The only child of Christian missionaries Paul and Victoria Suthers, Maria Suthers spent her first years of life traveling through Europe, absorbing the culture and music. When her parents felt called to South America to serve in the Amazon, they took their young daughter with them on this new adventure. They spent a year in a small village, working with the people and building a hospital and school.



One day Maria, her parents, and a group of villagers ventured farther into the rainforest than usual during a materials-gathering expedition. They stumbled upon a strange building and underground facility. Maria's father and mother went in to investigate while the rest of the group remained outside. Maria, bored and distracted by some ripe Mangos, climbed a tree to pick the fruit.

It all happened so quickly: the jeeps drove up, men with guns leapt out, her parents were apprehended, and the entire group was executed with lethal efficiency. Maria watched from her hiding place as the bodies of her loved ones were dragged off. She only caught a fleeting glimpse of the force behind the horror: a balding man in a white lab coat with round spectacles so thick, his eyes were completely obscured by the reflected light.

Maria was only 8 years old. Terrified and traumatized, she spent a day up the tree before venturing down. She was terribly lost in the jungle, and only survived because of a friendly tribe of howler monkeys threw her food and taught her to get around in the trees to avoid ground predators. Maria spent several months with the monkeys before a Safari expedition of Americans came through her part of the jungle and found her. They rescued her and took her back to the States, where she was sent to live with her elderly grandfather, a Lutheran pastor.

Maria's stories of murder and the Zookeeper were brushed off, as many children's are. The authorities who investigated the Suthers' disappearance concluded that the Amazonian villagers that they were living with had grown hostile to their presence and murdered them along with their supporters in the village, leaving their bodies for animals to dispose of. The church gave them martyr status and Maria soon came to doubt her own memories. She passed her teen years and in quietude and depression, taking solace in playing the piano and singing songs she'd heard at the opera houses in Europe. The organist at the church discovered her talent when she was 15 and gave her voice lessons, per her grandfather's approval.



Upon graduating high school, Maria received a full scholarship to a major music conservatory and continued her voice training. She won some acclaim while working towards her Master's degree in music with her "hints of deep sadness and unanswered questions" that seemed to color all her performances. She went directly into the young artist program at Arbor City Opera, met and began to date a young composer in the area. She seemed very close to being able to move on and make a life for herself.

But one evening while surfing the internet, Maria happened upon a report of a research facility in South America that had been unearthed recently. In one of the photos was a video snapshop on a screen in the facility with a woman who looked distinctly non- Amazonian. A woman who looked like an older version of the mother Maria thought she'd lost. Maria's pain and memories flared to life. Her mind spun with the possibility that her memories from long ago were not only true, but her mother might have actually survived!

Maria remembered that time so long ago - she thought about the monkeys and the survival skills they taught her. In her darkest hour, against all odds, she had come through. She knew she had the strength to do anything. She vowed then and there to find out the truth, and to take revenge on the psycho who robbed her of her parents. Maria threw back her head and let out an angry shriek that would forever mark her campaign against evil - the call of the monkeys.

And the monkeywoman was born.