VANCOUVER, Wash., April 11 (UPI) -- A Vancouver, Wash., woman who fabricated an acid attack says she was lying to conceal a suicide bid.
Bethany Storro, 28, who pleaded guilty Friday to a misdemeanor for lying to police and received a suspended sentence, told The (Vancouver) Columbian she has been diagnosed with body dysmorphic and obsessive-compulsive disorders and depression, and is living at a therapeutic facility.
She must wear a compression mask for 12 to 15 hours a day to heal her skin, which was burned in the self-inflicted attack Aug. 30, but her doctor has told her it will eventually return to its normal color.
Storro said as a teenager, she withdrew from her friends and began spending hours staring at herself in the bathroom mirror, examining her perceived flaws.
At times she believed she had a growth on her face although it was invisible to others.
She had been on psychiatric medication but not when she burned her face with drain cleaner.
In court, Storro apologized for claiming she had been attacked by a black woman. She said she assumed police would not be able to find anyone matching the description.
