A 52-year-old mother, Ana Maria de Jesus and her daughter, Larissa de Jesus Castilho, have lost their lives shortly after eating a slice of birthday cake delivered by a family member.
They were both rushed to the hospital after falling violently ill.
Tests later revealed pesticides in their bodies, raising suspicions of foul play, Metro UK reports.
Investigators have named Patricia, Ana Maria’s niece, and her partner Leonardo as key suspects after police recovered their phones and found troubling online searches, including “heart attack causes convulsions” and “intoxication from cleaning product.”
Despite these findings, a judge reportedly denied police requests to arrest the pair, with no reason yet made public.
According to authorities, Leonardo was caught on camera delivering the cake to Ana Maria’s home in São Paulo’s Ipiranga district the day after a family birthday gathering.
Ana Maria, who had missed the celebration due to illness, ate the slice and soon after called her daughter, complaining of dizziness and weakness.
She was rushed to Heliopolis Hospital, where she was placed on a ventilator.
Larissa and a 16-year-old cousin, who had also eaten from the same cake, later fell ill as well.While the teenager survived, both Ana Maria and Larissa died days apart.
The São Paulo Secretariat of Public Security confirmed that a homicide unit is handling the case.
“On October 8, search and seizure warrants were executed, resulting in the seizure of cell phones, which were sent for data extraction. The information obtained is still being analysed by investigators,” the statement read.
Police believe the motive may be linked to a financial debt, as Ana Maria was known to have frequently lent money to her niece and Leonardo.
Brazil has recently been shaken by a string of poisoning cases, including a Christmas cake tragedy in Rio Grande do Sul last year that killed three people and hospitalised several others, and a law student’s alleged five-year killing spree involving rat poison.
The investigation into Ana Maria and Larissa’s deaths remains ongoing.
