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UC Riverside Student Ordered To Stand Trial For Soliciting Murder Of 2 Ex-Boyfriends

RIVERSIDE (CBSLA.com) — A former UC Riverside honor student was ordered to stand trial Monday on felony charges she solicited the murder of two different ex-boyfriends.

Barbara Wu, 22, was arrested May 23 after allegedly asking her boyfriend, a fellow student, to kill her former boyfriend.

Wu has pleaded not guilty to six felony counts, including solicitation of murder and stalking. She is also charged with vandalism, witness intimidation and making criminal threats.

According to the District Attorney, a second former boyfriend came forward after the charges against Wu were made public. Identified only as John Doe, he reportedly told investigators Wu had also asked him to kill another boyfriend and believed he could be the target of Wu's second plot.

In a preliminary hearing Friday, the John Doe testified Wu asked him to help her hit her ex over the head, tie him up, and torture him until he handed over his ATM card and PIN number.

"He would be tied up and he'd be sitting there, and there were needles where she would slowly poke it into his hands -- his fingertips -- until he finally cracked and gave her the number," he testified.

The couple would then knock him out and kill him, and dispose of the body in Mexico, he said.

The witness reportedly dated Wu from 2009 to 2010, three years before the alleged murder-for-hire plot that originally landed her behind bars.

On Friday, the man who first came forward testified that last spring Wu asked him to break another ex-boyfriend's legs, kick him in the groin, and then kill him and dispose of the body.

Wu was allegedly angry that the former boyfriend had broken up with her by email.

Wu's attorney maintains her ex-boyfriends fabricated the murder-for-hire plots.

She faces up to 15 years in prison if convicted.

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