A SECOND murder probe has hit Brazil in a week as rat poison was found in a New Year's Day meal - killing three members of the same family and leaving six others in hospital. The rat poison rice has so far claimed the lives of one-year-old tot, Igno Davi da Silva, three-year-old Luana da Silva, and their uncle Manoel, 18.
![[Police reportedly said that tests showed leftover rice the family had consumed contained a pesticide used to kill rats and other rodents]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/police-reportedly-said-tests-showed-962021335.png?strip=all&w=446)
The mum of the two children who have passed Francisca Maria remains in intensive care along with her one other child aged four in the north-east Brazilian state of Piaui. Local media Fantastico reported overnight that tests had discounted the presence of poison in donated fish the family had eaten.
![[One-year-old Igno Davi da Silva lost his fight for life on Thursday]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/fresh-horror-second-family-murder-962021337.png?strip=all&w=582)
But it was unveiled that leftover rice they had consumed contained a deadly pesticide used to kill rats and other rodents. Police chief Abimael Silva told the programme: "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.".
![[Manoel Leandro da Silva died of alleged poisoning in Parnaiba, Brazil]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/picture-shows-manoel-leandro-da-962021334.png?strip=all&w=535)
Police sources said they haven’t ruled out the possibility of a relative being responsible. Maria dos Aflitos da Silva, the mum of deceased 18-year-old Manoel, said she believed someone with criminal intent broke into the family home before deliberately poisoning the meal.
The food poisoning is shockingly the second involving the same family in the past year. Francisca Maria lost two older children in the space of just two months last year - eight-year-old Ulisses Gabriel da Silva and his seven-year-old brother Joao Miguel da Silva.
![[The Christmas dessert was allegedly baked with arsenic-laced flour, cops said]](https://www.thesun.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2025/01/image_fe4bde.jpeg?strip=all&w=960)
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