Husband of Woman Killed by Christmas Cake Allegedly Spiked with Arsenic Says His 'Better Half Is Gone’

Mar. 15, 2025

Maida Berenice Flores da Silva.Photo:Jam Press; Getty Images/iStockphoto

Jam Press; Getty Images/iStockphoto

The husband of one of thethree women who diedafter eating a homemade Christmas cake believed to have been laced with arsenic is speaking out.

“My better half is gone,” Moraes told local Brazilian outletO Globo,per a translation. “I have to rebuild everything again. Sleeping is difficult. I didn’t want to take sleeping pills, but I think I have to. At night, there’s a hole [in my heart] that remains.”

Maida Berenice Flores da Silva.Jam Press

Jam Press

He showed the outlet around his home — still filled with Christmas decorations — which was where his 58-year-old wife and two of her other family members Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, and Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65, ingested the allegedly lethal cake before their deaths.

Three others, including Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, who is thought to have baked the cake, and a 10-year-old boy, also fell ill, perO Globo. The boy was discharged from the hospital on Friday, Jan. 3, but Zeli remains in the ICU in stable condition, per the outlet.

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“[My sister] said, ‘Oh, it could be arsenic,’ ” Moraes said,per a translation of the outlet. “And in the meantime, I think the police chief called me because he wanted to know where the rest of the cake was… I said, ‘The cake is there intact,’ I didn’t throw it away because I knew it [could be] something serious.”

Brazilian police officials confirmed Moraes’ suspicions during a press conference on Monday, Jan. 6, perCBS News, when they shared that tests showed high concentrations of arsenic in the victim’s bodies and revealed that the source of the poison was in the flour used to bake the cake.

Brazilian police official Marcos Veloso also noted that family members detected a “spicy” and “unpleasant” taste when eating the cake, reported the outlet.

The deaths of Moraes’ wife and the two other women have also prompted police to reopen an investigation into the food poisoning death of Zeli’s late husband, Paolo Luiz. His death wasn’t initially investigated because it was considered natural,O Globopreviously reported.

source: people.com