Tragedy struck a Brazilian family after they shared a traditional Christmas cake found to be laced with arsenic, leaving three family members dead and sending three others to the hospital.
The Bolo de Natal cake—a homemade cake often prepared for Christmas in Brazil—was determined to be laced with arsenic following the Dec. 23 deaths of Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58 and Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65, the Independent reported. The women succumbed to poisoning, according to hospital reports, with two suffering cardiac arrests and another dying of "shock after poisoning."
Three other family members, including 61-year-old Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos—who helped prepare the cake—and a 10-year-old boy, remain hospitalized. The condition of the third victim has not been disclosed.
Initial lab tests detected arsenic in the victims' bodies, prompting authorities to investigate the incident as a potential poisoning.
The case has also reopened the investigation into the previous death of Zeli's husband, Paolo Luiz, who died of suspected food poisoning in September. His death was initially deemed natural and went uninvestigated. "We are reopening the case and will exhume his body to determine if poisoning was involved," Detective Marcos Vinícius Velho said.
A family friend described the poisoned dessert as a longstanding tradition. "It was a traditional family cake, one they always made together," they told RBS TV.
Authorities are continuing to investigate how the arsenic entered the cake and whether the poisoning was deliberate.
