Three family members died after eating Chrismas cake believed to have been poisoned, just months after another relative died in unusual circumstances. Zeli Dos Anjos, 61, prepared a traditional "Bolo de Natal" for a family afternoon coffee gathering in Torres, a town near southern Brazilian town Porto Alegre, a couple of days before Christmas on December 23.
Just a few hours after tucking into the sweet treat, she was hospitalised while her two sisters, Maida Bernice Flores da Silva, 58, and Neuza Denize Silva Dos Anjos, 65 and Neuza's 43-year-old daughter, Tatiana Silvia Dos Santos, were all dead. Ms Dos Anjos is still fighting for her life in hospital nearly two weeks after the incident, while her great nephew Matheus, 10, has been treated and released from hospital. Police have since revealed they found traces of deadly poison arsenic in the family's bodies, and have arrested her daughter-in-law, Deise Moura, partner of Zeli's son Diego Dos Anjoson, on suspicion of murder and attempted murder.
Marcus Vincius Veloso, the Torres police chief, revealed the mum-of-one is now being kept in a women's jail. He said: "The woman was arrested for triple homicide and a triple attempted homicide. She was taken initially to a police station at Canoas, then to Torres police station and is now in the women's jail in the city, at this moment we cannot say anything else.".
The suspected triple homicide comes after Zeli Dos Anjos's husband, Paulo Luis, 68, died from 'food poisoning' caused by eating a contaminated banana several months prior. Investigative sources told MailOnline that police planned to exhume his body on Thursday, with further analysis due to take place.
