A Dulzura woman who was secretly nearly poisoned to death by her husband shared her warning for women all over the world with "Dateline NBC" Monday night.
Back in March, Race Remington Uto was sentenced to 21 years to life in prison after he pleaded guilty to trying to poison and kill his wife Brigida McInvale by repeatedly feeding her a dangerous chemical once used in rat poison.
More than two weeks before Uto's March 2018 arrest, his wife was admitted to a hospital with an unknown illness, according to the San Diego County Sheriff's Department. Medical staff was able to determine that the she had an extreme level of Thallium in her system.
Thallium is a heavy metal that was used as a rat poison and ant killer until it was banned in the 1960s.
The chemical is so dangerous that it's considered a weapon of mass destruction by the U.S. government and can't be purchased over the counter anywhere in San Diego County.
Detectives believe McInvale had ingested the chemical in her food and drink over the span of months. The DA called Uto's actions premeditated.
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McInvale said that she's sharing her story with the hope that it will empower other women.
"I hope it helps other people, especially women, who might experience similar symptoms and are questioing themselves about what might be going on with them to keep digging further," she said.
McInvale, a special needs teacher, said the physical limitations she had to live with while sick, some of which were still with her at the beginning of this year, helped draw her closer to some of her students.
"It's given me a different perspective on what some of my students go through, especially having some of the physical limitations I had at the begining of the school year. It's given me a different perspective on how to handle that and how to handle some of the frustrations coming from that, and some of them that might have difficult situations at home or outside of school, wherever it might be. It's definitely helped me relate to them a bit better," she said.
McInvale's mother said she felt betrayed by Uto.
"Very betrayed, because you would think that when someone comes and asks for your daughter's hand in marriage it's someone who is going to love, protect her and be safe the rest of her life," she said.
According to an affidavit, Uto's wife began feeling sick in September of 2017 and eventually got so sick that she lost all of her hair and could barely move her limbs.
Uto and McInvale had one child together.
