MARYSVILLE — The Marysville man figured the cryptic text message “Don’t drink your boose (sic)” was a co-worker’s joke.
He poured himself his customary glass of vodka after work, drank some and immediately felt dizzy and got a headache.
When he called the cellphone number from the text message, his daughter answered.
She told him she put rubbing alcohol in his vodka, but didn’t explain why.
The man’s wife smelled the drink. She thought the odor was insulin.
Such was the story Marysville police have been untangling since the July 13 incident, according to court papers.
The woman, 24, was arrested for investigation of attempted first-degree assault and booked into the Snohomish County Jail on Wednesday night. An Everett District Court judge set bail at $100,000 Thursday.
The suspect reportedly told Marysville police that she got the idea after watching an episode of the popular crime drama “CSI.” She said she thought the insulin-spiked drink would shut down the man’s pancreas and kill him, court papers said.
She said the attempt at poisoning was retaliation for the man allegedly attempting to strangle her the night of July 12, court papers said.
She told police that she put two syringes full of her diabetic sister’s insulin into the vodka.
Police said the woman reportedly admitted she was trying to kill her father.
The man went to bed the night he drank the tainted drink without seeking medical treatment, court papers said.
Detectives were told by medical experts that the insulin-spiked drink would not have harmed the man, Marysville police Lt. Darin Rasmussen said.
They took the insulin bottle as evidence.
Insulin is a protein and would be digested by stomach enzymes, a forensic pathologist in the medical examiner’s office told investigators.
“It turns out this was medically impossible, but this was her intent,” Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Walt Sowa said.
Rasmussen said the allegations needed to be taken seriously.
“It’s unusual,” Rasmussen said. “We don’t have attempted poisonings. I can’t think of another like this that we have had.”
Rasmussen said the woman appears to have some mental health issues.
Her parents in 2010 filed for a temporary restraining order against the woman on behalf of her 17-month-old son.
They wrote that she has bipolar disorder and had not been taking her medications.
Eric Stevick: 425-339-3446; stevick@heraldnet.com.
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