Berkeley Engineer Reveals Co-Worker Poisoned Her with Cadmium; Conviction Expungement Sought
Rong Yuan, a chemical engineer in Berkeley, California, endured unexplained health issues from 2017 until she discovered her co-worker, David Xu, was poisoning her water with cadmium. Surveillance footage captured Xu contaminating her water bottle with toxic levels of cadmium, leading to his 2019 arrest and conviction. Xu has since sought to have his felony conviction expunged after completing probation, despite opposition from prosecutors. Yuan and her family tested positive for cadmium poisoning, highlighting the prolonged impact of the incident.
First-hand measurement across 2 sources
We measured how 2 outlets covered this story. No outlet gave this story a measurable political slant — there is no left–right reading to report. Overall sentiment is negative (28/100). Lens Score 54/100.
Outlets measured: indianexpress, freepressjournal. See how each one headlined and framed the same story in the source comparison below.
AI Analysis
Sentiment was consistent across outlets (28–28/100), indicating broadly factual reporting rather than editorialising.
Coverage timeline
freepressjournal broke this story on 13 Oct, 07:47 am. Other outlets followed.