A mother and daughter have died in Brazil after eating a suspected poisoned birthday cake delivered by a relative who owed them money.
Ana Maria de Jesus, 52, and Larissa de Jesus Castilho, 21, were rushed to the hospital after eating a slice of the cake brought to them by the husband of Ana’s niece Patricia.
Tests conducted after they died have shown the presence of pesticides in their bodies.
Detectives have demanded the arrest and incarceration of Patricia and her partner, named locally only as Leonardo.
After going through their phones, cops discovered his online searches had included one for ‘Heart attack causes convulsions’ and Ana had searched for ‘Intoxication from cleaning product.’
However, a judge has denied the police’s request for reasons that have yet to be made public.
Cops investigating the case have been told Ana Maria, who lived in the Sao Paulo neighbourhood of Ipiranga, regularly lent money to her niece and her partner and a debt could be linked to what subsequently happened.
Leonardo was filmed arriving on his motorbike the day after the family birthday.
Ana Maria, who had missed the celebration because she had a cold, was given a slice of the cake he had dropped off for her. She ate it later that afternoon.
She called her daughter shortly afterwards, saying she felt ill and couldn’t stand up. She was rushed to Sao Paulo’s Heliopolis Hospital, where she was put on a ventilator.
Larissa and a 16-year-old cousin, who had eaten the cake earlier, tucked into the treat again after leaving the hospital.
Sao Paulo’s Secretariat of Public Security, in a statement, confirmed a police homicide unit was probing the deaths.
It said: ‘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.’
Ana Maria de Jesus, 52, is said to have fallen ill after eating the cake. She lost her life in hospital in July
Her daughter, Larissa, also died after consuming the cake. Tests conducted after they died have shown the presence of pesticides in their bodies
Initial results leaked to Brazilian press, along with the tests showing the pesticides, pointed to the incriminating searches on the couple’s phones.
Leonardo explained that he was simply helping a friend, and Patricia, whose Google searches from her phone also included one with the words ‘FBI persuasion manual’, reportedly told cops she doesn’t remember making them.
Police began investigating the deaths at the end of July when Ana Maria died in the hospital. Investigations are still ongoing.
News of the mum and daughter’s death comes after a law student in Brazil, who allegedly tested rat poison on 10 dogs, was accused of killing four people in a five-year killing spree.
Police claim Ana Paula Veloso Fernandes, 36, was helped by her twin sister, Roberta Cristina Veloso Fernandes and friend Michelle Paiva da Silva, 43, the daughter of one of the alleged victims.
The poisonings are said to have occurred between January and May 2025 in Guarulhos and São Paulo in south-eastern Brazil and Duque de Caxias in the state of Rio de Janeiro.
Fernandes’ motives remain unclear. However, police chief Halisson Ideiao said: ‘She takes pleasure in killing. Her motivation doesn’t really matter – she wants to kill.’
She is accused of preparing a poisoned stew to murder a 65-year-old man who was the father of one of her alleged accomplices.
Another victim was a 21-year-old Tunisian man she had been romantically involved with.
The cases are part of a surge in poisoning cases in Brazil in recent times.
A Christmas cake poisoning in December last year in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul, which left three people and three others fighting for their lives, made headlines around the world.
Teacher Maida Bernice Flores da Silva, 58, another sibling called Neuza Denize Silva Dos Anjos, 65 and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana Silvia Dos Santos, 43, died within hours of eating the dessert late on December 23.
Maida’s sister, Zeli dos Anjos, who baked the cake, survived after a long hospital stay. The victims also included a 10-year-old boy. The cake was later found to be contaminated with arsenic-laced flour.
Zeli’s daughter-in-law, Deise Moura dos Anjos, was arrested over the horrific crime but took her own life in prison in February after being remanded in custody.
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