Ex-Sailor Who Fed Wife Poison Faces Sentencing

EL CAJON, CA – A former Navy sailor who tried three times to kill his wife by poisoning her at their Dulzura home with a toxic metal that was formerly used as a rat poison and ant killer was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison Thursday.

Race Remington Uto, 28, pleaded guilty in December to three counts of premeditated attempted murder for poisoning his wife Brigida three times over a five-month span.

Law enforcement agencies, including the FBI and the Naval Criminal Investigative Service, became involved in the case in March of last year, after doctors informed them that Uto's wife was undergoing emergency medical treatment due to an "extreme level" of thallium in her system, according to Lt. Greg Rylaarsdam of the San Diego County District Attorney's Office.

Medical staff and investigators believed the victim's exposure to thallium was intentional, and Uto was arrested. Thallium is a highly toxic metal once widely used in insecticides, but that use is now banned in the United States.

Deputy District Attorney Paul Reizen said the defendant poisoned his wife in August and December of 2017 and January of 2018.

• ALSO SEE: Man Killed In I-5 Ramp Rollover Crash

--City News Service