A woman in Brazil has been arrested on charges of triple homicide after several family members were poisoned by a Christmas cake laced with arsenic.
During a family gathering on December 23 in Torres, a small coastal town in southern Brazil, three women died and three other relatives became ill after consuming the cake.
Marcos Veloso, the police official overseeing the investigation, stated at a press conference that there is “strong evidence” against the arrested family member.
While her identity has not been disclosed by the authorities, Brazilian media reports indicate she is the daughter-in-law of the woman who baked the cake.
According to Mr. Veloso, the family noticed a “spicy” and “off-putting” taste in the cake.
The woman who baked the cake advised them to stop eating it, but by then it was too late.
Six relatives were taken to the hospital, but tragically, two sisters aged 58 and 65, along with the 43-year-old daughter of the eldest sister, passed away within hours of one another.
The third sister, 61, who made the cake, is still hospitalized but is reported to be in stable condition.
Meanwhile, the husband of one of the deceased sisters and a ten-year-old boy, whose mother and grandmother were killed, have been released from the hospital.
Marguet Mittman, the forensic police director for the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, revealed that “very high concentrations of arsenic were detected in the three victims.”
“To give context, 35 micrograms are sufficient to cause death in a person.
In one of the victims, the concentration was 350 times higher,” she stated.
Regarding the motive for the fatal cake, Mr. Veloso noted that the family had a “very harmonious” relationship but also long-standing “differences” that might provide insight into the crime’s origins.
The police have additionally requested the exhumation of the body of the late husband of the cake’s baker, whose death last September was classified as “food poisoning” and had not been thoroughly investigated.
