A Vancouver, Wash., woman who claimed to have been splashed in the face with acid by another woman has now admitted the attack was a hoax, but Mesa police say a nearly identical case involving a local woman is the real-deal.

911 call after Mesa acid attack

"We have absolutely no indication of anything to suspect the incident that happened here was a hoax," Sgt. Ed Wessing, a Mesa police spokesman, said Friday morning.

On Sept. 2, an unidentified woman threw what police believe was acid into the face of Derri Velarde, a 41-year-old divorced mother of five.

In the 911 recording released by police, Velarde can be heard crying in pain as her daughter pleads with a dispatcher for help. The woman struggles to yell her address on the 1300 block of S. Val Vista Drive.

"It burns!" she can be heard yelling in the background.

Velarde is eventually instructed to shower the remaining acid off her body.

"Mom do you know who the person is who threw acid on you?" the daughter asks.

"I don't know who she is!" the woman sobs. "Some woman with a black shirt on and her hair tied up in a bun. It looked like water and she threw it on me and it started burning."

The attacker was described as Hispanic, between 30 and 40 years old; about 5-feet 6-inches tall; 140 pounds; with wide hips and shoulder-length hair in a ponytail. She was last seen wearing a black tank top with black sweat pants with a white stripe.

"(The victim) just pulled up from work," the daughter tells the dispatcher. "My mom was screaming outside the apartment. Her car door was open and everything."

"It's on her face," the daughter said. "I can already see her skin is lighter and darker."

Velarde now faces a long, painful and costly road to recovery, said family friend Kristin Foard.

"When the dressing changes come, they are very painful for her," Foard said. "She suffered second- and third-degree burns on her body. Her skin was sizzling and she couldn't even understand what was going on."

Velarde no longer feels comfortable in her apartment and has been staying with family on the East Coast, Foard said.

Five days after the attack, Mesa police released a sketch of the suspect, which generated some tips but none that have proven fruitful.

The attack garnered international attention because it occurred three days after a nearly identical attack on a woman in Vancouver, Wash. However, authorities announced Thursday that woman admitted to splashing the acid on herself, according to the Associated Press.

Police said it is possible that the Mesa incident was a copycat attack, and they do not believe it was a hoax.

Anyone with information on the Mesa attacker is asked to contact Mesa police at 480-644-2211.

Several donation events for the Mesa woman will be held throughout next week. Visit thederrivelardefund.com for more information.