Bethany Storro Used Acid Attack Donations for Computer, Shopping Spree

Sept. 21, 2010 — -- The woman who faked an acid attack on her face wanted to kill herself or cause such severe deformities that she could warrant getting an entirely new face, according to court documents.

"When I realized it wasn't killing me, I thought maybe this was the answer to all my problems," 28-year-old Bethany Storro said in her statement to police, according to a probable cause affidavit obtained by ABC News. "To have a completely different face."

Storro, who now faces charges of second-degree theft for accepting donations in the wake of the fake acid attack, is believed to have spent several thousand dollars given to her for her recovery on a shopping spree at Target and a new computer.

Storro had originally told police that a stranger had splashed acid in her face during a random attack on Aug. 30, causing facial deformities that required lengthy surgeries.

But the court documents reveal that even Storro's surgeon was skeptical of the attack, telling investigators that her injuries did not reflect being splashed by acid.

"Storro's facial skin seemed to be burned, but it was an even pattern over her face. It did not appear to be a splashing injury," wrote Det. Wallis Stefan in the affidavit. "It seemed to have a mud-mask, or cosmetically applied mask, appearance to it."

Stefan said Storro had "no injuries to her neck, hands, or upper chest area that may have been indicative of having chemical splashed on her face."

The detective also compared Storro's account to other acid attacks that had occurred around the same time across the country and found no similarities among the cases.

Bethany Storro Told Cops She Was Trying to Kill Herself With Acid

Investigators also learned that no sunglasses had been purchased at the store where Storro had claimed buying the ones that protected her eyes during the attack. Sunglasses also were not found at the scene of the alleged crime.

On Sept. 16, when authorities entered Storro's home to execute a search warrant for evidence that she had made up the attack, Storro came clean, telling officers that she "should go to jail."

During her admission, which spanned more than an hour and a half and was 88 pages in length when transcribed, Storro said that she had dabbed acidic drain cleaner to her face with a towel in a park bathroom hours before the call was placed to police on Aug. 30.

Storro admitted to purchasing drain cleaner and a pair of gloves and at a hardware store, according to the court documents.

"I thought there would be no evidence of me doing it to myself," she told Stefan according to the affidavit. "I thought that you guys would give up trying to find the person and it would be done."

Storro had helped police develop a sketch of her alleged attacker -- a black woman with ear piercings -- in the days after the alleged attack. It is not yet clear why Storro described the suspect the way she did.

During her statement to police, Storro detailed how she'd spent some of the more than $25,000 in donations that her story had garnered from people who were sympathetic to Storro.

Storro told police that she'd "purchased dinners for her parents," "stuff at Target" and "clothes for herself," with the money. She also paid off most of a $620 bill for a laser facial peel that she had had a few weeks before the allegedly faked attack.

She also purchased an "Apple computer after being released from the hospital" but told police that she had returned the item, according to the court documents.

Arrest Warrant Issued for Acid Attack Hoaxer Bethany Storro

In a statement to the media last week, Storro's parents issued an apology on behalf of their daughter, saying that Storro was "extremely sorry for the pain" she had caused.

"As any good parent would, we stood by our daughter when she told us these different scenarios," said Joe Neuwelt, Storro's father. "We stood by her, we believed her. Any good parent would do that."

"There was no reason to doubt her at all," Neuwelt said.

Tony Golik, a deputy prosecutor, told ABC affiliate KATU there is now a warrant for Storro's arrest, though it will not be carried out immediately because she is still in a local hospital.

He said prosecutors will seek higher-than-usual penalties because, as one court document put it, "the defendant committed the offense against a victim who was acting as a Good Samaritan."

Storro, who is partially deaf, has been married once before, but had no children. She was still on friendly terms with her ex-husband and her former mother-in-law initially came to her defense when rumors suggested the attack was a hoax.