After three women ate some Christmas cake in Brazil during a holiday gathering, they all fell ill and died. Seven family members attended the get-together, and all but one ate the cake which rendered everyone sick, killing three.
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Holiday Fruit Cake Kills Three Women
The victims were Maida Berenice Flores sa Silva, aged 58, her sister Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjo, aged 65, and Neuza's daughter Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, aged 43. Maida and Tatiana fell severely ill first and died on December 23 after eating the dessert. Meanwhile, Neuza passed away the following day after being hospitalized in critical condition.
The Brazilian Christmas cake, Bolo de Natal, was a type of fruit cake that made three other family members sick as well. One of them was a 10-year-old boy who is luckily now recovering.
Maida baked the cake alongside her sister Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, age 61, who also went to the hospital. Investigations showed that many of the ingredients in Zeli's residence, the party's location, were expired. A police statement even revealed that a mayonnaise bottle in the home "had expired a year ago."
Other than the mayonnaise, the authorities discovered a medicine bottle in the home without any capsules. Instead, it held a white liquid which the police are now analyzing.
So far, the only person that police suspect to be possibly at fault is Zeli. She ate two slices of the cake before feeling ill and going to the hospital. The cops plan to interrogate her after the doctors discharge her from the hospital since Zeli's husband died from food poisoning just three months prior.
With both of these cases now ongoing, Zeli is the main suspect in this tragic incident leaving this Brazilian family grieving this holiday. The officer leading the investigation, Marcos Vinicius Veloso, stated that there are no records of any fights between family members.
While the authorities are still examining what ingredients in the cake could've caused the deaths, they have issued causes of death. Tatiana and Maida died from cardiac arrest, while Neuza passed away from "shock after food poisoning."
More information should come to light as the investigation of this holiday disaster continues. While the Christmas fruit cake could've easily had expired ingredients, the suspicious medicine bottle may lead to more answers.
