newjerseynewsroom.com

BY ALICIA CRUZ

NEWJERSEYNEWSROOM.COM

A Southern California woman pulled a "Lorena Bobbitt" Monday when she sliced off her estranged husband's penis, tossed it her garbage disposal and then turned it on before summoning emergency responders. When police arrived, Catherine Kieu Becker, 48, allegedly told the officers that her husband "deserved it," before pointing them to the bedroom he was in.

Garden Grove police Lt. Jeff Nightengale said the officers found the husband, whose identity has not been released, tied to a bed, and bleeding extensively from his groin area. The couple had been married for a little over a year when the 51-year-old victim filed for divorce.

The husband told investigators that he thought Becker might have poisoned his food prior to maiming him. The man said he went to lie down after eating. When he awoke, he was tied to the bed and his wife was pulling his clothes off. At that point, she cut his penis with a 10-inch knife. Police received the call for "medical assistance" after 9 p.m. Monday, Los Angeles newspaper, Daily Breeze reported.

According to the Orange County Register, the couple was still living together, but Becker was in the process of moving her things out. Police records show no previous calls to the condominium, said Nightengale, who added that pieces of the severed genital were recovered from the garbage disposal and transported to the University of California Irvine Medical Center, where the husband underwent emergency surgery. When reached by the newspaper Tuesday afternoon, the victim would only say that the matter was private.

In the meantime, Becker is charged with aggravated mayhem, false imprisonment, assault with a deadly weapon, administering a drug with intent to commit a felony, poisoning and spousal abuse. She faces life in prison for the charges.

Nightengale, a police officer for 22 years, said the act was heinous and not a "typical" domestic violence case. "It was way over the top," he told the Huffington Post.