Wendy's Off Hook In Finger Case
Officials Point Finger At Woman Who Police Say Set Up Chili Hoax
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Play CBS Video Video Wendy's Corporate Mess A gruesome claim of a finger found in Wendy's chili cost the company millions. Now, Wendy's is off the hook and the accuser is charged, but a reputation is tarnished, John Blackstone reports.
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Video Wendy's Chili Finger Twist The woman who said she found a finger in her bowl of Wendy's chili has been arrested, although the charges are not known. Anna Duckworth of CBS station KPIX reports.
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Video Wendy's Chili Finger Hoax Police in San Jose now say that a woman who claimed to have found a human finger in her bowl of chili was making it up. But the trouble for Wendy's isn't over. John Blackstone reports.
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Portion of a human finger that a woman says she found while eating a bowl of chili at Wendys restaurant in San Jose, California. (AP)
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Anna Ayala, who alleges she found a human finger in her Wendy's chili, is shown in this April 22, 2005, photo released by the Clark County Detention Center in Las Vegas. (AP/Las Vegas Metropolitan P.D.)
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Ayala's claim that she found the fingertip, complete with a well-manicured nail, on March 22 initially drew sympathy. But when police and health officials failed to find any missing digits among the workers involved in the restaurant's supply chain, suspicion fell on Ayala, and her story has become a late-night punch line.
Ayala hired a lawyer and filed a claim against the Wendy's franchise owner, Fresno-based JEM Management. But after police searched her home in Las Vegas and continued to question her family, she dropped the lawsuit threat, saying the whole situation was just too stressful.
"Lies, lies, lies, that's all I am hearing," Ayala said after police started questioning her. "They should look at Wendy's. What are they hiding? Why are we being victimized again and again?"
As it turns out, Ayala has a litigious history. She has filed claims against several corporations, including a former employer and General Motors, though it is unclear from court records whether she received any money. She said she got $30,000 from El Pollo Loco after her 13-year-old daughter got sick at one of the chain's Las Vegas-area restaurants. But El Pollo Loco spokeswoman Julie Weeks said last week that the company reviewed Ayala's February 2004 claim and paid her nothing.
Such claims can turn into corporate public-relations disasters literally overnight, CBS' Blackstone reports. So what is a company to do when faced with a claim that could lead to dramatic financial losses, regardless of legitimacy?
"The most important thing for Wendy's is to provide an alternative story," Ward Hanson of Stanford business school said.
Earlier Thursday, Wendy's International Inc. announced it had ended its internal investigation, saying it could find no credible link between the finger and the restaurant chain.
Sales have dropped at franchises in Northern California, forcing layoffs and reduced hours, the company said. Wendy's also has hired private investigators, set up a hot line for tips and offered a $100,000 reward for anyone who provides information leading to the finger's original owner.
"Is it an industrial accident, is it an unreported homicide?" said Nick Muyo of the San Jose Police Department. "Where's the rest of this body, or, where's the owner of this finger?"
© MMV, CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.
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