Detectives investigating a Christmas cake food poisoning that left three members of the same family dead began looking into the daughter-in-law of one of the victims after a row at a funeral last month.
Deise Moura was arrested yesterday and held by police at the home she shares with her husband Diego in the southern Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul.
Brazil’s Ministry of Justice confirmed to MailOnline today that an arrest warrant had been issued for Deise ‘on suspicion of committing triple homicide, with a futile motive and using poison, and three attempted homicides, with a double aggravation.’
The ministry’s statement added that ‘the suspect will have a custody hearing on Monday afternoon.’
Deise’s mother-in-law Zeli Dos Anjos made the traditional festive treat which killed three members of her family at a Christmas party at Torres near Porto Alegre in southern Brazil on December 23.
Mother-of-one Zeli is still in hospital fighting for her life, while her two sisters Maida da Silva, 58, and Neuza Dos Anjos, 65, both died along with Neuza’s daughter Tatiana Dos Santos, 43.
They lost their lives within hours of tucking into the cake, and traces of deadly arsenic were found in their bodies, authorities later revealed.
At the victims’ funeral in December, Deise is said to have placed a ‘set of rosary beads and a rose’ in the hands of the Maida and Tatiana as they lay at the cemetery in their caskets.
It prompted an extraordinary outburst from one furious relative who a source told MaiOnline shouted: ‘Why are you here? You didn’t like any of them. Everyone knows.’
The source added: ‘Diego and Deise kept themselves apart from the rest of the family the last few months. They didn’t really participate much. There was tension.’
Deise Moura (pictured) was held by police at the home she shares with husband
Zeli dos Anjos (pictured) prepared the traditional ‘Bolo de Natal’ festive treat for a family afternoon coffee
Pictured: The Christmas cake that was consumed by guests on December 23
Tatiana’s 10-year-old son Matheus, Zeli’s great nephew, was treated in hospital and only released on Friday, while Maida’s husband Jefferson was also treated but Neuza’s husband Joao did not eat any cake and was unaffected.
Police are set to expand on what they believe lies behind the horror poisoning, with reports in Brazil pointing to the suspect and Zeli having quarrelled in the past in a dispute said to be linked to what subsequently occurred.
It comes after MailOnline revealed that Zeli’s first husband Paulo Luis, 68, died after eating a banana that had been contaminated, with officials set to exhume his body from its final resting place next Thursday as part of their probe.
The dramatic development of Deise’s arrest was shared exclusively with MailOnline by Torres police chief Marcus Vinicius Veloso who said the mother of one had been arrested at her home in Nova Santa Rita late on Sunday.
He said: ‘The woman was arrested for triple homicide and a triple attempted homicide.
‘She was taken initially to a police station at Canoas, then to Torres police station and is now in the women’s jail in the city, at this moment we cannot say anything else.’
It was at Paulo and Zeli’s seaside property that she made the cake on December 23, which she took to Maida’s apartment for the party, and at the house police have seized ingredients including dried fruit and flour, as well as pesticides.
Last week police said they are ‘not aware of any disputes within the family’ but are keeping an open mind while waiting for results from lab tests which are due back any day and provisional reports revealed arsenic in the blood of the victims.
Deise was taken initially to a police station at Canoas, then to Torres police station and is now in the women’s jail in the city
The woman was arrested for triple homicide and a triple attempted homicide
The mother of one had been arrested at her home in Nova Santa Rita late on Sunday
Investigative sources confirmed Paulo’s body would be exhumed next Thursday for further analysis as none were taken after doctors at Torres hospital ruled he had died from food poisoning.
Family members have told MailOnline that he and Zeli suddenly fell ill after eating some mashed bananas they had grown from a plant in their garden, and which may have been contaminated after floods swept through the region in May.
A the time Zeli was also taken to hospital but recovered while Paulo died within hours of being admitted.
The group of seven at the Christmas party complained the cake she baked tasted ‘bitter and peppery’ within minutes all were vomiting and a fleet of ambulances was called to take them to hospital.
10 year old Matheus Marques da Silva who survived eating the poisoned cake with Father Leonir Alves at the hospital in Torres, Brazil
Several members of the family died after eating the cake
Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjo, 65, was rushed to hospital in critical condition before dying the following day
Maida, a retired teacher, was the first to die on Christmas Eve, Neuza passed away a few hours later, followed by her daughter Tatiana.
Zeli’s ten-year-old great nephew Matheus, Tatiana’s son, was also taken ill and spent a week in intensive care before being moved onto a paediatric unit on Friday night from the Senhora dos Navegantes hospital in Torres.
Paulo’s brother Joao – married to Neuza – did not eat any cake but Maida’s husband Jefferson had a few mouthfuls and was also taken ill but did not require a stay in hospital.
Just days ago, Jefferson’s sister Isabel Moraes, 54, exclusively told MailOnline that she thought someone with a ‘grudge’ had been responsible for targeting the family describing the tragedy as ‘strange’.
When contacted by MailOnline to ask for her reaction to the arrest she said: ‘The whole family is shocked. We just don’t know what to say, someone who is so close to us, we never imagined it.’