Heidi Van Tassel described to KNBC TV how a man attacked her in Los Angeles seven months ago. (Photo: NBC Los Angeles)

A Los Angeles woman said she has been suffering from PTSD for seven months after a man poured a bucket of hot diarrhea over her head.

Heidi Van Tassel told KNBC TV that she was in her car on Hollywood Boulevard after eating Thai food when a man suddenly dragged her out of her vehicle and into the middle of the street.

The man then dumped a bucket of feces on her head, she told KNBC TV.

“It was diarrhea. Hot liquid. I was soaked, and it was coming off my eyelashes and into my eyes,” Van Tassel said. “Paramedics who came to treat me said there was so much of it on me, that it looked like the man was saving it up for a month.”

After the attack, Van Tassel went to a local hospital to be tested for infectious diseases that are caused by contact with feces. She will return every three months for additional testing, KNBC TV reported.

Van Tassel said the PTSD she’s dealing with “is beyond anything that I’ve ever felt,” but she is also trying to be empathetic to the man accused of attacking her.

The man was charged with battery and taken to jail, KNBC TV reported, citing court records. A judge later sent him to a residential facility for people with mental health issues, the outlet said. He was released in August.

“He doesn’t need jail time. He needs mental health care. I have empathy for him because he needs help,” she said.

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On Jan. 15, 1947, the remains of Elizabeth Short were found in a vacant lot in Los Angeles. What made this discovery the stuff of tabloid sensation, however, was the Glasgow smile left on the aspiring actress' face ― made with 3-inch slashes on each side. This, coupled with Short's dark hair, fair complexion and reputation for sporting a dahlia in her hair, led her to be dubbed "The Black Dahlia" in headlines. What followed was a media circus filled with rumors and speculation about the 22-year-old's checkered past. What haunts theorists to this day, apart from the victim's uniquely nightmarish visage, is that the case remains unsolved after some 200 suspects were interviewed and ultimately released, making it one of Hollywood's most lurid legends.

"I Am Not Guilty - Thus Lizzie Borden Pleads Before Judge Hammond at New Bedford." ― Boston Journal

"Lizzie Borden took an axe And gave her mother forty whacks. And when she saw what she had done, She gave her father forty-one." So goes the lurid nursery rhyme to one of the most mystifying crimes ever. The nature of the deaths of Andrew J. Borden and his wife, Abby, are trumped only by the identity of the alleged perpetrator: their daughter Lizzie. Inexplicably found "not guilty" in contrast to the era's more usual swift justice, Lizzie's legacy was to be immortalized as one of the most perplexing cases of parricide in history.

"Texas Mother Charged with Killing Her 5 Children" ― CNN

In a case of mother-gone-mad that startled a nation, Andrea Yates appeared to her few friends and family to be a recluse suffering from postpartum depression leading up to the birth of her fifth child. That all changed on June 20, 2001, when she drowned five of her children in their home's bathtub. She was convicted in 2002 of capital murder, carrying a sentence of life in prison with possible parole. In a 2006 retrial, however, a Texas jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity. She was committed to a mental health facility.

"Buttafuoco Admits to Sex with Amy Fisher" ― New York Times

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"Murder of a Little Beauty" ― People Magazine

With her face gracing the covers of nearly every news and gossip rag during the winter of 1996, it's hard to suggest that the death of child beauty pageant queen JonBenét Ramsey had little effect outside the city of Boulder, Colorado. She was found dead from a blow to the head and strangulation in the family's basement. There was a ransom note left on the staircase asking for $118,000 (conveniently or coincidentally, nearly the same amount Mr. Ramsey received as a bonus that year) and no obvious signs of forced entry into the house. The evidence appeared to be stacked against parents John and Patsy, who maintained their innocence throughout the investigation. The case reopened in 2010, but critics cite poor handling of the crime scene as why the mystery of the events of that Christmas day continues.

"F.B.I. Joins Probe in Slaughter of 8 Nurses" ― Nashua Telegraph

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"Sharon Tate, Four Others Murdered" ― Los Angeles Times

Perhaps the most terrifying figure in American crime to have never actually killed anyone himself, Charles Manson founded a "family" of wayward individuals who hailed him as a prophet. So strong was his manipulation that on the night of Aug. 8, 1969, he ordered four of his followers to kill everyone at the residence of 10050 Cielo Drive ― including movie director Roman Polanski's wife, Sharon Tate, and her unborn child. Tate was stabbed 16 times, and her blood was used to write "pig" on the house's front door. The next night, Manson accompanied six of his family to the residence of supermarket executive Leno LaBianca and his wife, helping to bind them before ordering their deaths. In 1971, Manson and three of his fellow defendants were found guilty of murder in the first-degree and several other crimes. At the time, it was the longest murder trial in American history, spanning nine and a half months, as well as the most expensive, estimating $1 million. Manson was died in prison in 2017 at age 83.

"Lindbergh Baby Kidnapped from Home of Parents on Farm Near Princeton; Taken from His Crib; Wide Search on" ― The New York Times

Story continues

Used as the basis for an Agatha Christie novel (Murder on the Orient Express) and dubbed "the biggest story since the Resurrection" by famed journalist H.L. Mencken, the kidnapping and murder of aviator Charles Lindbergh's infant son continues to fascinate theorists today. Charles Jr. was discovered missing from his second-floor bedroom on March 1, 1932, along with a note demanding a then-unimaginable $50,000, igniting a media frenzy like no other. The tabloid pandemonium prompted many tips and leads, but none as concrete as a package containing the boy's pajamas and another message demanding the ransom. After some misdirection from the presumed kidnapper, Lindbergh's child was discovered in the woods along a road near the family residence. Notwithstanding the evidence stockpiled against the easily vilified illegal German immigrant Bruno Hauptmann (who was sentenced to death), speculation prevails as to the true identity of the individual responsible for this tragic tale.

"Not Guilty as Sin" ― New York Post

Still fresh in the minds of many and not to be easily forgotten, the trial of Casey Anthony turned Orlando, Florida, into anything but the "happiest place on earth." Following a series of lies, misdirection and manipulation by then-22-year-old Casey, her daughter Caylee's skeletal remains were found five months into the investigation, setting the stage for what could only be described as the most incessantly publicized and shocking trial in recent memory. The media had a field day that went on for months, highlighting the young, pretty party-girl image used against Casey Anthony in court as the prosecution tore apart an aimless defense ― or so it seemed. After throwing her own family under the bus, incriminating people entirely made-up ("Zanny the Nanny"), and fabricating elaborate stories for the police, Anthony was found not guilty of murder due to evidence deemed mostly circumstantial and not meeting the burden of "beyond reasonable doubt," inciting much debate regarding whether true justice was served.

"An American Tragedy" ― Time

It was heralded as the "trial of the century." Former football star and actor O.J. Simpson found himself in the middle of the nation's biggest, most-televised trial following the deaths of his ex-wife Nicole Brown Simpson and her friend Ron Goldman, but not before fleeing an all-points bulletin in his Ford Bronco with 20 units in tow, interrupting game 5 of the NBA Finals. With a dream legal team including Johnnie Cochran, Robert Shapiro, and Robert Kardashian, the defense claimed Simpson was merely a victim of police fraud with regard to contaminated DNA evidence. Cochran famously quipped, "If it [the glove] doesn't fit, you must acquit." On Oct. 3, 1995, an estimated 100 million people from around the world tuned in to watch the jury hand down a verdict of not guilty, costing an estimated $480 million in lost productivity. The case incited a discussion of race in the judicial system that continues to this day.

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