Virginia man found guilty of fatally injecting ex-girlfriend with cyanide in Valentine’s Day attack

Joseph Merlino III, 30, was convicted of first-degree murder on Friday after injecting his ex-girlfriend and mother of his two-year-old daughter, Ellie Tran, with cyanide

A Virginia man has been found guilty of attacking his ex-girlfriend outside of her home and injecting her with a fatal dose of cyanide.

Joseph Merlino III, 30, was convicted of first-degree murder on Friday, for the death of 35-year-old Ellie Tran. She died after being attacked and injected with the poison on Valentine’s Day 2017, The Virginian Pilot reported.

Horrific video shows the moment Tran, the mother of Merlino’s baby daughter, gets out of her car on Valentines Day 2017 only to have Merlino run at her and jab her in the leg with a syringe full of cyanide.

Tran, who lived with her parents and the two-year-old daughter she shared with Merlino, died the next day. Doctors told her family she had been left brain dead by the poisoning.

Merlino was arrested the next day and was held without bond at the city jail. 

During the trial, prosecutors showed the CCTV footage of the event, taken on cameras friends and family had claimed she installed to help protect her from the man, who she thought might try to hurt her.

Ellie Tran, 35 (pictured) died on February 15 in hospital. Her family had to turn off her life support after doctors revealed she was brain dead from the poisoning

Ellie Tran, 35 (pictured) died on February 15 in hospital. Her family had to turn off her life support after doctors revealed she was brain dead from the poisoning

Her mother Oanh Le, moved to Virginia Beach four years ago, and told the court last year she had been inside the home when Ellie was jabbed with the needle. 

She said she heard her daughter screaming, and when she ran out to help, saw Merlino crossing the road. Le said Ellie had also identified her attacker as Merlino before she lost consciousness.  

‘She said, “Merlino stick something in my leg”,’ Le said.

Prosecutors claimed Merlino had researched how much a lethal dose of cyanide would be, and purchased a stainless steel syringe online before the murder. 

The 30-year-old allegedly searched: ‘How many milligrams of cyanide will kill you?’ and ‘What if cyanide gets injected?’ 

When he came to attack her about 8pm on Valentine's Day last year, CCTV shows him in a hi-vis shirt, which prosecutors argue he used to distort the cameras

He chased her, jabbed her leg, and left

When he came to attack her about 8pm on Valentine’s Day last year, CCTV shows him in a hi-vis shirt, which prosecutors argue he used to distort the cameras. He chased her, jabbed her leg, and left

In CCTV shown to the court, her mother Oanh Le, is seen coming out after she hears her daughter screaming out the front

In CCTV shown to the court, her mother Oanh Le, is seen coming out after she hears her daughter screaming out the front

Ellie's mother, Oanh Le, now has custody of her granddaughter

Ellie’s mother, Oanh Le, now has custody of her granddaughter

He is accused of purchasing the syringe on Etsy on January 24 and having it delivered to a pizza restaurant he ate at every day that month.

They further alleged he had sent encrypted messages to his new girlfriend in China, providing her with instructions on how to testify on his behalf at court.

He is also accused of asking her to have a graphic designer put together fake texts that would place him far away from the scene of the crime. 

Merlino vehemently denied any involvement in the murder, and the allegations he had used code to ask his new girlfriend to concoct fake documents to help his case.

On April 16, he began declining meals, forcing an emergency court hearing to allow the jail’s medical staff to force feed him as the hunger strike began its eighth week. 

The jury took only 90 minutes to come back with a guilty verdict on Friday. Merlino appeared to shake his head slightly at the news, but said nothing. 

He will be sentenced on Monday, and faces life in prison.

Merlino vehemently denied any involvement Ellie's murder, but a jury convicted him in just 90 minutes

Merlino vehemently denied any involvement Ellie’s murder, but a jury convicted him in just 90 minutes



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