Almost exactly 33 years ago, Lorena Bobbitt became one of the most notorious women in modern American crime history.

She cut off her husband's penis with a kitchen knife as he slept, triggering a high-profile trial and a media circus that followed her for decades.

But she is now living a much quieter life in suburban Virginia with her long-term partner, their daughter and their dog, the Daily Mail can reveal. 

For the first time, the Daily Mail can picture her hulking lover, Dave Bellinger, 56, whom she met at community college in the late 1990s.

Now 56 and going by her maiden name Lorena Gallo, she spends her days working out at the gym, attending church and running a domestic abuse charity (she has long claimed she mutilated her ex-husband, John Wayne Bobbitt, after years of rape and abuse). 

Yet there are constant reminders of the shocking event that made her a household name.

Neighbors shun her, make jokes and question why she and her partner of more than 20 years have never married, with some suggesting he is too afraid to tie the knot. 

When approached by the Daily Mail last month, Bellinger declined to comment and quickly left in his car. 

Both appeared to be in workout clothes - Bellinger in a tight-fitting black shirt, red gym shorts and low basketball sneakers. 

Lorena wore a black tank top, patterned gym leggings and purple high-top sneakers as she walked her dog and headed out for a workout. 

She had swapped the dark brown hair many will remember from her trial for highlighted blonde locks. 

Both Lorena and Bellinger came and went separately throughout the day. But while the family go about their business, they remain a frequent topic of gossip around town.

'It's fun to talk about,' said Amelia Stern, who lives down the street from the couple's $640,000 rented four-bedroom home in Prince William County, around an hour south of Washington, DC.

'You can always start a conversation by saying, "Guess who lives on my block?"

'The guys in the neighborhood have the most fun with it.'

Stern added: 'I guess she seems nice enough, but let's just say that I'm not worried about her seducing my husband. He's afraid of her.'

A male neighbor, who asked not to be named, said: 'I don't have anything against her, but I can't see her without imagining her driving around town with a cut-off penis in her hand.'

The Daily Mail tried to contact Lorena for comment ahead of publication.  

On the night of June 23, 1993, after severing her husband's penis, Lorena drove off into the night and threw it into a field near their home in Manassas, Virginia. 

She claimed she had acted in a dissociative state after years of physical, psychological and sexual abuse, including a rape earlier that evening.

Meanwhile, her husband, John Bobbitt - bleeding heavily and in shock following the sudden amputation - made his way to hospital, believing his life was over.

'I thought I was going to die,' John told the Daily Mail. 'Just imagine what that was like. Worst night of my life.'

Officers recovered the detached penis from the field and packed it in ice. It was successfully reattached in a four-hour surgery.

Remarkably, it began functioning as normal within months.

John would later go on to appear in a series of adult films that made him a tabloid media obsession throughout the 1990s.

Lorena was charged for malicious wounding. In 1994, a Virginia jury found her not guilty by reason of insanity, seemingly accepting the defense's claim that she had suffered psychological damage after years of alleged abuse.

Lorena alleged he raped and physically abused her for years, culminating in a forced sexual encounter on the night she severed his genitals.

Separately, John was tried for marital sexual assault but was acquitted of all charges, with the jury citing inconsistencies in Lorena's account of what happened on that night.

John denied the accusations, claiming any sexual contact was consensual or occurred while he was asleep.

After her acquittal, Lorena returned to community college, where she met Bellinger, who the Daily Mail has learned has also had his own run-ins with the law.

Records show he has had 26 criminal violations, including an arrest for credit card theft, fraud and embezzlement, as well as more than a dozen traffic violations. 

Bellinger and Lorena have one daughter together, 21-year-old Olivia.

Meanwhile, Lorena has spent much of her post-scandal life advocating for victims of domestic violence, determined to redirect attention away from the sensational details that made her famous.

In 2018, she launched the Lorena Gallo Foundation, a nonprofit dedicated to domestic violence prevention. 

According to the organization's website, its mission is 'to expand domestic violence and sexual assault prevention education, emergency response resources and community engagement activities that will improve outcomes for survivors and their children.'

Describing herself as an 'icon in the Domestic Violence/Sexual Assault prevention movement,' Lorena regularly speaks at public events and helps raise money for families in need. She also serves in a paid leadership role with the foundation.

Yet more than three decades after the incident that made headlines around the world, the public fascination has never entirely disappeared.

Today, Lorena lives a largely quiet life in suburban Virginia, focused on family, faith and advocacy work.

The woman once portrayed as a folk hero, villain, victim or punchline (depending on who was telling the story) has settled into a far less dramatic role of mother, partner and campaigner.