Husband of cake killer, accused of triple poison murder, asked for divorce 24 hrs before she was found dead in jail cell
THE husband of the woman accused of killing three relatives with a poisoned Christmas cake told her he wanted a divorce 24 hours before she was found dead in her cell.
Deise Moura dos Anjos’s partner, Diego, is said to have sent the message through his lawyer, who visited the jail in Guaiba, near the city of Porto Alegre, southern Brazil.
Then this morning Deise, 42, was found lifeless by prison guards during roll call after what cops say was suicide.
The suspected killer showed “behavioural changes” after being hit by the divorce news and left a note claiming to be innocent, according to local media.
Fernando Sodre, head of the Rio Grande do Sul state police leading a probe into the inmate’s death, said: “She was in a cell on her own because she was a remand prisoner and to avoid any type of risk from other inmates.
He told a Brazilian news programme: “She left a note which we’re still working out the details of at the scene of her death.
“It was like an outburst, saying she was innocent, saying she was someone who was suffering, who was depressed.”
Deise was locked up last month on suspicion of three murders and three attempted murders via a poisoned Christmas cake.
She always maintained her innocence, despite police branding her a “serial killer” after her arrest.
Local cops had said that the evidence they had that she poisoned the deadly was “robust.”
Her mother-in-law, Zeli, baked the cake eaten by the relatives who fell ill – and it’s thought Deise contaminated it with arsenic-laced flour.
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.
Police said in a statement this morning: “‘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.”
Police and prison authorities will carry out separate investigations into her jail-cell death.
The chilling case rocked Brazil over Christmas, with Deise arrested on suspicion of murder after a “whitish liquid” was found at Zeli’s house.
Margaret Mittman, a forensic investigations director from 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 said that tests of the victims’ urine and blood samples revealed “fatal levels” of arsenic – up to 350 times the natural level.
In a shocking twist, arsenic was also later discovered in the body of Paulo Luiz Dos Anjos, Zeli’s husband, who died in September.
RECIPE FOR DISASTER
The family horror began when the group tucked into a cake Zeli had baked – as she did every Christmas time.
The cake had an odd “spicy” and “peppery” flavour, according to surviving relatives, but this didn’t put them off.
Seven people ate the cake in total, and they all felt ill soon afterwards, with some of them collapsing.
Jefferson Luiz Morales, 60, survived the deadly bake and told Brazilian news channel G1 it was no more than “three or four minutes” until people began feeling ill.
Paramedics rushed to the apartment but three of the seven were too sick to be saved.
In the wake of the ordeal, a suspicious family friend had raised the alarm about a rumbling family feud, telling cops that three days before the incident Deise threatened the family in a heated argument.
Police opened a murder investigation and seized Deise’s phone, where they found searches for “poison for the heart”, “arsenic poison”, and “poison that kills humans.”
Local police chief Marcus Vinicius Muniz Veloso described Deise as the only person who could have upset the “harmonious” family dynamic between the victims after her arrest.
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.”
After Deise’s arrest, suspicion began to mount about the death of her father-in-law, Paulo Luiz Dos Anjos, Zeli’s husband, who died in September of assumed food poisoning.
Cops requested that his body be exhumed and a post-mortem found traces of arsenic in his bloodstream.
After his death ,Deise had reportedly pushed for the family to have his body cremated, but they refused.