Arsenic in cake

Woman allegedly poisoned her family with cake

In Brazil, a woman is suspected of poisoning her family with arsenic. The poison was found in a Christmas cake (symbolic image).(Bild: karepa - stock.adobe.com)

A woman in Brazil is suspected of poisoning her family with arsenic. Three people died after eating a Christmas cake at a family gathering. Three others became ill (see video above).

It is not the woman who baked the cake who has now been arrested, but her daughter-in-law. She is suspected of having added the highly toxic arsenic to the flour. According to investigator Marco Veloso, the family members noticed a "spicy" and "unpleasant" taste when they ate the cake. The baker then asked them to leave the cake - but to no avail.

Six family members had to be taken to hospital. Two sisters (aged 58 and 65) and the 43-year-old daughter of the 65-year-old died within a few hours. The third sister (61) is still in hospital, her condition is stable according to doctors. The husband of one of the deceased and a ten-year-old boy, whose mother and grandmother died, have since been discharged from hospital.

Another fatality?
"35 micrograms of arsenic is enough to kill a person. In one of the victims, the concentration was 350 times higher," said Marguet Mittman, head of forensic medicine in the state of Rio Grande do Sul. Investigations also revealed a very high content in the leftover cake and flour.

The police have now also ordered the exhumation of the body of the deceased husband of the suspects. His death in September was attributed to "food poisoning" but was not investigated. The most recent incident occurred on December 23 in the small southern Brazilian town of Torres.

The motive for the crime is still unclear. Veloso said that the family had had long-standing differences.