Who is Yue Yu? Dermatologist, 53, caught on camera poisoning her husband's drink with liquid DRAINO
IRVINE, CALIFORNIA: The 53-year-old dermatologist, Yue "Emily" Yu, was detained for allegedly trying to poison her husband. Yue Yu, of Southern California, was arrested on Thursday, August 4, after the authorities executed a search warrant at her house in Irvine. Yu sees her patients in a Mission Viejo office.
Yu's husband, Jack Chen, 53, reported to the police that he had been ill for approximately a month. Chen, who is a radiologist, said in a court declaration that his wife reportedly poisoned his beverages a minimum of three times in July. According to a statement made by Chen, he got skeptical after becoming critically unwell and decided to install a nanny cam in their kitchen.
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As Lt Bill Bingham from the Irvine police department informed The Post on Monday, August 8, "His condition became increasingly worse and, based on the husband examining his routine and looking at what could be causing it, he grew suspicious of his wife and put a hidden camera in place that captured her poisoning him."
The footage captured on the hidden camera was shown to the court and later acquired by The Post. In them, Yu is shown carrying a huge red plastic bottle and emptying its contents into a cup. A moment later, Chen is seen sipping from the same cup. Yu is seen in the clip putting the liquid poison into her husband's warm lemonade drink on July 11 and July 18. Chen asserts in the court document that he had been experiencing symptoms of poisoning for several weeks before he disclosed it to Irvine Police on Thursday, August 4.
In a statement, Chen said, “This video (from July 18) shows me taking a sip of my still-hot lemonade, covering my cup with Saran wrap, and then of Emily taking the Draino from under the sink, removing the covering to pour the Draino, and then replacing the cellophane and putting the Draino back." Chen said that his mother-in-law and wife had vocally, physically, and emotionally assaulted him and his two children, who are 8 and 7 years old. An injunction prohibiting Chen from seeing his wife was approved. A 100-yard minimum distance between Yu and her children was also mandated by the court.
Chen added, “Emily would call me a ‘f*****g asshole' and other insults. Currently, she minimizes my existence by telling the children in front of me, 'tell him' to do something without addressing me. She would have the children tell me to do menial tasks for her. Emily’s parenting, if you could call it that, revolves around yelling, insulting, verbally abusing, hitting, pushing, pulling, and being emotionally abusive.”
Chen, who gave the camera footage to law enforcement, suffered major internal injuries but is likely to survive, according to police. Due to an open inquiry, Bingham refused to go into further depth or disclose more information on the suspected poisoning. He stated that investigators are still checking into a probable motive. "We do believe this is a domestic-related incident. There’s nothing that we discovered that could cause concern for patients that [Yu] treated," he said. According to digital records, Yu, whose bail was fixed at $30,000, was freed from jail late Friday, August 5. An Orange County District Attorney's Office representative stated that prosecutors were examining the accusations to decide if to file charges. According to court records acquired by The Post, Chen claimed he had been the subject of domestic abuse when he requested an urgent restraining order in Orange County on Friday. A trial had been scheduled for August 18.
On Friday, August 8, Chen also submitted divorce papers. Chen had also asked for exclusive custody of their kids. David Wohl, Yu’s attorney, told The Post that his client unequivocally denies poisoning her husband and abusing him and their children. "Ms. Yu absolutely and unequivocally denies trying to poison her husband or anyone else. The only response I have to that is that (Chen’s) desperately trying to get a leg up in the divorce,” Wohl said. “Consider the fact that he’s filed for divorce and he wants to get any advantage he has. This is a very common scenario, in my law practice of more than 33 years.” On being asked about the filing of the restraining order, Wohl said, "She doesn’t plan to go anywhere near the accusing spouse right now." The Providence Mission Hospital, with which Yu is connected, said that staff members were helping law enforcement in the investigation.
Mission Heritage Medical Group representatives said in a statement, "The incident is a domestic matter which occurred in Irvine, and we want to reassure our community that there has been no impact on our patients." According to the Los Angeles Times, Yu's profile was reportedly taken down from the hospital's webpage as of Sunday, August 7. Yu is a graduate of Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis. She attained board certification as a dermatologist in California in 2010 and certification in micrographic dermatologic surgery in 2021. Yu is currently recognized by the American Board of Dermatology as being in top shape.
The videotape has been given to the Orange County DA's Office, according to Chen's lawyer Steven Hittelman, who also stated that they have been working with authorities. “He first started noticing something was wrong in March or April, and when he had further testing done, he began to have pretty significant symptoms. That’s when he started to equate the chemical tastes to the symptoms he was experiencing," said Hittelman. Chen said in his statement that the suspected poisoning left him with two stomach ulcers, gastritis, and esophageal irritation.
Chen claimed Yu and her mother Yuqin "Amy" Gu would subject him and his two children to traumatic emotional and verbal abuse in his declaration. He said that his wife would often deny the kids sleep, frequently make them cry, and call them foul names. “When Emily gets frustrated and yells at the children, she’ll commonly use a Chinese phrase that translates to ‘go die!’ She also says to the children, ‘your head has a problem, ‘your head is sick, ‘go f–k yourself,’ ‘f*****g idiot,’ ‘stupid a*****e,’ and ‘get the f**k out of my way'," said Chen. “Sole legal custody will allow me to make sure that Emily and Amy stay away from the children’s school so that they can start to enjoy a more normal life experience. Most importantly, our children need to know that they can have a happy and healthy relationship with me without fear or retaliation from their mother or grandmother," he added.
According to Hittelman, Chen is feeling a certain bit of relaxation and his condition is gradually improving. According to the lawyer, Chen had to leave his position as a radiologist in order to cope with stress and his well-being. In a statement to The Post, Hittelman said, “He recites a history of traumatic abuse to him and his children from both his wife and his mother-in-law, and now he’s trying to cope and make sure the two children will get through this. I’ve represented some very newsworthy cases before … and I deal with a lot of domestic violence as part of the practice, but I will tell you, this one is for the books.”