THE woman accused of killing three relatives with a Christmas cake she poisoned with arsenic has been found dead in prison.
Deise Moura dos Anjos, 42, was found in her cell at a women’s prison in Guaiba, near the city of Porto Alegre, southern Brazil, this morning.
Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos baked a cake that it is believed Deise had poisoned[/caption]
Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, was one of the three who died[/caption]
The Christmas cake thought to have been spiked with arsenic[/caption]
Cops said they believe it was suicide.
Deise was taken into prison last month on suspicion of three murders and three attempted murders.
She always insisted she was innocent, despite police branding her a “serial killer” after her arrest.
Local cops had said that the evidence they had against her was “robust.”
Her mother-in-law, Zeli, baked the cake eaten by the relatives who fell ill – and Deise was suspected of having contaminated it with arsenic-laced flour.
The dessert had been baked at Zeli’s home before it was brought to a Christmas gathering in Torres on December 23.
Zeli, 61, was rushed to hospital but survived.
Zeli’s sister Maida Bernice Flores da Silva, 58, another sibling called Neuza Denize Silva Dos Anjos, 65 and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana Silvia Dos Santos, 43, all died within hours of eating the cake.
The horrifying case rocked Brazil over Christmas, and Deise was arrested on suspicion of murder after a “whitish liquid” was found at Zeli’s house.
In a shock twist, arsenic was also laster discovered in the body of Paulo Luiz Dos Anjos, Zeli’s husband, who died in September.
