A murder investigation has been launched in Brazil after tests discovered that a New Year’s Day meal in which a young uncle and his nephew and niece died was poisoned with rat poison, just days after a Christmas cake poisoned will kill three members of another family.
One-year-old Igno Davi da Silva lost his fight for life on Thursday, a day after his uncle Manoel, 18, died in an ambulance on the way to hospital after eating fish on January 1.
Tragically, a third victim, Igno’s three-year-old sister Lauane, died in the early hours of this morning, according to local media reports.
The children’s mother, Francisca María, and another of her children, aged four, remain in the hospital in Parnaiba, in the state of Piaui, in northeastern Brazil.
Tests had ruled out the presence of poison in the donated fish the family had eaten, but had shown that the leftover rice they had consumed contained a pesticide used to kill rats and other rodents, according to Brazilian weekly news program Fantastico.
Police chief Abimael Silva told the programme: ‘Someone put the substance in the rice on the first day.
‘We understand that there was an intention to put this substance in their food and we are going to initiate an investigation for homicide, ruling out natural or accidental death.’
Police sources said they have not ruled out the possibility that a family member was responsible.
However, Maria dos Aflitos da Silva, mother of the tragic Manoel and grandmother of the two young people who are still in the hospital, said she believed that someone with criminal intentions broke into the family home and deliberately poisoned the food they were eating.
One-year-old Igno Davi da Silva lost his fight for life on Thursday, a day after the family ate rice flour and fish.
Three-year-old Lauane da Silva died early Monday morning in a hospital in Teresina, Brazil.
Manoel da Silva, 18, died in an ambulance on the way to hospital after eating fish for dinner on January 1.
Police reportedly said tests showed that leftover rice the family had consumed contained a pesticide used to kill rats and other rodents.
Police in Brazil investigate a new family food poisoning that has left two members of another family dead
It is disturbing that the latest food poisoning tragedy is the second to affect the family: Francisca María lost two older children in just two months last year.
Eight-year-old Ulisses Gabriel da Silva died in November after almost three months in hospital. His brother Joao Miguel da Silva, seven years old, died on September 12.
A neighbor named Lucelia Maria da Conceicao Silva, 52, was accused of giving nuts laced with insecticide for allegedly taking fruit from a tree in her backyard and charged with double homicide. He is currently believed to be in prison as part of his preventive custody arrangements.
Detectives are not linking last year’s crimes to the current criminal investigation at this stage.
News of the latest twist in the case came as detectives nearly 2,500 miles south of the city of Torres revealed that a woman had been detained on suspicion of triple murder and attempted murder following a horror alleged Christmas cake poisoning. over there.
Agents have not officially named her, but the local press has widely identified her as Deise Moura, the daughter-in-law of Zeli dos Anjos who prepared the traditional festive delicacy.
Zeli’s two sisters died as did her niece and the 61-year-old woman is still in hospital fighting for her life. His 10-year-old great-nephew was also treated at the hospital.
Deise Moura was arrested yesterday and held by police at the home she shares with her husband Diego in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Eight-year-old Ulisses Gabriel da Silva lost his fight for life in November after almost three months in hospital. His seven-year-old brother Joao Miguel da Silva (above) had died on September 12.
Her mother-in-law Zeli Dos Anjos prepared the traditional holiday gift that killed three members of her family at a Christmas party in Torres, near Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, on December 23.
Zeli, a mother of one, is still in hospital fighting for her life, while her two sisters Maida da Silva, 58, and Neuza Dos Anjos, 65, died along with Neuza’s daughter Tatiana Dos Santos. 43 years old.
They lost their lives within hours of eating the cake and traces of deadly arsenic were found in their bodies, authorities later revealed.
The arrest is believed to have been sanctioned by police chiefs after tests carried out on the cake confirmed “high levels” of arsenic.
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice today confirmed to MailOnline that an arrest warrant was issued for Deise ‘on suspicion of having committed a triple homicide, with futile motive and use of poison, and three attempted homicides, with double aggravation’.
The ministry statement added that “the suspect will have a custody hearing on Monday afternoon.”