Raised him like her son

Travis was no ordinary pet. Born in Missouri in 1995, he was taken from his biological mother, Suzy, at only three days old and sold to Sandra and her husband, Jerome.

They raised him at their home in Stamford, Connecticut, where he became a local celebrity. Travis, named after Sandra’s favorite singer Travis Tritt, appeared in TV commercials, lived a pampered life, and even performed household tasks like watering plants, feeding horses, and brushing his teeth.

He had a strong bond with Sandra, who treated him like her surrogate son after the tragic death of her own child and her husband’s battle with cancer.

Travis was incredibly humanized, often seen riding in the tow truck with Sandra, eating at the dinner table, and even drinking wine from a glass. He had an astonishing ability to mimic human behavior — he could even drive a car. Yet, despite these remarkable qualities, Travis was still a chimpanzee, and like all primates, he possessed extraordinary strength. A full-grown chimpanzee’s upper-body strength can be up to five times greater than that of an average human.

What triggered the response?

Even though Travis knew Charla — she had worked at Sandra’s towing company —he didn’t recognize that she meant no harm that fateful day in February, 2009.

On the day of the attack, she was driving a different car and had a new hairstyle, which may have startled and confused him, triggering his violent response.

Travis had also been suffering from Lyme disease, which in rare cases is linked to psychotic behavior.

Charla was rushed to the hospital in critical condition. Doctors had to place her into a medically induced coma. In just 72 hours, she underwent over seven hours of surgery, involving four teams of surgeons working to save what they could of her face and hands.

“I’ve been doing this a long time and have never seen anything this dramatic on a living patient,” said Capt. Bill Ackley of Stamford Emergency Medical Service and the head of the paramedic crew that treated Charla.

The damage was almost beyond comprehension. Charla had lost her eyelids, nose, lips, mid-face bone structure, and nine fingers. Embedded in her shattered bones were clumps of the chimp’s hair and teeth, which doctors had to remove.

Staff at Stamford Hospital were so traumatized that grief counseling was offered to those who first treated her. Tragically, doctors confirmed that both her eyes had become infected, leaving her permanently blind.