Police investigating the deaths of three women from the same family who'd eaten a homemade Christmas cake alleged to have been poisoned have found a mysterious white liquid. The substance was discovered in a bottle in the home of Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, who made the cake as per tradition for her family two days before Christmas. Shortly after eating the cake, her sisters Maida, 57, and Neuza, 65, as well as Neuza's daughter Tatiana, 43, died and traces of the toxic metal arsenic were since found in their bodies.
Officers in Torres, Brazil, where the tragedies happened, said the bottle was retrieved from Zeli's house. It should contain, they say, medication in the form of capsules but instead a white liquid was detected. "We even have information that there was mayonnaise there that had expired a year ago. There were expired products in the residence. A bottle was found, a medicine, which should have had capsules inside it and there were no capsules - there was a white liquid and this white liquid will also be examined," the force statement reads. The liquid has been sent for examination by the Toxicology Information Centre.
Six people from the same family, including Zeli herself, fell ill after eating some of the cake. Zeli's ten-year-old great nephew is also in hospital having tucked into the bake. Both he and Zeli are in stable conditions. Police have not arrested anyone in connection with the deaths. It is thought officers will talk to Zeli when she is well enough to go home from hospital.
