Police in Brazil have arrested a woman accused of poisoning her family with arsenic-laced cake on Christmas Eve in Torres, Rio Grande do Sul.
The incident resulted in the deaths of three women—sisters Maida and Neuza, and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana—while three others, including a 10-year-old boy, were hospitalized.
The suspect, the daughter-in-law of 60-year-old Zeli dos Anjos who baked the cake, was charged with triple homicide and three attempted homicides.
Police revealed the suspect had longstanding family disputes spanning over two decades, which may have motivated the act.
Investigations confirmed the poison was mixed into the flour used in the cake, with arsenic levels in the victims’ bodies far exceeding toxic limits.
Experts determined the flour contained arsenic concentrations 2,700 times higher than the permitted limit, confirming intentional contamination as the cause of death.
