A homicide investigation has been launched into the death of three people after they ate Christmas cake ‘laced with arsenic’.
Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, baked the cake which led to six members of her same family falling ill, with three dying. Police in Brazil have since revealed a ‘mysterious white liquid’ has been found in the baker’s home.
The Mirror reports that the case is likely manslaughter, as told by police, but cops are investigating if the toxic cake was an intentional homicide. Zeli, who baked the Bolo de Natal traditional cake, also consumed two slices and fell ill. She currently remains in hospital in Torres, Brazil.
But her two sisters Maida, 58, and Neuza, 65, along with her niece Tatiana, 43, all died. Zeli’s 10-year-old great nephew was also hospitalised after eating a piece of the cake, and another unnamed family member — believed to be Tatiana’s husband — has been released.
A seventh member of the family at the party did not consume any of the cake and escaped sickness. Police are also planning to exhume the body of Zeli’s husband, Paulo Luiz, who died in September from suspected food poisoning.
Marcos Vinicius Veloso, who is the leading investigator, announced that the case had been upgraded to homicide. He said that police had taken 10 statements from other family members, but for now, there is “no malicious conduct”, reports The Sun. The properties of those involved in the poisoning have also been raided. It was in Zeli’s home that they discovered an unidentified bottle of ‘whitish liquid’. The liquid has since been sent for examination by the Toxicology Information Centre.
Traces of arsenic — a toxic heavy metal usually used in insecticides and rat poison — were found in the blood of all three victims. Another report states that police are looking into whether the poison may have been added by mistake.
Local reports suggest that the family were happy and that there were no records of rows or disputes. Zeli has been interviewed by police from her hospital bed, where she shared that she had bought many of the ingredients for the cake on Monday, December 23.
Despite this, police found many foods eaten by the family at the house were expired, including a jar of mayonnaise that was a year out-of-date. Police also found a bottle of tablets which was empty, and a mysterious bottle of white liquid. Zeli will be further questioned, once she has been released from hospital.
According to the Hospital Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes de Torres, Tatiana and Maida both died from cardiac arrest, while Neuza reportedly died due to ‘shock after food poisoning’.
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