A female engineer at a Bay Area consulting firm says she suffered months of “immediate and significant health problems” after consuming food and drinks she had left at work—and she believes they were poisoned by a colleague, according to police.
By reviewing surveillance video from inside her office at Berkeley Engineering and Research in Berkeley, California, Rong Yuan said she saw her co-worker, David Xu, spiking her water, according to the court documents.
Yuan has not responded to CNN requests for comment.
Xu, 34, was arrested on March 28 and has been charged with three felonies: premeditated attempted murder and two counts of poisoning with enhancement. The last two counts stem from suffering experienced by Yuan’s relatives, who drank from her water bottle after she brought it home from the office.
#DavidXu works for #Berkeleyengineeringandresearch facing charges of poisoning his co-worker story at 11@nbcbayarea pic.twitter.com/rhcidDRVxB
— Cheryl Hurd (@hurd_hurd) April 2, 2019
All three alleged victims’ blood samples contained elevated levels of cadmium, according to police.
Xu, also an engineer, pleaded not guilty to charges during a court appearance on Thursday.
“Mr. Xu is presumed innocent. That means despite the allegations, he is presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt by the government,” his lawyer, Julia Jayne, told CNN.
Yuan told Berkeley Police last month that she had been noticing “a strange taste or smell from her water and food left unattended in her office” on multiple occasions between October 2017 and last month.
NEW: David Xu’s family leaves the courtroom after he makes his first court appearance. Xu is accused of poisoning and trying to kill his co-worker. His arraignment has been moved to Thursday. @KPIXtv pic.twitter.com/imKQi18u4Q
— Jackie Ward (@JackieKPIX) April 2, 2019
She said she suffered immediate health problems after consuming the items and at times had to visit the emergency room.
She reviewed the surveillance video in 2019, which showed Xu adding a substance to her water bottle twice—once in February and once in March, according to the documents. Tests later concluded that cadmium, a toxic metal, was present in samples taken from her water bottle.
Exposure to cadmium can cause cancer. When ingested, the metal targets the body’s cardiovascular, renal, gastrointestinal, neurological, reproductive, and respiratory systems, according to OSHA.
David Xu, who has 3 @UCBerkeley degrees, appears in court on charges he tried to murder a fellow engineer by spiking her water with cadmium. He’s also accused by @berkeleypolice @AlamedaCountyDA of poisoning 2 of her relatives after they drank from her bottle. 4,5,6,720p @KTVU pic.twitter.com/dMCAuqgiKj
— Henry K. Lee (@henrykleeKTVU) April 2, 2019
Common industrial uses for the toxic metal are in batteries, solar cells, corrosion-protection coatings, and the substance is also used in pigments.
Berkeley Engineering and Research did not respond to CNN requests for comment.
The Alameda County District Attorney’s office told CNN that Xu’s bail is set at $2 million.
His next court date is on May 9 for a pretrial hearing.
Life Sentence For Man In Similar Case
The court in Bielefeld, North Rhine-Westphalia, found 57-year-old, Klaus O, guilty of attempted murder on March 7, and imposed the maximum custodial sentence.
A German court has sentenced Klaus O to life imprisonment for poisoning his colleagues’ sandwiches.
The man added dangerous heavy metals to food items at the factory where he worked in the town of Schloss Holte-Stukenbrock over several years, RTL reported.
The judge said the crimes were as serious as murder, according to German news agency DPA.
Two victims have been left with serious kidney damage and a third is now in a vegetative state after falling into a coma, RTL reported.
Klaus O refused to speak during his trial and the motive for his actions is still unclear.
However, a mental health expert for the prison service told the court that the defendant wanted to see how the poison would affect his colleagues, like a scientist performing tests on a rabbit, according to RTL.
In May 2018, a security camera captured Klaus O opening a co-worker’s lunchbox and putting a substance on the sandwich inside, the police said in a statement in June last year.
A small bottle of a “powdery substance” was found in the suspect’s bag after he was taken into custody, police said.
The owner of the sandwich had raised the alarm earlier, after discovering an unknown substance smeared on his lunch. He informed his company’s management, which in turn notified police.
Testing by the regional criminal office of North Rhine-Westphalia indicated the substance on the bread was toxic lead acetate, and there was enough to cause severe organ damage, authorities said.
Authorities broadened the investigation after two other cases of illness at the company in recent years were discovered.
Klaus O was brought before a judge on May 17, who issued an arrest warrant for attempted murder.
Fire brigade specialists found mercury, lead, and cadmium in the suspect’s apartment in Bielefeld. Police said the man “has long tried to produce toxic substances, including heavy metal compounds,” based on substances found in his home.
