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VERNAL — A former Vernal woman is accused of using an antifreeze-tainted peach smoothie to try to kill a man who had given her and her teenage daughter a place to live.
When Ed Zurbuchen arrived at Ashley Regional Medical Center in September 2008, doctors initially believed they were treating someone who had suffered a stroke. Zurbuchen was dizzy, weak, confused, had trouble speaking and was experiencing numbness in his face.
A battery of tests, however, showed that the nearly 80-year-old man hadn’t had a stroke. Instead, doctors discovered that Zurbuchen, a Vernal Express employee, had been poisoned. They contacted Vernal police, who quickly identified Selena Irene York, 33, as their prime suspect.
Police say Zurbuchen was “very reluctant to believe” that York, who is also known as Selena Irene Elderkin, would intentionally harm him. After all, he had given the 33-year-old woman and her teenage daughter a place to live when they had nowhere else to stay.
Without Zurbuchen’s cooperation, the case stalled and then went cold.
But on Friday, armed with new information, Uintah County prosecutors charged York in 8th District Court with attempted murder, a second-degree felony. A no-bail warrant was issued for her arrest and authorities in Eugene, Ore., took her into custody Tuesday.
The new evidence police say helped them crack the case came in an April 11 letter from York’s on-again, off-again boyfriend, Joseph Dominic Ferraro, who was sitting in an Oregon jail awaiting sentencing on unrelated charges. Ferraro told police that he’d been victimized by York, claiming that she’d drained his bank accounts and sold both his cars.
In his letter, Ferraro alleged that York had concocted a similar plan when she was living in Vernal to “have her name on all of (Zurbuchen’s) financial and insurance accounts” and “obtain power of attorney over the remainder of (Zurbuchen’s) property/business,” according to charging documents. York also discussed her intent to kill Zurbuchen, Ferraro told investigators.
In late 2008, police say York purchased three peach smoothies from a coffee stand in Vernal and then drove to a gas station, where she purchased a gallon of antifreeze. She returned to the home she shared with Zurbuchen, had her then-13-year-old daughter pour out half of one of the smoothies, and then topped off the cup with antifreeze, the charges state.
Ferraro wrote that once the drink had been mixed, York told her daughter to thoroughly clean the kitchen and dispose of the remaining antifreeze.
While her daughter was cleaning up at home, Ferraro said York delivered the poisoned smoothie to Zurbuchen.
“Mr. Ferraro writes that (York) called him upon completing the task, very pleased with herself,” the charges state.
Zurbuchen sought a restraining order against York in February 2009 and she and her daughter relocated to Oregon, where they moved in with Ferraro. Vernal police said he provided them with an email he’d received from York’s daughter that read: “I hope mom doesn’t poison you with antifreeze lol.”
Assistant Vernal Police Chief Keith Campbell and Sgt. Vance Norton traveled to Oregon on June 19 to interview York and her daughter.
The teenage girl told the investigators she had been ill in late 2008 and did not remember much from that time. However, she did recall that her mother made her clean the kitchen and floors with a steam cleaner.
The girl said this was “very much out of the norm because her mother would never let her use the steam cleaner, saying it was too dangerous,” the charges state.
Investigators were also told by the girl’s biological father that his daughter had called him and talked about “the old man they were living with in Vernal and how they planned to knock him off,” the charges state.
During her interview with detectives, York corroborated the information provided by Ferraro and her daughter, according to the charges.
“(York) said the reason for doing all of this was because (Zurbuchen) was mean to her children and she wanted him to stop being mean,” the charges state.
Zurbuchen said Tuesday he’d known for several months that York would likely be charged, but had little comment about the police investigation or the allegations against the woman he once tried to help.
“What can I say, it’s out of my hands,” said Zurbuchen, who admitted that he no longer drinks peach smoothies.
“I’ve swore off of them,” he said.
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Twitter: GeoffLiesik
Email:geoff@ubstandard.com
