Woman bakes ‘poisoned’ Christmas cake, two sisters, niece die in Brazil

The woman who baked a ‘poisoned’ Christmas cake that killed her two sisters and a niece has been properly identified and a probe has been launched into the death of her husband by food poisoning three months ago.

Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, from Torres, Brazil, prepared a traditional Christmas cake for a festive family meal on December 23.

However, her sisters Maida, 58, and Neuza, 65, and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana, 43 all died shortly after eating the cake.

Three other family members, including Zeli herself and a 10-year-old boy, fell ill and were also hospitalised.

Now, it has emerged that traces of the toxic metal arsenic were present in the bodies of the three women killed.

Police have also announced plans to exhume the body of Zeli’s husband Paolo Luiz who reportedly died in September of food poisoning.

Zeli is believed to have spoken to the police who have yet to determine whether the victims were purposely poisoned.

The 10-year-old boy, who is believed to be Tatiana’s son, is thought to be in a stable condition.

Seven members of the family were eating the cake in Zeli’s home on the coast of Brazil. Only one person, who has not been named, did not eat the cake.

The cake, which according to a family friend was baked every year, was reportedly made by Maida’s other sister, Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, pictured, who is in hospital

Blood tests carried out by the doctors have also revealed arsenic in the blood of some of the victims, a potent poison the symptoms of which cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhoea.

A Christmas cake is a rich cake traditionally served without any decoration or just garnished with candied fruits.

It is often mistaken for the Portuguese King Cake, a yeast sweet cake.

The Brazilian recipe uses cane sugar and has icing over the top with the candied fruits.

The ingredients for this cake are butter, eggs, brown sugar, orange juice or milk, range zest, Port wine, flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, black raisins and exotic candied fruit cut into small cubes.

Officer Marcos Vinicius Veloso, who is leading the case, said there are no records of inheritance disputes or rows between family members.

It is believed Zeli ate two cake slices and was the first one to be taken to hospital after becoming severely ill – where she remains in stable condition.

She has reportedly told police she bought some of the ingredients on Monday before the gathering.

Police have not yet determined whether the victims were poisoned.

According to the Hospital Nossa Senhora dos Navegante, Tatiana and Maida both died from cardiac arrest, while, Neuza died from ‘shock after food poisoning’.

According to the police officer on the case, arsenic was found in Neuza’s body as well as two other victims who survived.

Neighbours in the area will be interviewed by officers.

A friend of one of the people who died told a local news channel it was a traditional cake that the family made every year.

Police have carried out an examination of the food eaten by the family and other items in the house, and many of them were expired.

A police statement to local network, Globo, said: ‘We even have information that there was mayonnaise there that had expired a year ago.

‘There were expired products in the residence. A bottle was found, a medicine, which should have had capsules inside it and there were no capsules – there was a white liquid and this white liquid will also be examined.’

This comes after last year a woman was accused of killing her in-laws after she allegedly poisoned her relatives with wild mushrooms in Australia.

The horror poisoning happened in the city of Torres in the state of Rio Grande do Sul in the south coast of Brazil