BERKELEY (KRON) — 34-year-old David Xu is behind bars, accused of attempting to kill a female co-worker by poisoning her.
Xu is a chemical engineer at Berkeley Engineering and Research, a company that provides witness services, litigation support, forensic engineering, and design services.
Court documents say since October of 2017, Xu has been attempting to murder his engineering colleague Rong Yuan.
Court documents say, “Victim 1 reported Xu added a harmful substance to her food and water on multiple occasions for over a year, causing her significant health problems and emergency care at a hospital.”
Court documents indicate the victim, “reviewed a surveillance camera in her office and located video evidence of XU adding a substance to her water bottle” on two occasions.
Two relatives of the victim also suffered health problems after drinking from the same water bottle.
Court documents also indicate, “Water samples tested positive for a toxic amount of cadmium” All three victims “had elevated levels of cadmium” and “Exposure to cadmium can lead to organ system toxicity cancer and/or death.”
Xu was arrested at his Lafayette home last Thursday.
Xu remains behind bars, no bail has been set, he was arraigned Tuesday but did not enter a plea, that is expected in April 24.
His attorney says despite the allegations he should be presumed innocent until proven guilty.
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