UCSF Research Fellow Ben Chun Liu Arrested for Attempting to Poison Colleague

On Monday a post-doc fellow at UCSF, Ben Chun Liu, was arrested for attempting to poison the drink of a colleague. Luckily his target, Mei Cao, seems to be in acceptably good health.

The San Jose Mercury News reports:

A post-doctoral fellow at the University of California-San Francisco has been arrested for attempted murder after being accused of trying to poison a female colleague, a university spokeswoman said today.

Ben Chun Liu, 38, was arrested Friday for allegedly poisoning the drink of Mei Cao, UCSF spokeswoman Kristen Bole said.

Both work in the university's urology department. Bole said she did not know whether the two had any sort of relationship outside of work.

Liu is a Chinese citizen and is in the United States on a work visa. He has been placed on an immigration hold and was still in custody in San Francisco County jail on Monday, Bole said…

Cao was examined at the UCSF Medical Center and was later released. Bole said that because of the ongoing investigation, she could not say what substance was used to allegedly poison the drink.

Police are still investigating the motive but Bole said it does not appear there are additional suspects or victims in the case.

According to university police captain Paul Berlin, the two have been working together for over a year without any apparent hostility. Cao was lucky in that she noticed something in her water on October 23, when Liu allegedly attempted to poison her. Later, she says, Liu confessed that he had made this homicidal attempt.