She was a chemist for ten years at Bristol-Myers Squibb, and according to an investigation by the Middlesex County Prosecutor's Office, Tianle Li, 40, was able to get an undisclosed amount of a highly toxic metal and feed it to her husband.
After several weeks of unknowlingly taking the poison, Xiaoye Wang, 39, checked himself into the University Medical Center in Princeton on January 14, complaining of "flu-like symptoms," according to a press release from the Prosecutor's office.
Following a series of tests, the hospital determined Wang had been poisoned with the metal thallium.
A day later, on January 26, Wang died in his hospital bed.
An investigation determined that the Monroe Township couple were in the middle of getting a divorce but "had been involved in a series of domestic disturbances since April 2009," according to the release.
Li was arrested two days after her husband died, initially "for providing police with false statements" during the investigation.
Now, with her murder charge, she is being held in the Middlesex County Adult Correction Center in lieu of a bail set at $4.15 million.
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The determination of thallium poisoning included help from FBI laboratories at Quantico, as well as the New Jersey State Police and Middlesex County Hazardous Materials Units.
Thallium, 81 on the periodic chart, is found in the Earth's crust. People who ingested large amounts of thallium over a short time have reported vomiting, diarrhea, temporary hair loss, and effects on the nervous system, lungs, heart, liver, and kidneys. It has caused death.
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