A seven-year-old child has died and two others have been left hospitalised in a serious condition after allegedly eating a poisoned Easter egg. A 35-year-old woman – who is the ex-girlfriend of one of the victim’s current partner – has been arrested in the Médio Mearim region of northern Brazil.
Jordélia Pereira Barbosa was taken away by police on Thursday who accused her of sending the spiked chocolate to a family in Santa Ines, also in northern Brazil. Luís Fernando Rocha Silva died in the early hours of Thursday morning and his mum Mirian Lira, 32, and sister Evelyn Fernanda, 13, are still in hospital.
The unsuspecting family were delivered the Easter egg by a motorcycle courier on Wednesday night. A message from a secret sender was left with the egg, which said: “With love, to Mirian Lira. Happy Easter.”
Mirian reportedly also received a mystery call from an anonymous person – who did not respond when the mum-of-two asked who was on the other end – later that night, asking if she had been sent the Easter egg. The mothers sister, Naiza, said: “The woman on the phone said ‘you’ll find out who it is’. And she hung up and didn’t say anything.”
Her seven-year-old son was the first to start feeling unwell, and he was rushed to a local hospital, according to Globo. Luís died several hours after he was admitted and his mum only started showing worrying symptoms while at the hospital for her son.
Her hands reportedly started to turn purple and she was struggling to breathe – before being desperately admitted to the hospital’s intensive care unit. 13-year-old Evelyn quickly followed and was admitted into the emergency unit with the same symptoms as her mum. The mother and daughter are reportedly fighting for their lives at the Municipal Hospital of Imperatriz.
Police have launched an investigation into the shocking case and revealed samples of the potentially killer egg were rushed away for analysis at the Imperatriz Criminalistics Institute.
The Maranhão Civil Police said Barbosa had previously dated Mirian’s former husband and father of her two children, Rafael Silva.
This has not been the first time a potentially poisoned festive treat has allegedly killed unsuspecting victims. A Christmas cake laced with arsenic is believed to have killed three family members in Brazil.
Maida Bernice Flores da Silva, 58, Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65 and Tatiana Silvia dos Santos, 43 all died in December after biting into the homemade fruitcake. Their relative Deise Moura dos Anjos, 42, was arrested in January on suspicion of triple murder and triple attempted murder – and was accused of poisoning the flour used to make the sweet treat.
Deise died in February and it is believed she took her own life in her prison cell, while in custody. Local reports stated that, according to the police, Diese left a note in her cell claiming she was innocent and that she felt depressed.
Another family in Australia faced a lunchtime horror when three people died after eating a beef Wellington that was also allegedly poisoned. Erin Patterson has been accused of triple murder after cooking for her ex-husband’s family but she has denied any wrongdoing.
Police believed the unsuspecting Wellington was laced with poisonous mushrooms. The victims died days after eating the meal.
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