Arsenic-laced Christmas cake kill three in Brazil, relative arrested

Brazilian authorities arrested a woman for allegedly poisoning a Christmas cake with arsenic, killing three and hospitalizing three in Rio Grande do Sul. Another New Year's incident in Piauí left three dead from rat poison-laced food. Both cases are under murder investigations.

Brazilian authorities have arrested a woman for allegedly poisoning a Christmas cake with arsenic, resulting in three deaths and three hospitalisations in Torres, Rio Grande do Sul. 

The suspect, identified in local media as Deise, is the daughter-in-law of the cake's baker and has been charged with triple homicide and three counts of attempted homicide.

Police announced on Monday that forensic analysis revealed lethal levels of arsenic in both the victims' bodies and the cake ingredients. 

"These concentrations are so high that it's impossible to consider it a natural contamination," said Marguet Mittmann, director general of the General Institute of Expertise, at a press conference. 

Police official Marcos Veloso confirmed "strong evidence" against the suspect, who had reportedly experienced family conflicts spanning more than two decades.

Sisters Maida da Silva, 58, and Neuza dos Anjos, 65, along with Neuza's 43-year-old daughter Tatiana, died after consuming the cake. Zeli dos Anjos, 60, who baked the cake and is the sister of Maida da Silva and Neuza dos Anjos, remains in intensive care with her 10-year-old great-nephew. Witnesses reported noticing a "spicy" and "unpleasant" flavour in the cake.

"To give an idea, 35 micrograms are enough to cause the death of a person. In one of the victims there was a concentration 350 times higher," Mittmann stated. 

“These concentrations are so high that it’s impossible to consider it a natural contamination,” Mittmann added.

Tests showed the flour used contained arsenic levels 2,700 times above the legal limit. The investigation has led police to reexamine the September death of Zeli's husband, previously attributed to natural food poisoning.

In a separate incident during New Year's celebrations in Parnaíba, Piauí, three family members died after eating a meal containing rat poison. 

Police chief Abimael Silva reported, "Someone put the substance in the rice on the first day. We understand that there was an intention to put this substance in their food, and we're going to start a murder investigation, ruling out natural or accidental death."

The New Year's incident claimed the lives of one-year-old Igno Davi da Silva, his three-year-old sister Lauane, and their uncle Manoel, 18. Their mother, Francisca Maria, and a four-year-old sibling remain hospitalised. 

According to Maria dos Aflitos da Silva, grandmother of the children, an intruder may have contaminated the family's food.

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