Blinded by ex-convict

Associated Press · October 4, 1971

Wilma Chestnut, 17, sits by her mother in Homer Phillips Hospital here Monday as doctors consider the chances of her vision returning. Police say the high school student was blinded last Thursday by an ex-convict who said he would "cut her eyes out" to keep him from being identified in a holdup the girl saw. Two doctors at the hospital and Normandy Osteopathic Hospital are starting a fund drive to cover Wilma's medical expenses. Dr. Phillip Venable said an eye transplant may be possible within five years.