Doctor accused of poisoning husband with Drano, attorney says

IRVINE, Calif. (KCAL/KCBS) – In California, an Orange County doctor is accused of poisoning her husband with Drano.

Detectives have now released some of the video they said they used to build a case against her.

Steven Hittelman, the lawyer representing Jack Chen, said Chen’s wife tried to kill him by poisoning him with Drano.

Chen said he had three videos to prove it.

Screenshots taken from cameras hidden in the couple’s house were presented. They allegedly show the suspect, 45-year-old Yue Yu, who is also a local physician, pouring the drain cleaner into her husband’s lemonade.

“She takes up the bottle, she pours it in, puts the cap back on and puts it back under the sink as though nothing else was happening in her day,” Hittelman said. “Very calm … very methodical.”

Yu was arrested last week after the images were brought to Irvine police.

Hittelman said his client has been sick for months.

“So, he started to have unusual symptoms back in the spring of this year … March and April,” he said. “He went in to get checked by a doctor and found out he had had some physical effects and he started then to connect the dots.”

Aside from the chemical taste in his mouth, Yu’s husband was diagnosed with stomach ulcers, gastritis and inflammation of the esophagus.

He then set up the cameras in the kitchen at the family home and made the discovery, according to Hittelman.

Soon after, Chen filed a restraining order against his wife, who also goes by the name Emily.

In court documents, Chen alleges longtime verbal, physical and emotional abuse which extended to their two children if they “let Emily know that they enjoyed spending time with me.”

He said the abuse would also occur if the children showed affection towards him. In the documents, Chen said Yu would put the children in their room and yell at them until they stopped showing him affection.

Chen said he has filed for divorce.

Yu was held on $30,000 bail, and has since bailed out.

The district attorney has not yet filed charges.

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