Three women at a Christmas gathering have died after eating a festive cake.
Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, and Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, died after Christmas dessert on December 23.
Meanwhile, Maida’s sister, Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjo, 65, was rushed to hospital in critical condition before also dying on Christmas Eve.
Photos of the cake, which was reportedly baked by Maida’s sister Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, who is also in hospital, show it to be a Bolo de Natal – a Brazilian Christmas cake, the Mirror reports.
Three other family members also felt unwell after the dessert, including a 10-year-old boy – who remains in stable condition.
According to the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes de Torres hospital, Tatiana and Maida both died of cardiac arrest.
Agent Marcos Vinicius Veloso, who is leading the case, said there are no records of inheritance disputes or arguments between family members.
This horror occurred during a family gathering around the holidays, where seven people gathered to enjoy the cake at Zeli’s home in the city of Torres, southern Brazil.
Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, pictured, died after eating Christmas cake on December 23
Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, photo, also after eating the Christmas cake during the family celebration on December 23
Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjo, 65, photo, was rushed to hospital in critical condition before also dying the next day
The Christmas cake, pictured, was eaten by the three women before they died
The medical cause of death for Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos and Maida Berenice Flores da Silva was cardiac arrest while Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjo, was ‘shock after food poisoning’, Globo reports.
It is believed that Zeli ate two slices of cake and was the first to be taken to hospital after falling seriously ill, where she remains in stable condition.
A Christmas cake is a rich cake that is traditionally served without any decorations or topped only with candied fruit.
It is often confused with the Portuguese King Cake, a yeast-sweet cake.
The Brazilian recipe uses cane sugar and has a glaze over the candied fruits.
What are the ingredients?
The ingredients for this cake are butter, eggs, brown sugar, orange juice or milk, grater, port wine, flour, baking powder, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, black raisins and exotic candied fruit cut into small cubes.
Source: saborbrasil.it
Once she is released from the hospital, she will reportedly be questioned further.
Neighbors in her home will also be questioned by police.
A friend of one of the deceased people told a local resident news channel, it was a traditional cake that the family made every year.
Police conducted an investigation into the food eaten by the family and other items in the home, and many of them were no longer available.
A police statement to the 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 house. “A bottle was found, a medicine, that should have contained capsules and there were no capsules in it – there was a white liquid and this white liquid will also be examined.”
This comes after a woman was accused of killing her in-laws last year after allegedly poisoning her relatives with wild mushrooms in Australia.
In July 2023, five family members gathered for a quiet meal in a small town deep in rural Australia.
A day later, all four guests became ill. Within a week, three would be dead, the fourth would be fighting for his life and the 48-year-old woman who cooked the lunch was questioned by police as she claimed she had deliberately poisoned her relatives with wild mushrooms.
Still, Erin Patterson, who suffered no ill effects from the meal, insists she loves her family and had no idea the mushrooms she served were death caps – the most poisonous mushrooms in the world.
The horror poisoning took place in the city of Torres in the state of Rio Grande do Sul on the southern coast of Brazil
Erin Patterson hosted a meal that caused all four of her guests to become ill and three to die
Gail and Don Patterson died after eating the mushrooms. Mrs. Patterson was previously married to their son Simon
Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson (both pictured) became seriously ill after eating wild mushrooms. Mrs Wilkinson died on Friday while her husband remained in hospital in a critical condition
Outside her home where the fatal lunch took place, she said: “I didn’t do anything. I loved them and I am devastated that they are gone.”
Police seized a food dehydrator from the home that is believed to have been used to prepare the mushrooms.
The highly unusual case has gripped the country, baffled police and left a tight-knit community desperate for answers.
Patterson, 48, is said to have invited her ex-partner Simon Patterson to her home for a meal on July 29 with his parents Gail and Tom Patterson, 70, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian, 68.
Simon was supposed to come, but he couldn’t come ‘at the last minute’. Police said the couple had parted ‘amicably’, suggesting the lunch would not have been unusual.
Simon, who lived with his parents for a year after their divorce before moving, previously spent 21 days in intensive care after developing ‘severe intestinal problems’ in May 2022. It is unclear exactly when he divorced his wife.
The premises where the fatal lunch took place in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region
Mushrooms seen at the family home in Leongatha in the Gippsland region of Victoria
The Pattersons’ two children also attended the luncheon, but ate different meals than the adults and did not experience any illness. They have reportedly been placed under surveillance.
All four guests became ill after eating the meal. It is not clear which dish was served, but it contained hand-picked mushrooms.
Police said the victims’ symptoms were consistent with those caused by Death Cap mushrooms, the world’s most dangerous fungi that grow wild in Victoria.
The four went to hospital the next day as their condition worsened. The two sisters, aged 70 and 66, died on Friday. Don, 70, died Saturday evening.
Ian, 68, remains in a critical condition in hospital and is believed to be awaiting a liver transplant.
Detectives say they are unsure if Mrs. Patterson ate the same food as her guests.
They noted that she had separated from her husband – the Pattersons’ son – but said it had been an “amicable” separation.
“At this time the deaths are unexplained,” said Detective Dean Thomas. “It could be very innocent, but we just don’t know.”