The suspect in the Brazil cake poisoning incident was found dead in a prison cell one day after her husband asked for a divorce.
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According to CNN Brazil, Deise Moura dos Anjos, 42, was in a pre-trial detention facility in the southern Brazilian city of Guaíba on murder charges after being accused of killing three relatives with the tainted cake she gave them during a Christmas celebration. She was arrested in January.
The cake-poisoning suspect was discovered unresponsive in her cell. Although the staff immediately provided first aid and called for help, she was not revived. Local law enforcement stated it was a suspected suicide. Her husband, Diego, had asked for a divorce the day before her death.
As previously reported, Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, and Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65, all unexpectedly died after eating dos Anjos’ cake. The first two women died from cardiac arrest. The third woman died from “shock after poisoning.”
Investigators found large amounts of arsenic in the victims’ blood — up to 350 times the amount necessary to kill a person found in one of them.
Multiple People Were Hospitalized Following the Cake Poisoning Incident
Three additional family members, including a 10-year-old boy, were hospitalized after eating the tainted cake. dos Anjos’ sister Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, was among those hospitalized.
The cake was made in Arroio do Sal and then transported to Torres for the family gathering. Seven family members attended the event.
While looking through Zeli’s home, law enforcement discovered a “white liquid” inside a medicine bottle in the kitchen. There were also expired food products.
“There were expired products in the residence,” law enforcement officials stated at the time. “A bottle was found, a medicine, which should have had capsules inside it, and there were no capsules.”
Officials pointed out that the cake had been baked with flour contaminated with deadly levels of arsenic.
Zeli’s late husband died just a few months before the event from food poisoning. Police are now investigating his death.