A California engineer whose coworker was convicted of poisoning her water bottle with a toxic metal says the justice system failed her after a judge dismissed the felony case.

Rong Yuan, 50, began suffering severe symptoms in January 2017, shortly after starting work at Berkeley Engineering and Research, a forensic engineering firm also known as BEAR.

Yuan later used a hidden camera to record coworker David Xu, 41, secretly pouring a white substance into her water bottle. Police identified the substance as cadmium, a highly toxic heavy metal.

Xu was charged with felony poisoning in 2019 but never spent a day in jail. The case proceeded under former Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price, who was later recalled by voters.

On Monday, a judge approved Xu’s petition to dismiss the charge after he completed his probation and fulfilled all court-ordered conditions, according to The Los Angeles Times.

‘We joined the victims to oppose the motion pursuant to Penal Code section 1203.4,’ Alameda District Attorney Ursula Dickson said in a statement Tuesday.

‘The court granted the motion over objections. We hope the survivors are able to continue healing, both emotionally and physically, from this shocking event.’

The dismissal means the conviction will no longer appear on background checks conducted by potential employers. It may only be considered if Xu is charged with another crime—a ruling that prompted Yuan to speak publicly about the case.

‘The system failed me,’ Yuan told the outlet. ‘He didn’t stay in jail.’

‘To come out of my comfort zone, to be interviewed about you, to tell the public what kind of effect it had on my family and how broken the system is,’ she added, according to ABC 7 News.

‘I don’t think he deserves a second chance. A second chance for a lot to hurt other people, to make other people turning into victims.’

Almost 10 years later, Yuan continues to deal with liver and gastrointestinal problems after unknowingly ingesting the toxic chemical for more than a year.

Her parents traveled from China to the United States to help care for her as her health declined. They also consumed the contaminated water and tested positive for cadmium poisoning.

‘Cadmium will stay in the human body for a long time, damaging my health continuously for the rest of my life,’ Yuan told The Times. ‘My father died, my mom and I have health impacts.’

Asked by ABC what she wanted to say to Xu, who is now officially free of the conviction, Yuan said: ‘He’s a nobody. He’s a coward.’

‘Poisoning is not something like you suddenly got angry and lose control,’ she added. ‘It’s planned.’

The shock ruling comes years after Yuan, a highly trained metallurgical engineer, first fell mysteriously ill in 2017, suffering extreme hair loss, relentless nausea and vomiting, and frequent trips to the emergency room. 

Yuan feared she had stomach cancer, but tests ruled it out. Despite consulting doctors and specialists, she was left without answers and began to fear she was dying. 

Her parents, terrified it could be terminal, came to stay with her. But a turning point came when her mother noticed a strange smell coming from the water bottle her daughter kept at work, which lingered despite repeated cleaning.  

Yuan decided to buy a spy camera on Amazon and discreetly mount it on the wall beside her desk. She told ABC: ‘I never expected that I can capture anybody. It’s just an engineer’s routine. If you have some issue, you think about the root cause.’   

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In a chilling discovery, Yuan realized she had been poisoned by Xu, who allegedly resented her arrival at the company because he did not want to share his laboratory. 

In one recording, dated March 4, 2019, Xu can be seen reaching toward the spot where Yuan kept her bottle before tipping the contents of a small white container directly inside.

At the time, she told The San Francisco Standard: ‘My blood was frozen. I almost died. I experienced death so, so close so many times. I cannot let him go.’ The same day, Yuan gave police the footage, prompting an immediate investigation. 

Tests detected cadmium in Yuan’s water bottle and in blood samples from her and her parents, with the concentration in the bottle measuring 3.5 million times the federal government’s safe limit for drinking water. 

‘Shocked. I don’t know why,’ Yuan told ABC after watching the damning footage.

In a research paper published last week, Yuan recalled how a series of alarming symptoms began in 2017, including nausea, dry heaving, migraines, shortness of breath and hair loss.

Violent bouts of vomiting soon began forcing her to take time off work, she said, and the ordeal continued into 2018. That year, she experienced severe vomiting and diarrhea after drinking water at the office.

‘On two occasions in November and December 2018, I brought water home from work, and my mother used that water to cook congee,’ Yuan wrote in the paper.

‘Following each meal, my entire family experienced acute onsets with violent vomiting, watery diarrhea, and profound weakness,’ she added.

Yuan said her father had been able to manage his hypertension and walk six miles a day before ingesting the water. In the years afterward, he suffered a series of strokes and died from heart failure last year, according to The Times. 

In 2019, Xu was charged with premeditated attempted murder, causing great bodily injury under a special circumstance, and two counts of poisoning with an enhancement. He posted his $2 million bail. 

He spent years out of jail as his case stalled in court, initially under house arrest with GPS monitoring until 2021. Over time, he was granted increasing freedom to leave home and spend time with his children.

In 2023, shortly after taking office, Alameda County District Attorney Pamela Price offered Xu a plea deal on one felony poisoning count, with no additional jail time, despite his initial exposure to a potential life sentence. 

Price, who took office promising criminal justice reform, became the first Alameda County district attorney to be recalled by voters when she was ousted in 2024 after critics accused her of being too lenient with criminals.

Xu pleaded no contest, meaning he accepted the legal consequences of the charge without formally admitting guilt. 

At his 2024 sentencing, the judge described the plea deal as ‘extremely generous, considering everything in this case,’ according to the San Francisco Standard. 

The judge doubled Xu’s probation to two years, making him eligible to seek dismissal of his felony conviction under California law. His petition was granted on Monday. 

‘No company can find the criminal record based on background search, now they also need to do an internet search,’ Yuan told The Times, fearing that Xu could secure a job at another company.

Yuan said she believes the cadmium exposure may have contributed to her father’s death from heart failure at 78, while she continues to suffer long-term health effects herself.

Cadmium has a half-life of 16 to 30 years in the human body, and prolonged exposure can cause cancer, organ damage and bone disease, according to a study by the National Institutes of Health. 

A California actor captured the internet’s attention after secretly filming a couple’s surprise engagement at Point Mugu State Beach in Malibu on Tuesday.

Brandee Evans, widely recognized for her role in the Starz drama series “P-Valley,” is also a full-time caregiver for her mother, who has secondary progressive multiple sclerosis and early-onset Alzheimer’s disease.

While standing on a cliff above the beach, Evans noticed Daniel Sanchez and his future bride, Blanca Carcamo, below. Several relatives had concealed themselves behind cars to capture the proposal on video.

“Yesterday in Malibu, as I was leaving the beach, I noticed a whole family hiding behind my car. Now, of course, I needed to know what was going on. The dad tells me his daughter is about to get engaged, and that’s when I realized… WAIT! It was the same couple I had been sitting near on the beach!” Evans said.

Evans posted footage of the romantic moment, showing Sanchez ask Carcamo to face the ocean for a photo before dropping to one knee and presenting her with a ring.

“By the time I made it back to my car, the family had already left, so I didn’t get a chance to share the video with them,” Evans said. She turned to social media for help finding the couple, and the online search ultimately succeeded, reconnecting her with Sanchez and Carcamo.

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“I’m yelling at the end like she’s my cousin. Congratulations, y’all! This was so sweet to witness,” Evans said while describing the proposal she recorded.

The couple’s love story may be even more heartwarming than their Malibu engagement. Sanchez and Carcamo first knew each other as children while attending the same church, but they eventually lost touch.

Years later, after reconnecting and beginning a relationship as adults, Carcamo’s father recognized Sanchez in old family photos.

“A couple years ago, he sent the pictures, and he was like, ‘Do you recognize this guy?’ And I look closer, and I’m like, ‘Oh my God, that’s Daniel! We came out in the same quinceañera?’” Carcamo told CBS News. She added that she had been anticipating the proposal for nearly seven years.

Sanchez and Carcamo plan to marry in May 2027.

Concerns about a possible serial killer have left Lansing, Michigan, a Big Ten college town, on edge.

Earlier this month, the Lansing Police Department said it was examining whether five recent deaths could be connected to an attacker believed to be targeting people along the Lansing River Trail.

“I definitely think we need to be cautious, but we also need to be rational,” Karen Holt, a criminology professor at Michigan State University, told News Media.

Police said five men were attacked along the popular trail over the past year. One of them was found stabbed to death beneath a bridge.

“As someone who studies violence, the first thing that came to mind was the victims, their vulnerability and the method of the violence,” Holt said.

Police said all five victims were homeless.

“If we have a community where people can be attacked in this way, then I don’t necessarily know that we can call it a safe community,” Holt said.

She said a common pattern among single or serial homicide offenders, as well as other violent offenders, is targeting people who are especially vulnerable.

Holt said homicide offenders may view homeless victims as people who “lack credibility” and may believe that targeting them “decreases the likelihood that they’re going to be caught.”

Edward Joseph Smith, 23, was arrested Sept. 3 in connection with the fatal stabbing of Daniel Lusk, 22.

“I would love to learn more about the relationship between that victim and perpetrator,” Holt said. Police have not announced a motive in Lusk’s killing.

Smith has not been accused of any crime or wrongdoing in the other four deaths.

Holt said Lusk’s killing “stands out” from the other alleged attacks because he was stabbed, while the other four victims suffered head injuries or possible blunt-force trauma.

Police have not confirmed an arrest in connection with the suspected serial killings.

Holt maintains Lansing needs to remain vigilant.

“Don’t walk the trail would be my advice. Maybe walk a different trail.”

Newly released 911 audio captures the desperate efforts to save Hayden Panettiere after she suffered a fatal overdose.

Panettiere died at age 36 on August 16 at a residence in Greenville, South Carolina, after suffering the “toxic effects” of multiple substances, including fentanyl. Her death was ruled accidental.

Her on-off boyfriend, Brian Hickerson, and his brother Zach were at the property when she was pronounced dead.

The audio, obtained by CBS on Wednesday, begins with Zach exclaiming ‘oh God, oh my God!’ as he waits to speak with a dispatcher.

Zach told the dispatcher, “I walked in after church to my brother and his girlfriend’s apartment and she’s unconscious.” He said Brian eventually woke up, but Panettiere remained unresponsive.

Zach also reported that Panettiere was not breathing. When the dispatcher asked whether he had access to a defibrillator, he questioned whether the apartment complex would have such lifesaving equipment.

The dispatcher instructed Zach and Brian to “start CPR” as someone could be heard shouting in the background.

Zach was told to place his phone on speaker so the dispatcher could guide them. The brothers were instructed to give mouth-to-mouth breaths and perform chest compressions.

The urgency of the call intensified as the dispatcher told the brothers to place Panettiere “flat on her back” and remove anything beneath her head.

When the dispatcher briefly paused, one of the brothers cried out, “What do we do?” before the CPR instructions resumed.

“Oh my God! I know how to do this! How many times?” one of the brothers asked during the resuscitation attempt. A voice could then be heard urging, “Come on!”

The call concluded when emergency responders arrived and took over the ultimately unsuccessful efforts to revive Panettiere.

Panettiere had been staying with the Hickerson brothers at an Airbnb property.

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In August, detectives confirmed to the Daily Mail that officers had responded to a 911 call from an “acquaintance” who reported that Panettiere was “unresponsive.”

Narcan, a nasal spray designed to reverse the effects of an opioid overdose, was reportedly found on a mattress in the loft apartment, according to TMZ. The 911 recording does not indicate that Narcan was administered during the call.

According to a Greenville Police Department incident report, Zach told investigators that Brian had been sleeping in another room when Zach arrived and found Panettiere unresponsive in a chair.

Zach said Brian administered Narcan, the medication used to counter opioid overdoses, while the brothers performed CPR and spoke with 911 dispatchers.

Panettiere is survived by Kaya, whom she welcomed during her nine-year romance with ex-fiance Wladimir Klitschko, 50. 

In 2018, Panettiere signed full custody of her daughter, Kaya, to her ex amid her battle with postpartum depression and addiction and Wladimir moved the toddler to his native Ukraine. 

Panettiere began acting as a child, appearing in soap operas, then gained wider recognition for her role in the 2000 sports drama Remember the Titans with Denzel Washington, and as the voice of Dot in Pixar’s 1998 film A Bug’s Life.  

Panettiere later found fame playing cheerleader Claire Bennet in the superhero drama Heroes before starring as country singer Juliette Barnes for six seasons on Nashville.

She earned two Golden Globe nominations for best supporting actress on the show, while her singing produced 11 entries on the US Billboard Hot Country Songs charts.

Panettiere’s film credits include 2006’s Bring It On: All or Nothing, the comedy-drama film Raising Helen, and appearances in Scream 4 and Scream VI as Kirby Reed.

The NYPD Detectives’ Endowment Association honored The Post at a breakfast ceremony in the Bronx on Wednesday, recognizing the newspaper’s excellence in covering policing and public safety across New York City.

“That’s our paper, right?” DEA President Scott Munro told attendees gathered in Throggs Neck. “That’s the paper we look at and the paper we rely on to get our information out. We want to honor them today.”

Munro praised The Post’s work with law enforcement, saying the newspaper has helped highlight the challenges facing detectives, including the department’s staffing losses and the need for stronger incentives to retain officers. “For the last two years, since this board took over, we’ve done a lot of great things out there, getting information out with their help,” he said. “It’s a story about losing detectives and getting enhancements for people to stay on this job.”

The union leader credited The Post with comprehensive coverage of crime in all five boroughs, as well as the pressures confronting New York’s Finest amid staffing shortages, administrative hurdles and changes to the state’s criminal justice laws.

“I know it’s our paper too, because you don’t have to pay for it online,” Munro added, drawing laughter from the crowd. “Cops won’t pay for it. You’ve got to pay for the Daily News and all the other pages, and of course The Times.”

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Members of The Post’s police bureau attended the event alongside Editor-in-Chief Keith Poole, who accepted the award on behalf of the newspaper. Poole was recognized as a driving force behind The Post’s police and crime coverage in the city and beyond.

“Thank you, Scott, and thank you to the DEA for representing the interests of the detectives who keep this city safe,” Poole said. “You and your members not only have to deal with criminals, but also with an increasing number of loud voices and lawmakers advancing criminal justice policies that many believe make your work harder and more dangerous.”

Poole said he was accepting the honor on behalf of The Post, particularly its crime team, and called on the audience to applaud its members. “I often joke that they succeed not because of me, but in spite of me,” he said. “But without their tireless work, the story of your sacrifice, dedication, professionalism and the challenges you face would never be told as powerfully.”

The DEA is one of the largest unions representing NYPD officers and command staff. The Police Benevolent Association represents the department’s largest membership.

Authorities in Costa Rica are looking for a woman wanted for questioning in a suspected homicide after an American man was found dead in late September.

Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency, the country’s equivalent of the FBI, is appealing to the public for help identifying the woman. The request follows the discovery of an American citizen, identified as “Fleming,” who was found dead Sept. 27 inside a condominium near the beach.

According to investigators, the 74-year-old man entered a condominium in Playas del Coco at about 4:50 p.m. The coastal town is located in Guanacaste, a popular tourist region along Costa Rica’s northern Pacific shore. Authorities believe the woman was seen leaving the property without him.

Officials later found the victim’s body. Investigators said he had suffered head trauma that was likely inflicted with blunt-force objects.

Police have not released the woman’s identity. They described her as having a fair complexion, a slender frame and black hair, with a height of roughly 1.60 meters, or about 5 feet 3 inches.

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At the time of the suspected killing, the woman was reportedly wearing blue denim shorts, sandals and a white bra featuring chain-like decorations. Security footage appears to show her walking along a street with another woman.

Anyone with information about the case or the woman shown in the footage is urged to contact Costa Rica’s Judicial Investigation Agency at 800-800-0645.

News Media has contacted the U.S. State Department seeking comment.