A grad student said he became ill after noticing an odd taste in his water. His coworkers may have helped crack the case

Patrick T. Fallon/AFP/Getty Images

It began with tingling and numbness in the graduate student’s fingertips and weakness in his legs. As summer ended, it got worse, as the numbness spread across his left arm and all his fingertips.

But after weeks and visits to the University of Wyoming student health clinic, he told investigators he couldn’t figure out what was wrong, court documents show. He had mentioned to professors and other researchers that the hot water he regularly drank in his office tasted off, two professors told CNN.

Then, he found a white substance near his coffee pot and water bottle, according to a chemist at the university who helped the student and spoke to CNN. His colleagues helped him test the powder, court records show, revealing what they said were high levels of acrylamide, a typically odorless, tasteless neurotoxin that resulted in him losing physical and cognitive function over nearly two months. The bitterness he tasted in his water could be the result of the toxin being heated in the coffee maker, according to the university chemist who tested the material.

What researchers uncovered through lab testing and surveillance footage, prosecutors said, was a plot by his fellow graduate student to intentionally poison him. His colleague, Aili Wang, was arrested while prosecutors allege she was trying to flee to China last week after university police had gathered evidence to charge her with felony aggravated assault and battery.

It’s unclear how long Wang, a 32-year-old Chinese national, allegedly had been poisoning her fellow doctoral student, but his symptoms dated back to early August, a University of Wyoming campus police detective said in an affidavit.

CNN is not naming the graduate student, who was identified only by initials in court documents. He did not respond to CNN’s request for comment.

Wang and the victim reportedly didn’t get along, the police affidavit said. The victim also told investigators he had a patent pending for a new technology to help treat cancer as well as neurological and genetic diseases, according to court documents. Wang had reportedly worked on similar research in China before coming to the US, university police said.

Wang had displayed animosity toward the victim and other students but did so mostly by avoiding them in the lab, according to Mark Gomelsky, who directs the university’s microbiology program and who says he oversaw both the victim’s and the suspect’s research.

Before the results from the chemical analysis were available, “there was nothing to suspect that poisoning would be the way she expresses her dissatisfaction,” he told CNN in an email.

Wang is now facing a felony aggravated assault and battery charge, according to prosecutors.

A lawyer for Wang wasn’t listed in court records. CNN has reached out to Wang via her university email.

The University of Wyoming said it’s working with authorities and “will take appropriate action as warranted,” according to a university news release published Tuesday.

“The university takes matters involving the health and safety of the campus community seriously and remains committed to providing a safe and secure environment for students, faculty, staff and visitors,” Shane Reeves, president of the University of Wyoming, said in a statement.

After the graduate student found the white substance around his coffee maker and in his office, his wife brought a sample to Tak Suyama’s lab around mid-September, Suyama told CNN. Suyama, a chemistry professor at the university who knew the couple, said he worked with another graduate student to evaporate the substance into a powder. The material, through lab testing, was found to be consistent with acrylamide, Suyama said.

Acrylamide can be found in infinitesimal amounts in coffee, but the lab results were extremely high, Suyama said, far more than what is typically found in food. Subsequent tests of different items used by the victim also revealed acrylamide in high levels, he said.

“We knew for sure that that is now intentional poisoning,” Suyama told CNN.

Along with the graduate student’s numbness and tingling in his hands and arm, and weakness in his legs, he also had temporary cognitive issues that included difficulty forming sentences, Suyama said. Those symptoms were consistent with acrylamide exposure, Suyama said, adding these could easily be mistaken for a neurodegenerative disease.

Suyama said he then created a report for campus police and gave the white powder sample to officials. Subsequent samples were taken elsewhere in the university’s Agriculture Building, the police affidavit said. Only the victim’s coffee maker tested positive for acrylamide.

Gomelsky, the overseeing professor, said he hadn’t thought much about the victim’s past comments about the water tasting strange until he saw the chemical analysis. “Even then, it took a while to mentally process that this must have been intentional poisoning,” he said.

Campus police and the victim installed video cameras inside the office space in Room 6003, which the victim shared with Wang. In late September, video showed Wang going through the victim’s desk before picking up his coffee tin, opening and inspecting its contents, the police affidavit said. In the victim’s surveillance footage, Wang was seen entering the room, walking back and forth, before sitting on a desk using her cellphone, police said in the affidavit.

Just after midnight on October 1, police say that video from the victim’s camera showed Wang rinsing out the victim’s coffee mug with a liquid from her own. She was also seen taking photos and manipulating notebooks on the victim’s desk, the police affidavit said.

A police camera also installed in the building showed Wang opening and looking inside the coffee maker and moving items on the victim’s desk, police said.

Gomelsky told investigators there was no reason Wang would need the victim’s research notes because their fields of study at the university were unrelated, the affidavit said.

University police on October 6 obtained information from the school’s IT department showing an account tied to Wang’s university email had purchased acrylamide on eBay in late June that arrived in early July, according to the police affidavit. The account then made a second order of acrylamide in late August, which was delivered in early September.

On October 5, the account then requested that eBay delete the order history and the account itself, according to the affidavit. The same day, Wang told a university police detective she hadn’t used acrylamide in years, according to court documents.

A day later, prosecutors filed a felony aggravated assault and battery charge against Wang. Judge Robert J. Sanford, of Wyoming’s Second Judicial Court, set bond at $200,000.

Wang is accused of fleeing the state and trying to leave the country and fly back to China via Los Angeles International Airport, Wyoming prosecutors said.

On October 6, Los Angeles Airport Police arrested her at Terminal 7, an agency spokesperson said. Officials found her with multiple laptops, portable external digital storage devices, written materials and physical records, Wyoming prosecutors said in an October 8 petition to modify her bond.

Airport Police took her to the city’s Van Nuys jail for booking, an agency spokesperson said.

Wang was in the United States on a temporary visa prosecutors said. If she were able to return to China, American officials couldn’t ensure her return since the US doesn’t have a bilateral agreement for extradition with China.

On October 8, Sanford raised her bond to $1.5 million, court records show. She was ordered to surrender all travel documents, including passports and visas. Sanford’s order also has a no-travel restriction.

There is no court date scheduled for Wang appearing because there is still an outstanding warrant, a circuit court spokesperson said.

As officials await a conclusion to this case, the victim’s university community is left reeling.

“I could not imagine that anyone in my lab is capable of doing something like this,” Gomelsky wrote in an email.

The graduate student continues to have medical follow-ups, officials said.

Patrick T. Fallon/法新社/盖蒂图片社

起初，这位研究生的手指尖出现刺痛和麻木感，双腿也感到无力。随着夏季结束，病情加重，麻木感蔓延至他的左臂和所有手指尖。

但法庭文件显示，经过数周并多次前往怀俄明大学学生健康诊所就诊后，他告诉调查人员，他仍然搞不清楚自己到底出了什么问题。两位教授告诉CNN，他曾向教授和其他研究人员提到，他经常在办公室喝的热水味道不对劲。

据一位曾帮助过这名学生的大学化学家向CNN透露，这名学生随后在咖啡壶和水瓶附近发现了一种白色物质。法庭记录显示，他的同事们帮助他检测了这种粉末，结果显示其中含有高浓度的丙烯酰胺。丙烯酰胺是一种通常无色无味的神经毒素，导致他在近两个月的时间里逐渐丧失了身体和认知功能。这位负责检测的大学化学家表示，他喝到的苦味可能是由于咖啡机加热了这种毒素造成的。

检方称，研究人员通过实验室检测和监控录像发现，他的一名研究生同学密谋故意毒害他。这名同学名叫王爱丽，在校警收集到证据准备以重罪加重攻击和殴打罪名起诉她后，上周她试图逃往中国，随后被捕。

目前尚不清楚32岁的中国公民王某涉嫌毒害其博士同学有多长时间，但怀俄明大学校园警察侦探在一份宣誓书中表示，该同学的症状可以追溯到8月初。

CNN没有透露这名研究生的姓名，法庭文件中只用姓名首字母指代他。他没有回应CNN的置评请求。

据警方提供的证词显示，王某与受害者关系不睦。法庭文件显示，受害者还告诉调查人员，王某正在申请一项新技术专利，该技术可用于治疗癌症以及神经系统和遗传性疾病。大学警方称，王某在来美国之前曾在中国从事过类似的研究。

据该大学微生物学项目主任马克·戈梅尔斯基（Mark Gomelsky）称，王某对受害者和其他学生表现出敌意，但主要表现为在实验室里躲避他们。戈梅尔斯基表示，他曾监督过受害者和嫌疑人的研究。

他在一封发给 CNN 的电子邮件中表示，在化学分析结果出来之前，“没有任何迹象表明她会以投毒的方式来表达不满”。

据检察官称，王某目前面临重罪加重攻击和殴打指控。

法院记录中没有列出王女士的律师信息。CNN已通过王女士的大学邮箱联系了她。

怀俄明大学周二发布的新闻稿称，该校正在与有关部门合作，“并将在必要时采取适当行动”。

怀俄明大学校长谢恩·里夫斯在一份声明中表示：“大学非常重视校园社区的健康和安全问题，并将继续致力于为学生、教职员工和访客提供安全可靠的环境。”

据CNN报道，研究生在咖啡机周围和办公室里发现了白色物质后，他的妻子在9月中旬左右将样本送到了他的实验室。须山拓（Tak Suyama）是该大学的化学教授，认识这对夫妇。他表示，他与另一位研究生合作，将这种物质蒸发成粉末。须山拓说，经实验室检测，该物质与丙烯酰胺成分相符。

苏亚玛表示，咖啡中丙烯酰胺的含量虽然微乎其微，但实验室检测结果却异常高，远远超过食品中的正常含量。他还说，随后对受害者使用过的其他物品进行的检测也显示，丙烯酰胺的含量都很高。

“我们现在可以肯定，这是一起蓄意投毒事件，”须山告诉 CNN。

须山医生说，除了这名研究生双手和手臂麻木刺痛、双腿无力外，他还出现了暂时性的认知障碍，包括难以组织语言。须山医生表示，这些症状与丙烯酰胺中毒的症状相符，并补充说，这些症状很容易被误诊为神经退行性疾病。

须山表示，他随后向校警提交了报告，并将白色粉末样本交给了校方。警方提供的证词显示，之后在大学农业大楼的其他地方也采集了样本。最终，只有受害者的咖啡机检测出丙烯酰胺呈阳性。

负责此案的教授戈梅尔斯基表示，在看到化学分析结果之前，他并没有太在意受害者之前提到的水味道怪异的说法。“即便如此，我也花了一段时间才意识到这一定是蓄意投毒，”他说。

校园警方和受害者在受害者与王某共用的6003房间内安装了监控摄像头。警方提供的证词显示，9月下旬的监控录像显示，王某翻找受害者的办公桌，拿起他的咖啡罐，打开查看里面的咖啡。警方在证词中还提到，在受害者的监控录像中，可以看到王某进入房间，来回走动，然后坐在桌子上使用手机。

警方称，10月1日凌晨刚过，受害者的监控录像显示，王某用自己的液体冲洗了受害者的咖啡杯。警方提供的证词还显示，她还被拍到在受害者的桌子上拍照和翻动笔记本。

警方表示，安装在大楼内的监控摄像头还显示，王某打开咖啡机并查看内部，还移动了受害者桌上的物品。

戈梅尔斯基告诉调查人员，王不需要受害者的研究笔记，因为他们在大学里的研究领域并不相关，宣誓书上写道。

根据警方提供的证词，10月6日，校警从学校IT部门获取的信息显示，一个与王某大学邮箱关联的账户在6月下旬通过eBay购买了丙烯酰胺，并于7月初收到。该账户随后在8月下旬再次订购丙烯酰胺，并于9月初收到。

根据宣誓书，10月5日，该账户要求eBay删除订单记录和账户本身。同一天，据法庭文件显示，王某告诉大学警探，她已经多年未使用丙烯酰胺。

一天后，检方对王某提起重罪指控，罪名是加重攻击和殴打。怀俄明州第二司法法院法官罗伯特·J·桑福德将保释金定为20万美元。

怀俄明州检察官称，王某被控逃离该州，并试图离开美国，经由洛杉矶国际机场飞回中国。

洛杉矶机场警方发言人称，10月6日，警方在7号航站楼逮捕了她。怀俄明州检察官在10月8日提交的修改保释申请中称，警方在她身上搜出多台笔记本电脑、便携式外置存储设备、书面材料和纸质记录。

机场警方发言人表示，警方已将她带到市范奈斯监狱登记入册。

检方称，王某持临时签证在美国。即使她能够返回中国，美国官员也无法确保她被遣返，因为美国与中国没有引渡协议。

法庭记录显示，10月8日，桑福德将保释金提高至150万美元。她被勒令交出所有旅行证件，包括护照和签证。桑福德的保释令还包含旅行限制。

巡回法院发言人表示，由于仍有未执行的逮捕令，王某尚未安排出庭日期。

在官方等待案件最终结果之际，受害者的大学社区仍然沉浸在悲痛之中。

“我无法想象我的实验室里有人能做出这样的事，”戈梅尔斯基在一封电子邮件中写道。

官方表示，这名研究生仍在接受后续的医疗检查。