Brazilian police have arrested a woman accused of triple murder after several members of her family were poisoned by a speaker Christmas cake with arsenicpolice said Monday.
Three women died and three other relatives fell ill after eating the cake during a family gathering on December 23 in Torres, a small seaside town in southern Brazil.
The police officer in charge of the investigation, Marcos Veloso, told a press conference on Monday that there was “strong evidence” incriminating a member of the family who was arrested.
Her identity was not released by the police, however Brazilian media reported it was the woman's daughter-in-law who prepared the cake. G1 reported the woman had researched arsenic on the internet before the incident, officials confirmed to RBS TV.
Expert analyzes found high levels of arsenic – a naturally occurring and highly toxic element – in the blood of the victims, the leftover cake slices, and the flour used to bake it.
Veloso said that the family members had noticed that the cake had a “spicy” and “unpleasant” taste. The woman who was baking the cake asked them to stop eating, but it was too late.
Six relatives were taken to hospital. Two sisters, aged 58 and 65, as well as the older sister's 43-year-old daughter, died within hours of each other.
The third sister, age 61, who prepared the cake, remains hospitalized in stable condition, according to the latest medical update.
Police said they also found several items of stale food while searching the woman's home, CBS News partner BBC reported.
The husband of one of the dead sisters and a 10-year-old boy – whose mother and grandmother were among those killed – have since been released.
According to the local media, the police requested that the body of the deceased woman who made the cake be exhumed. He died in September from food poisoning, and his death was considered natural at the time by the police, the BBC said.
The director of forensic police in the southern state of Rio Grande do Sul, Marguet Mittman, said that “very high levels of arsenic were found in the three victims. “
“To give an idea, 35 micrograms is enough to cause a person's death. In one of the victims the concentration was 350 times higher,” she said.
Regarding the motive for the fatal cake, Veloso said the family had a “very harmonious” relationship but with long-standing “differences” that could explain the origins of the crime.
Very low levels of inorganic and organic arsenic are found in many food products, according to the National Institutes of Health. The test is normal, because slightly higher levels of either form can cause symptoms such as vomiting, abdominal pain, diarrhea, fatigue and muscle cramps.
Inorganic arsenic is more toxic to humans than the natural form of the mineral arsenic, and the health effects of exposure are more severe, according to the US Food and Drug Administration. The Environmental Protection Agency has designated inorganic arsenic as a carcinogen, or substance that causes cancer.
