John and Lorena Bobbitt

John Wayne Bobbitt (born March 23, 1967 in Buffalo, New York) and Lorena Bobbitt (née Gallo, born October 31, 1970 in Bucay, Ecuador) are an American former couple, married on June 18, 1989, whose relationship made worldwide headlines in 1993 when Lorena cut off her husband's penis with a knife while he was asleep in bed. The penis was subsequently surgically reattached.

Incident

The incident occurred on June 23, 1993 in Manassas, Virginia, and the legal case surrounding the incident subsequently took place throughout 1993 and 1994.

Lorena claimed in a court hearing that after coming home at night on June 23, 1993, her husband raped her. At some point after her husband had come home and gone to sleep, Lorena got out of bed and went to the kitchen. Grabbing a knife, she entered their bedroom, where John was sleeping, and removed the entire penis at its base.

After this, Lorena left the apartment with the severed body part and drove away in her car. After a while, she opened the car window and threw it into a field. After realizing the severity of her crime, however, she stopped and called 911. After an exhaustive search, John's penis was found and reattached in the hospital where he was being treated. The operation took nine and a half hours.