US / Sandra Herold Mauling Chimp's Owner Dead Sandra Herold was being sued for $50M By Marie Morris, Newser Staff Posted May 25, 2010 12:28 PM CDT Copied This Oct. 20, 2003, file photo shows Travis, a 10-year-old chimpanzee, sitting in the corner of his playroom at the home of Sandra and Jerome Herold in Stamford, Conn. (AP Photo/The Stamford Advocate, Kathleen O'Rourke, File) The owner of the chimpanzee that mauled and blinded a Connecticut woman in 2009 has died, her lawyer tells the Stamford Advocate. Sandra Herold, 72, suffered an aortic aneurysm. She was being sued for $50 million by the family of mauling victim Charla Nash, and "her heart, which had been broken so many times before could take no more," the lawyer said. He was also careful, however, to describe Nash as Herold's "friend and employee." Her defense against the lawsuit is that the mauling was job-related and therefore the case should be considered a workers' compensation issue. Nash is recuperating in the Boston area and hopes to undergo a face and hand transplant. (More Sandra Herold stories.) Report an error