COPS have officially launched a homicide probe into the deaths of three people after they ate Christmas cake that is believed to have been laced with arsenic.
Brazilian cops found a bottle of "mysterious white liquid" in the home of the cake's baker, Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61.
Local media reports the cops upgraded their investigation into the killer cake - in which six people from the same family fell ill - from food poisoning to homicide.
Detectives said right now the case is likely manslaughter - but they also investigating if the toxic cake was an intentional homicide, reports .
Zeli, who baked the cake, fell ill after reportedly eating two slices of the Bolo de Natal traditional cake and remains in hospital in Torres, Brazil.
But her two sisters Maida, 58, and Neuza, 65, along with her niece Tatiana, 43, all died after eating the baked treat on December 23.
Zeli's ten-year-old great nephew is also hospitalised after eating a piece, and another unnamed family member - understood to be Tatiana's husband - was released.
A seventh member of the family at the party did not eat the cake and escaped any sickness.
And cops are planning to exhume the body of Zeli's husband Paulo Luiz - who died months ago from suspected "found poisoning".
Leading investigator Marcos Vinicius Veloso, from Torres Police Station, announced the case has been upgraded to homicide.
He said cops have taken ten statements from other family members about them - but for now, there is "no malicious conduct".
Detectives also raided six properties of people involved in the poisoning on Friday.
And it was at Zeli's home they discovered an unidentified bottle of "whitish liquid".
The liquid has been sent for examination by the Toxicology Information Centre.
The Civil Police said that traces of arsenic had been found in the blood of the victims.
Arsenic is a toxic heavy metal - and can be used in insecticides and rat poison.
Another report states police are probing whether the poison may have been added by mistake, reports .
It is said there are no records of rows or disputes between the family.
But hanging over the case is the police's plane to examine the remains of Zeli's husband Paulo Luiz.
He died suddenly in September after a suspected bout of food poisoning.
But after the cake tragedy, police want to reexamine his death to see if there is a connection.
Zeli has been interviewed by police from her hospital bed - and told the police that she bought many of the ingredients on Monday, December 23.
But cops found many foods eaten by the family at the house were expired.
They have discovered a jar of mayonnaise that had expired a year ago.
There was also a bottle of tablets which was empty, along with the mysterious bottle of white liquid.
Zeli will be questioned again once she has been released from hospital.
The investigation continues.
THE KILLER cake mystery in Brazil has chilling echoes of a similar case in Australia where a family meal turned deadly.
But while cops continue to probe the cake deaths - the so-called "Mushroom Cook" is set to stand trial in April 2025.
Erin Patterson has pleaded not guilty after being accused of serving up a deadly meal to her former in-laws.
She has been charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder.
It is suspected she served them a meal laced with death cap mushrooms.
She fed the beef wellington to her ex-husband's parents Don and Gail Patterson, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian.
All four people fell ill - and only Ian survived, sparking a mystery that gripped the world.
Erin was dubbed "The Mushroom Cook" - and police eventually charged her with murder and attempted murder.
It was revealed she allegedly had attempted to poison her ex-husband, Simon, on three separate occasions between 2021 and 2022.
And it emerged she was an experienced forager who regularly picked her own mushrooms.
Erin has long denied any wrongdoing over the case.
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