Woman Finds Finger In Her Chili Bowl

Now here is a strange, strange story. A woman's meal at a Wendy's restaurant brought a whole new meaning to the term "finger food" as she found a human finger while eating a bowl of chili at the local San Jose restaurant.

The woman, who asked officials not to identify her, immediately spit out the finger and warned other diners to stop eating, witnesses said. She immediately went up to the counter but was first told it was a vegetable!

Investigators said the finger had been cooked at a high enough temperature to kill any viruses, including hepatitis or HIV, and it was unlikely that she will suffer any health effects from her experience, aside from psychological trauma. All of the ingredients at the restaurant were seized and officials are tracing them back to their manufacturer. They believe the finger got into the chili at an earlier stage.

"We have no evidence of any accident within the employees at the facility itself", said Ben Gale of the Santa Clara County Health Department. "We asked everybody to show us they have 10 fingers and everything is OK there".

UPDATE:

Police investigating how a human finger ended up in a woman's bowl of Wendy's chili declared the claim a hoax and arrested her on charges of attempted grand larceny.

The arrest of Anna Ayala at her home outside Las Vegas was the latest twist in the case. Ayala, 39, claimed she bit down on the well-manicured, 1 1/2-inch finger in a mouthful of her steamy chili on March 22 in San Jose. She had hired a lawyer and filed a claim against the Wendy's franchise owner, but dropped the lawsuit threat soon after suspicion fell on her.

When asked whether police considered Ayala's claim a hoax, David Keneller, captain of the San Jose police department's investigations bureau, said yes.

"What we have found is that thus far our evidence suggests the truest victims in this case are indeed the Wendy's owner, operators and employees here in San Jose," Police Chief Rob Davis said.

At a news conference, police refused to say where the finger originated and exactly how the hoax was carried out.

But according to a person knowledgeable about the case who spoke on condition of anonymity, the attempted larceny charge stemmed from San Jose police interviews with people who said Ayala described putting a finger in the chili. The source said the interviews were with at least two people who did not know each other and independently told similar stories.

The source added that investigators still did not know where the finger came from.

Ayala - who has a history of bringing claims against big corporations - has denied placing the finger in the chili.

UPDATE:

The mysterious finger that a woman claimed to have found in a bowl of Wendy's chili came from an associate of her husband who lost the finger in an industrial accident, police say.

"The jig is up. The puzzle pieces are beginning to fall into place, and the truth is being exposed," Police Chief Rob Davis said.

The owner was traced through a tip made to a Wendy's hot line, Davis said. He said the man lost the finger in December, and authorities "positively confirmed that this subject was in fact the source of the fingertip". The nature of the industrial accident was not disclosed and the police chief would not say if the man was in on the alleged hoax.

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