job?’

A: ‘Answer the phones, release the [towed] cars, clean out the cars when they were going to junk after they had been totaled. Just general. Shop for Travis, mow the lawn up at the house, clean his pen, get newspapers for him. ... There was a [newspaper distribution] place right around the corner from us. You know, papers they didn't sell. And you had to be there by 6 in the morning, between 5:30 and 6. And twice a month — once for sure, but most of the time it was twice a month.’

Q: ‘And the newspapers were for what purpose?’

A: ‘Travis's room. Because originally it had a tile floor, and then I put rubber matting over it. And then I put the papers over that.’

Mrs Herold was also asked how Miss Nash would shop for Travis.

A: ‘ ... I would take her to the store … and I'd say, 'Okay. He likes sweet potatoes. They have to be this size.' You know, he liked not great big ones, not little tiny ones. They had to be a certain size. So, I showed her. And then fruit, he liked a certain kind of bananas and stuff. So, if I couldn't go, she had to go.’

Q: ‘Okay.’

A: ‘And she'd make him rice pudding. And you know, she was bottle picking, so she found toys that people put out that were good. She'd get it for him. Stuff like that.’