Woman killed by estranged husband in Valentine's Day cyanide poisoning

In this episode of Crime Watch Daily Updates: Valentine’s Day is supposed to be about celebrating love and relationship, but for Ellie Tran, February 14, 2017, represented the exact opposite.

Ellie and her mother were at their Virginia Beach home, when her mom heard screaming coming from outside the house. She ran out and saw Ellie grabbing her leg and a man running down the street. Ellie was rushed to the hospital and put on life support, but she died. Ellie had been injected with cyanide, a lethal poison that most likely caused her excruciating amounts of pain.

Surveillance video captured the attack, and evidence pointed to Ellie’s estranged husband, Joseph Merlino. They shared a young daughter, but Ellie got a restraining order against him after he reportedly abused her.

Just two months before her death, a man dressed as a woman threw a substance at Ellie as she left her job at a nail salon. She survived the attack but suffered some hair damage.

Police arrested Joseph on suspicion of murder. While in custody, he reportedly tried sending coded messages to his family and girlfriend, but administrators at the Virginia Beach Correctional Center obtained the letters and decoded them. He reportedly asked his family to create a false alibi and evidence saying his family saw him the day Ellie was killed.

In June 2018, a jury found Joseph guilty of first-degree murder, and he was sentenced to life in prison.

Let’s look back at the case of a mother whose life was painfully cut short at the hands of her estranged husband.