CENTRAL JERSEY: Indictment in husband poisoning

Man died after seeking treatment at hospital

By David Kilby, The Packet Group
   A Monroe woman who allegedly poisoned her husband over a period of time both at home and at University Medical Center in Princeton after he sought treatment was indicted Thursday on a charge of murder.
   Tianle Li, 41, is charged with murder and with hindering her apprehension or prosecution in the death of Xiaoye Wang, a 39-year-old computer software engineer who died at the hospital on Jan. 26.
   Prosecutors allege Ms. Li administered poison to her husband between Nov. 16, 2010, and Jan. 26 in Monroe and later in the hospital after Mr. Wang admitted himself for treatment of an unknown illness, according to a press release on Ms. Li’s indictment.
   An investigation by Sgt. Jason Grosser of the Monroe Township Police Department and investigator Jeffrey Temple of the Middlesex County prosecutor’s office determined Ms. Li and Mr. Wang, who were in the process of getting a divorce, had been involved in a series of domestic disturbances since April 2009.
   The divorce was scheduled to be finalized Jan. 14, the day Mr. Wang admitted himself to the hospital, said Nicholas Sewitch, Middlesex County assistant prosecutor, at a briefing after the original court hearing on the case Feb. 9.
   The investigation determined Ms. Li, who had been employed for 10 years as a chemist at Bristol-Myers Squibb in Lawrence, allegedly had obtained an undisclosed quantity of thallium.
   Thallium is a soft, odorless, malleable and highly toxic metal found in the earth’s crust. It was used in rat poisoning and insecticides in the United States before production of it was banned in 1984.
   After becoming ill with apparent flu-like symptoms, Mr. Wang checked himself into the Princeton hospital. A series of tests, completed Jan. 25, determined he had been poisoned with thallium.
   Officials at the hospital immediately notified authorities and searched for a remedy for the poison, but could not save Mr. Wang, who died at 3:10 p.m. the next day.
   Ms. Li is being held at the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in North Brunswick in lieu of $4.15 million bail, $4 million on the murder charges and $150,000 on the hindering apprehension charges.
   No date has been set yet for her arraignment.
   An indictment does not imply guilt or innocence. It means the grand jury found enough evidence to warrant a trial.