The holidays should be a time spent celebrating with family and friends. A Brazilian family did just that while enjoying a homemade Christmas cake called bolo de Natal. However, three people are now dead after eating the Christmas cake — and an investigation into the baker’s husband’s death months earlier was launched.
In late December 2024, three family members died and three more were hospitalized after consuming the bolo de Natal. The husband of one of the bakers, Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, died from food poisoning earlier in the year. Now, police are looking more closely into his death.
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On December 23, two members of the family died. Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, and Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, suffered cardiac arrests after eating bolo de Natal, People reported. The next day, Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65, died from “shock after poisoning,” The Independent reported.
But that’s not all. Three more members of the same family were hospitalized after eating the cake. They included Zeli, a 10-year-old boy, and a third unnamed victim. Zeli reportedly made the cake with her sister, per People.
Medical staff did blood tests on some of the family members, the Brazilian television channel Globo reported, per The Independent. The tests were done on one of the people who died and two of the surviving family members. Reportedly, the tests found trace amounts of the toxic heavy metal arsenic.
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Zeli’s husband reportedly died of food poisoning in September 2024. At the time, police thought his death was natural, Globo reported. In the wake of the family’s recent deaths, however, police have requested the exhumation of the husband’s body for an investigation, The Independent reported.
Since the deaths and hospitalizations, police have examined food eaten by the family and other items in the home, the Daily Mail reported. Police found a number of expired food items.
“We even have information that there was mayonnaise there that had expired a year ago,” a police statement to Globo said.
“There were expired products in the residence,” the statement continued. “A bottle was found, a medicine, which should have had capsules inside it and there were no capsules — there was a white liquid and this white liquid will also be examined.”
