The Brazilian woman accused of killing three relatives with a poisoned Christmas cake has been found dead in her jail cell.
Deise Moura dos Anjos, 42, was found lifeless in her cell at a women’s prison in Guaiba on the outskirts of the southern city of Porto Alegre this morning.
Police chiefs say they are treating the death as a suicide and sources at a regional emergency response service said she appeared to have hanged herself.
Deise was remanded in prison on January 6 on suspicion of three murders and three attempted murders.
Her mother-in-law Zeli dos Anjos had baked the cake eaten by several relatives late on December 23 and later found to have been contaminated with arsenic-laced flour.
The victims, including Zeli, took several bites and found that it had a ‘spicy’ flavor, as the family gathered for coffee, Police Chief Marcos Veloso told RBS TV at the time.
Zeli, 61, was hospitalised but survived.
Her teacher sister Maida Bernice Flores da Silva, 58, sibling Neuza Denize Silva Dos Anjos, 65 and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana Silvia Dos Santos, 43, died within hours of eating the cake.
Tatiana’s 10-year-old son Matheus, Zeli’s great nephew, was also taken into intensive care and spent several days in hospital. Maida’s husband Jefferson needed hospital treatment too.
Deise was protesting her innocence but police branded her an alleged ‘serial killer’ after her arrest.
Speaking exclusively to MailOnline, Isabel Moraes, whose brother Jefferson was married to Maida, spoke of the family’s shock.
She said: ‘We are astonished by the news. We have only just heard. How can this happen?
‘Someone should have been watching her and it’s just reliving the tragedy of what happened to my brother and the rest of the family all over again.
‘She may have avoided justice now but hopefully in the next life she is being punished for all the evil and misery she caused us.
‘What really hurts everyone is that her son will grow up without a mother but if this is the type of woman she was then maybe it’s for the better.’
She was alone in the cell where she was found dead.
Police and prison authorities will now carry out separate investigations into Deise’s jail cell death.
Police in Torres in southern Brazil where the three poison victims died said at a press conference after her detention the evidence they had against her was ‘robust.’
Forensic experts confirmed after Deise’s arrest early last month the cause of the deaths of victims was arsenic poisoning.
Margaret Mittman, Director of the Rio Grande do Sul General Forensic Institute which covers Torres, said: ‘The source of that arsenic poisoning was the cake eaten by the victims and the source of the contamination of the cake was the flour found in Zeli’s house in Arroio do Sol.’
She revealed tests on the victims’ urine and blood samples as well as the contents of their stomachs had revealed ‘fatal levels’ of arsenic up to 350 times higher than those which would be regarded as ‘naturally-occurring.’
She added: ‘Extremely high levels of arsenic were found in the tests done on the three people who died.
‘They were such high levels they were considered toxic and lethal.’
Before Deise’s death this morning, Brazilian detectives had said they were confident she would ‘probably not leave prison in her lifetime’ with the evidence they had so far.
Deise’s lawyer Cassyus Pontes, speaking for the first time on behalf of his client shortly after her arrest after then-unconfirmed reports the evidence against her included records of online searches for arsenic she allegedly made from her phone, had said: ‘Everything’s all very preliminary.
‘There are still questions to be answered. What is the causal link between the poison and Deise?
‘There is no explanation of how the flour ended up in Zeli’s house, or where or how it was acquired.’
Confirming Deise’s death in a statement today, regional police said: ‘We can confirm that during the morning roll call at the Guaíba State Women’s Penitentiary, inmate Deise Moura dos Anjos was found without vital signs.
‘The staff immediately gave her first aid and called the Emergency Medical Assistance Service, which, on arriving at the scene, confirmed her death.
‘Deise was alone in her cell. The circumstances will be investigated by the Civil Police and the General Forensics Institute.’
Local police chief Marcus Vinicius Muniz Veloso spoke after her arrest to describe Deise as the only person who had upset the ‘harmonious’ family relationship that existed between the poison victims.
He said: ‘The family relationship was harmonious but there were disagreements caused by only one person and that person was investigated and we were able to build up evidence pointing to her committing three murders and three attempted murders.
‘I can tell you those differences I’m talking about date back 20 years. They were very minor. The family told us about those disagreements.’
Forensic tests on Deise’s father-in-law in January after he was exhumed confirmed he had traces of arsenic inside his body.
Forensic experts had exhumed Paulo’s body from the Sao Vincente cemetery near Porto Alegre as part of the probe which they believe was fuelled by Moura’s long running feud with her in-laws.
Family members suspected poisoning at the time but his wife refused to believe it, insisting the banana tree the fruit came from must have been contaminated following floods in the area.
The exhumation went ahead after investigators probing the Christmas cake deaths found the treat had been laced with arsenic.
Credit: Daily Mail
