A Vermont man who in a jealous rage doused his estranged wife with industrial-strength lye and burned her so badly she needed a face transplant has died at a Pennsylvania hospital.
Sixty-two-year-old Herbert Rodgers had been serving a 30- to 70-year prison sentence in Pennsylvania and died Monday.
Vermont officials say it appears Rodgers’ death was ‘related to a medical issue.’
Rodgers admitted breaking into Carmen Tarleton’s house in 2007 intending to kill a man with whom he believed she was romantically involved.
He poured the toxic chemical over her and later said, ‘I lost it, I just lost it.’
Sixty-two-year-old Herbert Rodgers (above), who had been serving a 30- to 70-year prison sentence in Pennsylvania, died on Monday
In a jealous rage, Rodgers doused his estranged wife with industrial-strength lye and burned her so badly she needed a face transplant. Carmen Tarleton is seen above in August 2008, just a year after the attack
On a spring night in 2007, Rodgers broke into Tarleton’s home and beat her with a baseball bat. He then doused her with industrial strength Lye, a metal hydroxide used to make soap, oven cleaners, and drain openers. Tarleton is seen above in an undated photo before the attack
In 2009, Rodgers, who at this point was Tarleton’s ex-husband, pleaded guilty to maiming her in exchange for a prison sentence of at least 30 years. Police previously said Rodgers believed his wife (seen above in 1986) was seeing another man and went to her house to attack him
The Vermont health services director will conduct a review of Rodgers’ death.
Vermont houses some inmates out of state to alleviate overcrowding in its prisons.
Rodgers was imprisoned in Michigan but was moved to Pennsylvania in June.
On a spring night in 2007, Rodgers broke into Tarleton’s home and beat her with a baseball bat.
He then doused her with industrial strength Lye, a metal hydroxide used to make soap, oven cleaners, and drain openers.
Nearly six years after the attack, the Vermont nurse underwent a full facial transplant. She is seen above speaking at a news conference in 2013 at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston
In 2009, Rodgers, who at this point was Tarleton’s ex-husband, pleaded guilty to maiming her in exchange for a prison sentence of at least 30 years.
Police previously said Rodgers believed his wife was seeing another man and went to her house to attack him.
Tarleton mistook the intruder for a burglar at first and told him he could have whatever he wanted.
Then Rodgers launched into a fury, fracturing one of Tarleton’s eye sockets and breaking her arm with the bat.
He had brought lye with him in a squeeze bottle and he poured it on Tarleton.
When police arrived, the brunette’s heart-shaped face already was distorted, her skin turning brown.
She was trying to crawl into a shower to wash away the chemical.
Tarleton suffered burns on more than 80 percent of her body and was left blind as a result of the attack.
Cheryl Denelli-Righter, who suddenly died of a stroke in February 2013, signed up to be an organ donor. Doctors attached her face to Tarleton in a complex, 15-hour surgery
Marinda Righter, the daughter of donor Cheryl Denelli-Righter, told Tarleton during a press conference at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, that her new face was ‘beautiful’ and described being able to help as ‘an incredible opportunity’
Accompanied by lead surgeon, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, Tarleton thanked Righter and her mother for the ‘tremendous gift’ as the two women hugged and kissed before the assembled media
Her face was unrecognizable after the lye attack, burned away in the frenzy of an estranged husband’s rage.
Nearly six years after the attack, the Vermont nurse underwent a full facial transplant.
Doctors at Brigham & Women’s Hospital in Boston performed an operation that entailed transplanting a female donor’s facial skin to Tarleton’s neck, nose and lips, along with facial muscles, arteries and nerves.
‘I know how truly blessed I am, and will have such a nice reflection in the mirror to remind myself what selfless really is,’ Tarleton wrote on her blog.
Tarleton, who once worked as a transplant nurse, has undergone more than 50 surgeries since the attack.
The operations included skin grafts and work that has restored vision to one eye.
Before the transplant, which took 15 hours and was performed by over two dozen doctors, Tarleton drooled constantly because of scar tissue in her mouth.
She also couldn’t turn her head from side to side or lift her chin.
Two months after the face transplant, the daughter of the woman who donated her face to Tarleton said that it was ‘truly a blessing’ for her to see her late mother ‘live on’ as the brave patient revealed her new appearance for the first time.
Before the transplant, which took 15 hours and was performed by over two dozen doctors, Tarleton drooled constantly because of scar tissue in her mouth. She also couldn’t turn her head from side to side or lift her chin
Marinda Righter, the daughter of donor Cheryl Denelli-Righter, told Tarleton, 47, during a press conference at Brigham and Women’s Hospital in Boston, that her new face was ‘beautiful’ and described being able to help as ‘an incredible opportunity.’
Accompanied by lead surgeon, Dr. Bohdan Pomahac, Tarleton thanked Righter and her mother for the ‘tremendous gift’ as the two women hugged and kissed before the assembled media.
‘I have been on this incredible journey for the past six years and receiving this wonderful gift ends this chapter of my life,’ Tarleton said.
‘What a great way to move forward with what life has for me now. The donor and her family have given me a tremendous gift.’
On the podium, Righter, whose mother died of a sudden stroke, said it was ‘truly a blessing’ that she could ‘feel (her) mother’s skin again and see her freckles’ before walking over and kissing Tarleton on the face she knew so well.
She described her mother, Cheryl, and Tarleton as ‘kindred spirits’ who, though they never met, would forever be intertwined.
‘They are both mothers, they are both survivors, they are both beacons of light,’ she said.