Woman Charged With Poisoning Husband's Tea With Drain Cleaner

Yue 'Emily' Yu indicted, faces 8 years behind bars
By Evann Gastaldo,  Newser Staff
Posted Apr 6, 2023 2:00 AM CDT
Dermatologist Accused of Poisoning Husband With Drain Cleaner
This photo provided by the Irvine Police Department shows 45-year-old Yue Yu who was arrested late Thursday, Aug. 4, 2022, for poisoning her husband.   (Irvine Police Department via AP)

The California dermatologist suspected of poisoning her husband with drain cleaner has been indicted, Orange County officials announced Wednesday. Yue "Emily" Yu, 45, was arrested last summer and released on bail. Her husband of a decade noticed his tea started tasting odd, and installed cameras in the kitchen to see if he could figure out why. Police say the cameras recorded video of Yu pouring liquid drain cleaner into her husband's beverage on more than one occasion, Fox 8 reports. Her husband also turned over samples of the allegedly tainted tea to police, and testing by the FBI confirmed the samples contained drain cleaner, authorities say. Yu's husband, who is also a doctor, experienced stomach ulcers but survived, ABC 7 reports.

Yu faces three felony counts of poisoning and one count of domestic battery with corporal injury and will be arraigned April 18. If convicted, she faces more than eight years behind bars. In a statement last year, her lawyer suggested there is another explanation for what the surveillance videos captured, and that the truth will come out in court, KTLA reported at the time. Yu's husband, he said, manipulated the situation in an "attempt to gain an advantage in the divorce and custody case he filed against Ms. Yu, a day after she was arrested." The statement continues, "If you thought you were being poisoned, would you go to a divorce attorney before going to the hospital or police? Drano is not a covert poisoning agent. It has a strong smell and taste and is highly caustic." (More California stories.)

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