Crime Stories with Nancy Grace - FEMALE DR. POISONS HUBBY W/ DRANO: 'I was fighting ants'

Episode Date: April 21, 2023

California dermatologist Dr. Yue “Emily” Yu is arrested after being caught on a nanny cam video putting Drano in her husband's lemonade. Dr. Jack Chen says his wife has a long history of mistreating him and their two children.  Now, Yu's divorce attorney says she was trying to deal with an ant infestation and not trying to kill her husband. The attorney's comments came as the two appeared in court as part of divorce proceedings.  Yue is now indicted on three felony counts of domestic battery with corporal injury, according to Orange County prosecutors. She faces more than eight years in prison if found guilty. Joining Nancy Grace Today: Matthew Mangino - Attorney, Former District Attorney (Lawrence County), Former Parole Board Member & Author: "The Executioner's Toll: The Crimes, Arrests, Trials, Appeals, Last Meals, Final Words and Executions of 46 Persons in the United States;" Twitter: @MatthewTMangino  Caryn Stark - NYC Psychologist; Twitter: @carynpsych, Facebook: "Caryn Stark"   Mona Kay - Private Investigator, "Mona K Investigations" (Omaha, NE); Twitter: @monakay Dr. William Morrone - Chief Medical Examiner, Bay County Michigan, Author: "American Narcan: Naloxone & Heroin-Fentanyl Associated Mortality"  Nathan Percy - Crime and Public Safety Reporter, Southern California News Group; Twitter: @NDPercy See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is an iHeart Podcast. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. Well, I've heard it all. But of course, every time I say, I've heard it all, something new happens and I realize I have not heard it all. In the last days, a female dermatologist, this is a medical doctor, an MD, a female dermatologist who is accused of poisoning her husband, also a doctor, with Drano. Please be original.

Really? Drano? Comes face to face with her husband in court. And here's her defense. I hope you're sitting down. Of course, as I love to say, you may need to lay down for this one. Female dermatologist accused of poisoning husband with Drano claims she was trying to tackle an ant infestation in their home. That's the defense.

She was fighting the ants. It was her, the, the ants. And somehow her husband nearly kills over dead. Half of his stomach has been eaten away. I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thanks for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. Well, one of the reasons I feel as light as a feather the feather it's because nobody's dead in this case this woman dr emily you now indicted on four felony counts related to the poisoning of her husband claims he was not her intended victim it was the ants so what was she planning to pour Drano into her husband's morning fruit drink and hope the ants would get in the fridge and drink it, bite their way through the handy wrap and then down a whole guzzle down a whole huge slurpy gulpy glass of Drano. I guess so. And here's the thing I love about this once you say something like that you're stuck with it you're stuck with it and then your lawyer

at trial has to somehow explain it away just think Alex Murdoch he's's my new perfect example. He was stuck with a lie that he was not at the kennels, the dog kennels, there at his Moselle hunting lodge just before his wife and son Maggie and Paul were shot dead. Then unbeknownst to him, he continues this lie. And then a video emerges, a video his son was making of a dog, a friend's dog in the kennel to send to a lady vet in the area. And at the tail end of that video, who do you hear but the double killer, the father, the husband, Alex Murdoch. And that's him, busted. And that totally ruined his credibility

when that idiot got up on the stand in his own defense. That was a huge mistake. I can't believe they let him do that, but they did. Long story short, he was stuck with the lie. Now, this doctor, this medical doctor, Emily Yu, is stuck with her big fat lie. Her divorce attorney has now stated she was, in fact, using unconventional methods, his words, not mine, because I would kill over laughing, double over laughing i've heard that in court using unconventional methods to deal with an ant problem in the family's home yeah that's unconventional all right first of all i'm

happy nobody's dead and second of all i'm so happy she's come up with this crazy wacky theory like scott peterson the very day lacy missing, first he says he's playing golf in the rain. Then after he realizes his vehicle and his boat and himself and his tag number are spotted at the marina, he goes, oh yeah, I don't know why I thought I was playing golf. I was actually fishing on Christmas Eve in the rain. Yes, that's what I was doing. When you're stuck with a lie, man, you are stuck with it in court. Now, how did this whole thing unfold? Take a listen to our friends at KCAL. Chen's lawyer says his client has been sick for months. So he started to have unusual symptoms back in about the spring of this year, and april uh and went in to get checked by a doctor and found that he had had some physical effects and started to then connect the dots

connect the dots chemical taste in his mouth uh road signs clues a trail a mile wide. That's what I'm talking about. Listen to our friends at ABC7. Chen claims she demanded massages, and when he refused, quote, she stepped on my head until I did and began hiding money from me. The statements also detail the treatment of their 8-year-old daughter and 7-year-old son, claiming she'd tell them, you are so ugly, you look like a pig, or you are a sissy, and would yell a phrase at them meaning, go die. It describes you using sleep deprivation to punish their kids.

Okay, whoa. Telling your child, you look like a pig, you're a sissy, go die, it's everything I can do to get the twins to go to bed, much less punish them with sleep deprivation and then the so-called chemical taste in his mouth. Take a listen to our friend Michelle Gile at KCAL 9. Jack Chen alleges longtime verbal, physical, and emotional abuse against his wife, which extends to their two children. Quote, 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. Okay, if you think you

have problems in your marriage, did you hear all of that? Then you wake up one morning with a chemical taste in your mouth? I'm Nancy Grace. This is Crime Stories. Thank you for being with us here at Fox Nation and Sirius XM 111. That just phrase keeps going through my mind. I woke up with a chemical taste in my mouth. You know, I've got an incredible panel lined up to break it down and put it back together again for you.

But first I want to go to a longtime friend and colleague, an awesome parent, and a man who puts his money where his mouth is. He's not just fighting addiction in our country. He has actually created a mobile addiction unit. He travels all over the country fighting addiction. With me right now, Dr. William Maroney, chief medical examiner out of Michigan, author of American Narcan. Dr. Maroney, it's a real honor to have you, but before I go on and on about you, what could cause, what are the many things that could cause a chemical taste in one's mouth? The regular flavors that you would expect are cinnamon, ginger, chocolate, coffee. But chemical tastes mean there's a chemical or there's some kind of metallic substance. Okay, now wait a minute.

Dr. Maroney, Dr. Maroney. Yes. Again, I'm just a JD and you're the MD. But I could have said everything you just said. I'm expecting some medical doctor expertise wisdom coming from your mouth right now. I mean, I wouldn't think of a chemical taste as a flavor, number one. You said cinnamon. You said chocolate.

You said a couple of other things that are yummy. But when I think chemical, I don't think yummy. Is this something like when you take a pill the doctor wants you to take and it makes your mouth taste bad? One of the reasons why we swallow our pills and we don't put them in our mouth over long periods of time is that all chemicals used in medicine taste bitter. They taste metallic. They taste chemical. So they package it up and put it in something to let it go in your stomach quickly if you have a medicine it tastes bad so that usually means if you have

a taste in your mouth you've been given a chemical maybe a poison with anything in nature i i can't think of any like okay say say you have Italian or you, like you said, have chocolate or cinnamon or vanilla. You don't get a chemical taste in your mouth. No, you get chemical taste from chemicals. That's exactly where something foreign, something synthesized. You know, Karen Stark joining me. Karen Stark is a renowned

psychologist joining us out of Manhattan. You can find her at Karen Psych and that's Karen with a C. Karen, did you hear what he's saying about what's going on in their home? Forget the chemical taste. It's really hard for me to get that out of my mind. This guy

wakes up with this horrible taste in his mouth. Chemical. I mean, I can understand if he went to bed without brushing his teeth and or he got up and it might taste like dinner the night before or if he had coffee that morning. But chemicals, there's nothing good about that. But did you hear the other stuff calling their children pig you look like a pig you're a sissy go die you know it makes you wonder nancy what was he doing at least it makes me wonder why was he there for so long well wait are you somehow blaming him because the wife is calling the child a pig no i'm blaming you're saying why was he there so long well why does she call them a pig

can we just start with her it came out of her mouth not his why is she calling her children a pig i mean have you ever gone to nascar karen stark somehow i think the answer is going to be no have you ever been to nascar okay no all right all right maybe Maybe Formula One for you. But Dr. Maroney, you know in NASCAR where they wave the big flag and the race is off? Yes. Okay. So if my husband said go die to one of the children, I mean, I've made it very clear, Karen Stark. Okay, let me try something you can relate to, Karen. Joining me from your high-rise office in Manhattan,

have you ever seen Parent Trap? Yes. Oh, okay. Now, I guess you saw the old one with Hayley Mills. Have you seen the reboot with Lindsay Lohan? What are you trying to say, Nancy? Okay, because my daughter, that's her favorite movie, so I can't extrapolate onto you.

She makes me watch it like every other month. The reboot. Okay. In the reboot, the husband, you know, the boyfriend, I think it's Dennis Quaid. This is Dennis Quaid. And he has a new hot girlfriend. And she, of course, doesn't get along with his twins who are Lindsay Lohan and Lindsay Lohan. And she says, look, it's either them or me.

Pick. And he very quickly says, them. I pick them. So, I mean, you know, you call my child a pig, you're out. Bam. So, I kind of see what you're saying, Karen Stark. But can we, instead of focusing on him, can we talk about her? Why is she calling children pig? Because obviously there's no doubt about it, Nancy. There's something wrong with the mother. Oh, dear. What is what's with the experts today? Okay. Dr. Maroney says you get a chemical taste in your

mouth because you've eaten a chemical. Okay. All those eight years of education, right down the crapper. And then Karen Stark, yes, says she calls her children a pig because there's something wrong with her okay i could tell the jury that karen she's she's a narcissist nancy oh you love to throw that one out i've never had a single defendant that you didn't say was a narcissist

and dr bethany marshall always says there's sex so sex massive shit i don't know what she says bondage and everything. So explain to me, why would you say that to your child? Go die, you're a pig. Okay, somebody who has absolutely no conscience would say that to their children. Somebody who something is wrong with her. I know you're saying that

that's what anyone could say, but anyone would not be a mother who would speak that way to their children. She doesn't have that kind of affect. She doesn't have that kind of sympathy and empathy to be able to understand. There you go. Hold on. I've actually finally, Maroney, I'm writing down a note and it's not because of anything you said no offense no sympathy or empathy now I'm getting somewhere because Matthew Mangino joining me high profile lawyer former district attorney former parole board member I don't like that part and author of the executioner's toll Matthew Mangino dot Matthew, you've handled so many cases that escalate into something horrible that start with little things like what you say to each other, how you address your children,

her calling her child a pig. You look like a pig, you're a sissy, go die. To me, that's the beginning, the tiny little nick that turns into a crack, that turns into a giant cavern that you can't cross. Well, Nancy, we know that she called the children a pig only because of what her husband has said in a restraining order. Okay. So we have to rely on her husband, Dr. Chen, is telling the truth. To be honest, I'm a little skeptical about this whole situation. If he has been the subject of physical abuse, if the children were subject to emotional abuse, why didn't he seek a restraining order earlier? He had that opportunity.

Okay, Matthew Mangino, hold it right there with me. Private investigator Mona Kay at Mona Kay Investigations joining us out of Omaha. Mona, you have handled so many domestic investigations. In my mind, you're hearing Matthew Mangino say, why didn't he file a TRO earlier? Why did he stick around and take it? You could say that about every person that did not file a TRO or leave the marriage on the first incident. Right. Well, I agree. I'm a little, I'm suspect of the timing of a lot of it. I've worked hundreds of domestic cases where there are false allegations made. And not saying that this is, but, you know, we're taking his word that these, you know, this abuse took place, verbal, physical abuse toward himself and

his kids. And I'm just wondering, you know, if over those last five to six years when he said that this was going on, especially with his kids, did he document, you know, any of this? Did he record any of it? Audio, video. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. For those of you just joining us, I could not be happier right now. A female dermatologist, a medical doctor, caught on video pouring Drano into her husband's morning drink. Now claims he was not her intended victim. She was battling an ant infestation.

She was absolutely recorded on video pouring drain cleaner. Can you imagine that? What it does to a steel, a metal drain, what it would do to that delicate pink lining of your esophagus and your stomach and your throat as it goes into your system. She's actually recorded pouring drain cleaner into her husband Jack's hot lemon tea over three days back in July. The husband noticed something was wrong, I guess so, with the tea. So he used a hidden camera to film her

tampering with his drink and he got a wide shot of the kitchen and a close-up cam shot inside the cabinet that's the one i like the best because you see this hand come in getting the drano out and then the wide shot of the kitchen shows her pouring it into his drink i guess i'll have to bring the ants on and direct examine them on the stand. Now, that does remind me, one time I had a dog witness, best witness I've ever had. I don't know if the ants are as beloved as the dog, but that said, she stuck with this. How did this whole thing unfold and why?

Take a listen to our good friend, Amy Robach at GMA. According to the court documents, Chen says he started noticing a chemical taste in my lemonade in March and April, seeing a doctor who diagnosed him with two stomach ulcers, gastritis, and esophagitis. After installing hidden cameras in the kitchen, he says, I obtained footage of Emily poisoning me on three occasions. The images allegedly show you taking a bottle of Drano, a chemical drain cleaner, out of a cabinet and pouring it into her husband's drinks on multiple occasions. The images allegedly show you taking a bottle of Drano, a chemical drain cleaner, out of a cabinet and pouring it into her husband's drinks on multiple occasions. Wow, that's subtle. Pouring Drano into lemonade. And you know what it reminded me of to Dr. William Maroney. You and I

have discussed this case before. This is a case that I actually investigated and attended the trial and staked out the defendant. Her name was Lynn Turner. And here you've got a claim that Drano was poured into lemonade, masking the flavor. Take a listen to our friends over at Forensic Files, cold-hearted. It was quite obvious that Mr. Thompson died as a consequence of an acute ethylene glycol intoxication or poisoning. When I found out Randy had died from antifreeze poisoning, I knew when they exhumed Glenn's body, when they took those tissues, I knew they were going to find out he died from the exact same causes.

And that's precisely what happened. Officials exhumed Glenn Turner's body, retested his tissue samples, and confirmed there was a lethal amount of antifreeze in his system. Antifreeze in Jell-O. Was it Jell-O or Jell-O shots? It was Jell-O. Plain Jell-O. Now, you know, to you, Dr. William Maroney, chief medical examiner,

joining us out of Michigan and author, Dr. Maroney, antifreeze has a kind of a sweet taste, I understand. And that is why you don't want your car to leak in case a dog may come and taste it and think it's sweet. That was hidden in Jell-O by Lynn Turner. One dead husband, one dead boyfriend, lots of insurance. And here we have an allegation that Drano was hidden in lemonade. Would that work? Well, I think the number one thing is Drano is sodium hydroxide.

That's a very caustic chemical. And the lemonade is acidic, so it kind of balances. But you're going to get that chemical taste. And the sign that he had gastritis and ulcers completely matches sodium hydroxide exposure because it's caustic. It's going to eat through your stomach. It's going to eat through your esophagus and you really that that was the poison because it's acute in small doses it'll look like he's got reflux he's got GERD but it's eating away parts of the stomach that are going to bleed did you just say GERD GERD gastroesophageal reflux disease very

common in overweight people that have uh problems. I don't know that this guy's overweight, but I do know he had serious, serious stomach problems. Take a listen to our friends at KCAL. Her husband is a doctor as well, and his name is Jack Chen. He has videos from July 11th, 18th, and 25th, allegedly showing his wife in their kitchen with a big bottle of Drano. Now, according to Jack Chen's lawyer, in one of the clips, you can see Chen's wife removing a piece of saran wrap that was placed over Chen's lemonade drink. She then pours Drano allegedly into that cup and puts the saran wrap back on top. She tried to kill him. Poisoned, an Irvine husband says with Drano. Dr. Jack Chen has

three videos to prove his wife is behind it, according to his lawyer. Screenshots, which are contained in court documents from cameras hidden in the couple's kitchen in July. They allegedly show the suspect, Yu Yu, who is also a local physician, pouring drain cleaner into her husband's lemonade. She takes up the bottle, she pours it in, she puts the cap back on, puts it back under the sink as though nothing else was happening in her day. It was very calm, very methodical. Nathan Percy is with us, crime and public safety reporter with Southern California News Group. And you can find him on Twitter at ND Percy. Nathan, thank you for being

with us. Nathan Percy, I'm really amazed that he lived long enough to actually set up surveillance video because it seems like he had been poisoned over a period of time and was getting sicker and sicker and sicker. Nathan Percy joining us, Southern California News Group. Start at the beginning. Tell me everything. Yeah, according to his declaration, these court documents, he said he noticed this chemical taste in March or April of 2022. I think most of us here in Southern California are going with that March date. But at some point between then and the time he put the cameras up

was that doctor's appointment where he was diagnosed with the ulcers, the gastritis and the esophagitis. And those kind of confirmed his suspicions that maybe his wife was putting something into his drink, into his drinks in the morning. Hold on just a second.

I want to try to digest what you're saying. Nathan Percy joining me, crime and public safety reporter, slight drinking from the fire hydrant. Too much, too fast. Hold on, Nathan. To Dr. William Maroney joining us, ulcers, gastritis and esophagitis. Is that what he just said? And what is that?

That's exactly what would look like from being given Drano Drano eats away at the tissues inside of the stomach it eats away at the tissues in your esophagus the tube that goes down from your mouth to your stomach and it looks like maybe there's just too much acid he has reflux acid and and the reason why she picked Drano is sodium hydroxide cannot be found in tests like if you're being poisoned with arsenic or cyanide or rat poison or propylene glycol or formaldehyde you You don't see it. It's natural chemical elements. Okay, wait a minute. You just made a long list of chemicals and substances. Are you saying, for instance, formaldehyde would show up in tests and Drano would not or that they would both show up?

Drano won't show up. It's sodium hydroxide. And I believe that Nathan Percy is a very strong indicator as to why we cannot discount the fact that the suspect, the wife, the mother of Jack Chin, Emily, she goes by Emily, is also a doctor. So she would very well know exactly what Dr. Maroney is talking about. They would run the panels and nothing would show up. Yeah, you'd have to think that she would have some indication or some knowledge of that. She works as a dermatologist out of a Mission Viejo clinic and he works as a radiologist. So you'd have to imagine that if she doesn't know it directly,

they share notes on things and she would have some knowledge of what would happen if a chemical was added to someone's drink, particularly Drano. Do you know where they live, Nathan? Yeah, they live in Irvine, which is normally a pretty quiet city, which is surprising because it's about 300,000 residents. It's in Southern Orange County. There's not a lot that happens down there in the way of violent crime or things like that. There are some domestic things that happen every now and then, and we get a lot of, most of our reporting down there, from my experience, has been traffic collisions and things like that.

They live also in a pretty pricey neck of the woods, Nathan Percy. Yeah. From, from what we understand, it's multimillion dollar homes in that area. It's, it's in the Southern portion of the city. They live kind of in between two universities, UC Irvine and Concordia University. And yeah, it's, it's, it's a nice area down there. It's there's a, there's a big Asian population in Irvine. It's about 43, 44 percent, according to the latest 2021 census quick facts.

And again, for being such a big city, it's usually pretty quiet. These two actually met face to face. The two appeared in court this last Tuesday as part of divorce proceedings in Orange County Superior Court. She had to look him in the eye and he had to look at her and know his wife, the mother of his children, tried to poison him with Drano, not just kill him, but kill him in an excruciatingly painful method. A grand jury indicted her on three felony counts of domestic battery with corporal injury. She faces more than eight years behind bars if she's found guilty. Man, I would not want her around my children. I'm just looking at a picture of her right now pouring the Drano. Man, she's totally busted. How did we end up here? And will an ant infestation defense actually work?

Let me go to you. Karen Stark joining me, psychologist joining us out of Manhattan. Karen, you and I have seen where one poisoning is not enough, where the perp will poison a spouse, then poison a child. And very often, like with Lynn Turner that I just showed you, one poisoning of the husband was not enough. Then she went on to poison her boyfriend. It's almost as if it's an illness. And I don't mean insanity. I mean, for instance, I've always said, anybody jump in if you disagree. Matthew Mangino, you may. And all the years I prosecuted and read literally thousands of case files,

I determined that sex offenders and burglars could not be rehabilitated. There's something about the thrill of burglarizing something, going in when nobody's around. You just, oh, and peeping toms, but I lumped them in with sex offenders. They cannot be rehabilitated. Doesn't mean they're insane. It just means it's almost like a compulsion. And I think that about poisoners. I think very often once they get started, there will be another victim such as a child. Karen? Nancy, that has to do with that thrill that you're talking about of actually thinking that you have the power to control someone's life. And then the thrill comes actually from watching somebody get sicker and sicker.

And here you're talking about a woman who's an abuser to begin with, is that alleged abuser with the way that she treats her children and her husband. And on top of that, there's that excitement. She's a doctor. She knows exactly what she's doing. And she knows the effect that it's having on his body, how it's making him sick. And so there's an excitement to realizing that she has the power, the control to be able to take life in this way. Dr. Moroney, let me throw you a question before I lose this thought. I first heard of serial poisoners, believe it or not, in my hometown of Macon, Georgia.

My mother, before she worked herself up from a bank teller to be a CFO of a company, she worked at a bank across from the courthouse. And everybody would go eat lunch, all the judges, the sheriffs, the prosecutors, the lawyers at this diner called Ann Jett's. Well, Ann Jett ended up being convicted of poisoning two husbands, one mother-in-law and one child or two children. And then she was convicted and she went to the state penitentiary for women and became the head of the cafeteria true story that's where i have this in my head that once you start with the poisoning you very often can't stop so have you ever seen a poisoning victim have you done an autopsy on a poisoning victim, Dr. Moroney? Yeah, poisoning victims that go to autopsy are usually bizarre or strange things.

Rat poisoning, mercury. We've seen acute exposures to, you know, pesticides, farmers in the field, things like that. And if it's very low doses, people don't catch on. And like I said before, you know, that sodium hydroxide, that's the chemical taste in your mouth. It's caustic. It's lye. It's very basic.

And it's very corrosive. And if you gave enough sodium hydroxide once, when they cut you open in autopsy, they would find it. It would be a clump of stuff and it'd be identifiable. But if you give it in low doses, you cause holes in the stomach, holes in the esophagus, and people bleed internally. I mean, when you look at that as a doctor, would you know it was from poisoning or would you suspect more natural causes? It looks like too much acid you're you're you're having ulcers because you make too much acid and you eat the wrong foods but if you if somebody poisoned you in a big chunk a big mondo piece

you'd see that piece would still be there and it would be sent to the lab. Is that a technical medical term, a big quote mondo piece? Okay, I'm writing that down and I will use that against you later. Guys, take a listen to our friends at ABC7. This is Irene Cruz. Radiologist Jack Chen says he noticed a chemical taste in his drinks in March. He set up a hidden camera in their kitchen, capturing video evidence of his wife, Yu Yu, allegedly taking Drano from under the sink and pouring it into his lemonade in three separate instances in July. A doctor diagnosed Chen with two stomach ulcers,

gastritis, and esophagus inflammation. Wow. Straight back out to our investigative reporter joining us. So not just once, not just twice, but three times that we know of that were caught on camera. The Lord only knows how many times she did it before. With me, Nathan Percy, joining us from Southern California News Group. Three times.

Tell me, where was the hidden camera placed in the kitchen? Do we know? So he, from the documents that we see see he had two cameras in the kitchen uh the main one that uh allegedly shows her pouring the Drano into his drinks is kind of a wide-ranging view it looks like it's maybe in the corner like by a hallway um that shows the entire kitchen um he had a second one that he also placed underneath the kitchen sink right next to the Drano bottle. And there was a couple of screenshots that were included in his court documents that showed allegedly, you know, her hand reaching in to grab the Drano bottle from underneath the sink. So the first one is kind of seen on the news and you've seen those camera angles where you've got

kind of a view from the far side and it's pointing towards kind of a back screen door back sliding door with the sink on the right side and the cabinets and all that on the left so that that was the one that kind of that they're alleging shows the entire act taking place. Crime Stories with Nancy Grace. You know, I've heard a lot of wacky defenses before. I especially love Jodi Arias' defense that ninjas dressed all in black with their faces mostly hidden burst into Travis Alexander, her sometimes boyfriend, home, killed him, chased her, and somehow she managed to get away. No rape, no robbery, robbery no nothing i loved that defense then photos on her digital camera emerged of travis alexander's dead body in the shower

and her leg and foot and slacks were on the digicam, which she, I guess, accidentally left behind in the washing machine, showed her near the dead body. Yeah. Ouch. Those are all-star horrible defenses, and I think ant infestation is right up there with them. The husband, a radiologist, hands over footage of his wife, Emily Yu, pouring Drano into his lemon drink at their nearly $3 million mansion. He handed that over to police. He later filed for divorce.

What was he waiting on? And a judge grants him a restraining order against his wife, and it covered their two children, ages seven and eight. She will never have a relationship with her two children. How did this whole thing unfold? Nathan Percy, joining us from Southern California News Group. You've seen the other one. That's the close up camera, according to you, from the court documents that you've read. It's right there with the Drano. And you see a hand reach in and get the Drano. And then I guess he is matching that up with the wide range shot of her coming in and out of the kitchen.

Question, how were the cameras hidden? I know the one in the kitchen sink is off to the side. You know, kind of, I would guess, you know, if you were looking from side to side when reaching into the kitchen sink, you might be able to see it. But if you're just going in there knowing what you're grabbing, you might not notice it if you're just going after, you know, a bottle underneath the sink. You know what I was just thinking about?

Mona Kay joining me, private investigator out of Omaha at Mona Kay, the letter K investigations. Mona, I was just about to say, wow, she must have been crazy to reach down and get the Drano and not notice there's a video camera right there. Not true. Not true. Because I was just thinking about when I reach under the sink to get out, for instance, olive oil or whatever I'm getting out from down under there. I don't look back in the back of the sink. I don't look up at the top of the cabinet that could be pointed down at the olive oil or really anywhere. Why would you? So that was pretty ingenious on his part.

What I was coming to you about, Mona K., to comment on that, but I love secret cameras. And they come and say, Jackie, be careful. I see you in here drinking your coffee but they are so uh now they're the size of you know the tip of a pen you would never notice them i mean you can get them in teddy bears you can get them in teddy bears. You can get them in clocks. You can put them on the oven. And no one would ever notice it, Monica. Do you use those a lot in your private investigation business? Yes. Every once in a while we use those.

And they are very accessible to anybody. You can get them online. Surveillance type stores. But, you know, they come in all different sizes. They can be very well hidden. You can, you know they come in all different sizes um they can be very well hidden you can you know a ballpoint pen a ballpoint pen can have a camera in it i was just gonna say monica you and i discussed the use of a recording ballpoint pen and the suzanne morphew murder mystery remember she thought her husband barry morphew was having an Remember, she thought her husband, Barry Morphew, was having an affair.

So she had put a pen. It looked like a ballpoint pen in his truck to try to catch him talking to his girlfriend. So, I mean, it can look really like anything. So there's really no telling how he had the husband had this disguise. And thank God in heaven he did or people like Matthew Mangino high profile lawyer would say exactly what he was saying at the beginning of our program just because she called her children pig and said go die that doesn't mean he was poisoned I guarantee you Mangino would argue a trial. Back me up, Mangino, that these ailments, ulcers, gastritis, esophagitis, could have been caused naturally because Maroney says sodium hydroxide does not show up in the test.

Well, right. And this is all too perfect, Nancy. Number one, I'd like to know what he told his doctor when he went to see him. He suspected because of this taste, this chemical taste in his mouth, that he was being poisoned as far back as March. Did he tell his doctor that? Was that something that his doctor considered? And with regard to the cameras, this is just so perfect. I you know you have three different dates during the month of july you know what you kill me when i don't have a video you go like you can't prove it when i do have a video you say it's too perfect you have a video well nancy think about this if

you have these videos set up and you're going to review these videos and you see your spouse put drano in your drink on july 11th, you're going to sit there for two more weeks and make sure I get some more documented evidence that I'm being poisoned? Or are you going to say, well, yeah, but if you're not drinking it, I mean, I wouldn't eat or drink anything in the whole house, but I would be, I wouldn't be very afraid she might be poisoning the children. So let's just follow your rationale through to its logical conclusion. You're saying because he waited to catch her on video two more times, ergo, therefore what? I'm not sure what's in that bottle or what she's putting in the drink. I mean,

she's so casual about it. She pulls this bottle out, walks over to the table, puts this substance in his hot lemonade, and then puts it away. I mean, if I was trying to poison somebody, I'd certainly try to be a little more discreet about it, maybe hide it, you know, make sure no one sees me. Oh, so the killer, the sneaky killer is not sneaky enough for Matthew Mangino. Good luck with that in front of a jury, Mangino. Is that Maroney jumping in? Nobody recycles and reuses Drano bottles. There's nothing. You have to find a place to put the Drano so it doesn't.

Yeah, maybe she was storing the sugar in there, Mangino. Thank you, Maroney. Thank you for throwing me that bone right there take a listen to our cut 5 this is Amy Robach at GMA Chen's attorney speaking with GMA this is an incredibly intimate way to commit

a murder she had to know what his routine was what his preferences were a methodical intimate horrific way to murder someone this is mind-boggling to me chen has also filed for divorce and requested full custody of the couple's two children alleging emily's parenting if you could call it that revolves around yelling insulting verbally abusing hitting pushing pulling and being emotionally abusive. So back to you, Nathan Percy, joining us from Southern California News Group.

You say there's the wide range video that Matthew Mangino, you know, he's grasping at straws. You've got the wide range video of her coming in and out of the kitchen. You have the close range video that's, I guess, in the cabinet where you see the hand come in and get the Drano. Do I understand, Nathan Percy, that she actually had his lemonade prepared with Saran Wrap over it? It's like she laid it all out the night before or something? That I'm not aware of. Unfortunately, I'm not sure whether he had prepared it and at one point started putting the Saran Wrap over it.

Hold on, Karen Stark, jump in. According to what I read, he prepared the lemonade, he put the saran wrap on it, and then she took it off, added the Drano. And by the way, I don't know what was so strange about the fact that she didn't hide it. She didn't know there was any camera on her. So of course, she was doing it and putting it away again and then what's interesting Nancy is that she stayed there while he sat down he came into the kitchen sat down prepared to drink it so again there's no feeling there whatsoever about well you know maybe I'm causing

harm or I'm doing something terrible and i'm watching him do it no she's happy to be watching him drink that drano she stayed there to watch him drink it is that what you just said well she was there while he was sitting down and drinking to make sure he drank it monica private investigator jump in i just have a thought how many people in their own home with their own family members cover their drinks with saran wrap and walk away just to come back and take a drink? I mean, wouldn't that alert her to maybe some suspicion on his part? Guys, Monica, that's an excellent point. No, I don't put saran wrap over my drink.

But you and Mangino keep trying to defend her and put blame on the husband. He's the one that has his stomach eaten up with acid. Right. I'm just saying that wouldn't she maybe be suspicious that he was on to her also?

Oh, yeah. I see that. I guess she was so hell-bent on killing him that she didn't notice. Or maybe that was his routine maybe he made his drink and covered it up allegedly he made yeah he made the lemonade he prepared it the night before it's what i read anyway and he put saran wrap over it now guys if you think you've

heard it all listen to our cut 12 from kcal when I was looking through the court papers, what it said was that at one point she called her husband and asked if he would bail her out, but he refused. I also learned today that Jack Chen's lawyer went to the jail when Yu Yu was still in jail and presented her with this restraining order. She seemed a bit confused about all of it. And he said to her, well, you've been poisoning your husband. That's why we're getting a restraining order.

She actually called the husband she's been poisoning on video and asked him to pay the bill to bond her out of jail. Is that right, Nathan Percy? Yes, that is. That is also included in his declaration that he wrote in petitioning for the temporary restraining order, which according to the court's website, was filed on August 5th, which was one day after she was arrested by Irvine police on August 4th. Listen to our friends at ABC7. Southern California dermatologist Yu Emily Yu has been charged with three felony counts of poisoning and one count of domestic battery. But her lawyer claims the woman's husband set her up. He claims his client was trying to kill ants in the kitchen. She does pour the Drano in the cup three times to kill the ants. That's not disputed. She absolutely poured the Drano in the cup. In to kill the ants. That's not disputed. She absolutely

poured the Drano in the cup. In Chen's divorce filings, it states he was diagnosed with two stomach ulcers, gastritis and esophagitis. Chen's attorney says he believes you didn't want to kill her husband, but make him suffer. If convicted, she could be sentenced to eight years in prison. Her husband has filed for divorce and is fighting for full custody of their children well there you go a medical doctor taking advantage of her husband's daily ritual of lemon tea to torment him systematically poisoning that tea with adrenal like substance can you imagine and her being a doctor she knew exactly what she was doing poisoning that tea with adrenal-like substance. Can you imagine?

And her being a doctor, she knew exactly what she was doing. The pain and suffering she inflicted on him. Gosh, I wouldn't let her near those children with a 10-foot pole. We'll wait to see if the ant infestation defense actually works. Nancy Grace, signing off. Goodbye, friend. This is an iHeart Podcast.