A California woman was arrested after her husband said she was trying to poison him — and he used surveillance videos as evidence against her.
Jack Chen, a physician in Orange, had fallen ill and believed his wife was trying to poison him with drain cleaner, lawyer Steven Hittelman said, according to CBS News.
“He started to have unusual symptoms back in March and April,” Hittelman said. “He went in to get checked by a doctor and found that he had had physical effects. He started to then connect the dots.”
Chen set up cameras in the kitchen, and the surveillance videos showed the woman pouring drain cleaner into her husband’s orange juice, Hittelman said.
“She tried to kill him,” the lawyer said.
“She takes up the bottle, she pours it in, she puts the cap back on and puts it back under the sink as though nothing else was happening in her day,” he said.
“It was very calm, very methodical,” Hittelman said.
Yue Yu, a dermatologist in Mission Viejo who also goes by the name of Emily Yu, was arrested Thursday, Irvine police Lt. Bill Bingham said, according to the U.K.’s Daily Mail.
Bingham said officers reviewed the videos Chen had made.
“The allegations that were made by the husband was incredibly serious and we thought it was important to take quick investigative action on the case based on the allegation,” he said, adding that “it appears the poisoning happened over a period of time.”
“Our detectives contacted Yu as she was leaving her place of employment. They interviewed her and following her interview detectives placed her under arrest,” Bingham said.
“She was arrested under a section of California law that alleges she woefully placed a poison or harmful substance in food, drink, medicine or pharmaceutical product,” he said.
“The motive is still under investigation. It appears it was a domestic-related incident between a husband and wife,” Bingham said, adding, “I’ve been doing this 22 years and this is a highly unusual and unique case.”
Yu was confined at the Orange County Jail until her release on bail, according to ABC News.
Her defense attorney, David Wohl, told the outlet the poisoning allegation is “absolutely and unequivocally” false.
“She has never, in any way, shape or form, tried to harm her husband or her children,” Wohl said.
The attorney said he and Yu believe Chen made the poisoning accusation to gain an advantage in pending divorce and custody cases.
“There is absolutely nothing done in those videos that were in any way illegal,” Wohl said. “The videos do not depict her trying to poison her husband or harm anyone in her family.”
Chen has alleged that Yu and her mother, Yuojng Gu, have been abusive toward him and the children.
“If our children let Emily know that they enjoyed spending time with me, or showed affection toward me, then Emily would put them in their room and yell at them until they assured her they would not show affection toward me,” he wrote in a restraining order request, according to CBS News.
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