Relatives arrested after deaths through Christmas cake poisoning in Brazil

Relatives arrested after deaths through Christmas cake poisoning in Brazil

In Brazil, a arrest was made in the case of a family that was poisoned on Christmas Eve after consuming a cake moved with arsenic. In the incident in the city of Torres, in the south of the state of Rio Grande do Sul, three people died and three more were taken to the hospital.

the main suspect and the circumstances of the incident

At a press conference on Monday, the civil police of Rio Grande Do Sul confirmed that the daughter -in -law is one of the victims the main suspect. According to the investigation, seven people were in the room when the cake was served. One person did not ate the cake, while the other six who did it had to be hospitalized. The three women who were killed are the sisters Maida and Neuza as well as Neuza’s daughter, Tatiana.

background for arrest

The suspect who was arrested on Sunday is the daughter-in-law of Zeli Dos Anjos, the 60-year-old woman, who prepared the cake. According to CNN Brasil, there have been disputes between the suspect and her family for over two decades. She is charged with triple murder and triple attempted killing.

medical knowledge and toxicological analyzes

dos Anjos is currently in the intensive care unit, as is her 10-year-old big nerl. The police found that high amounts of arsenic could be detected in the bodies of the three deceased women, with expert technology analyzes showing high values ​​in their urine and stomach samples. "The arsenic values ​​in these samples are so high that they are classified as poisonous and fatal. That explains the cause of death," said Marguet Mittmann, director of the General Institute for Expertise, a security body that works with the police, during the press conference.

critical dimensions of the arsenic

The victims showed considerable arsenic concentrations: the one with the lowest value still had 80 times the amount allowed in food, while the victim had 350 times with the highest concentration. "These concentrations are so high that they cannot be regarded as natural contamination," added Mittmann.

results of the toxicological examinations

The police also confirmed that the poison in the cake was mixed by the flour used to prepare it, which means that the possibility of food poisoning can be excluded. Analyzes of the samples showed that the largest amount of arsenic that was detected in the flour used was 2,700 times higher than the permitted limit. Experts therefore come to the conclusion that the flour was the source of contamination.

cnn’s Michael Rios and Ju Faddul contributed to this report.