Pictured: Woman who prepared ‘poison’ Christmas meal that led to the deaths of her two sisters and niece – with police now set to dig up and examine corpse of her months-dead husband

The woman who baked a ‘poisoned’ Christmas cake that killed her two sisters and a niece just months after her husband also died of food poisoning has been photographed for the first time.

Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, from Torres, Brazil, prepared a traditional Christmas cake for a festive family meal on December 23.

Her sisters Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, and Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjo, 65, and Neuza’s daughter Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, all died after eating the cake.

Three other family members, including Zeli and a 10-year-old boy, felt unwell and were hospitalized.

Zeli’s husband Paolo Luiz reportedly died in September. However, Brazilian police have now opened an investigation into his death and are requesting permission to exhume his body.

Doctors also revealed that blood tests on some victims showed traces of the toxic metal arsenic.

The condition of the 10-year-old boy, believed to be Tatiana’s son, is stable.

Seven members of the family ate the cake at Zeli’s home on the coast of Brazil. Only one person, who is not named, did not eat the cake.

Blood tests by doctors have also revealed arsenic in the blood of some victims, a powerful poison whose symptoms cause nausea, vomiting and diarrhea.

Agent Marcos Vinicius Veloso, who is leading the case, said there are no records of inheritance disputes or arguments between family members.

It is believed that Zeli ate two slices of cake and was the first to be taken to hospital after falling seriously ill, where she remains in stable condition.

She reportedly told police she had purchased some ingredients before the meeting on Monday.

The police cannot yet determine whether the victims were poisoned.

According to Nossa Senhora dos Navegante Hospital, Tatiana and Maida both died of cardiac arrest, while Neuza died of “shock after food poisoning.”

According to the police officer who handled the case, arsenic was found in Neuza’s body, as well as in two other victims who survived.

Neighbors in the area are being questioned by officers.

A friend of one of the deceased people told a local resident news channel, it was a traditional cake that the family made every year.

Police conducted an investigation into the food eaten by the family and other items in the home, and many of them were no longer available.

A police statement to the local network Globo said: ‘We even have information that there was mayonnaise there that had expired a year ago.

‘There were expired products in the house. “A bottle was found, a medicine, that should have contained capsules and there were no capsules in it – there was a white liquid and this white liquid will also be examined.”

This comes after a woman was accused of killing her in-laws last year after allegedly poisoning her relatives with wild mushrooms in Australia.

In July 2023, five family members gathered for a quiet meal in a small town deep in rural Australia.

A day later, all four guests became ill. Within a week, three would be dead, the fourth would be fighting for his life and the 48-year-old woman who cooked the lunch was questioned by police as she claimed she had deliberately poisoned her relatives with wild mushrooms.

Still, Erin Patterson, who suffered no ill effects from the meal, insists she loves her family and had no idea the mushrooms she served were death caps – the most poisonous mushrooms in the world.

Outside her home where the fatal lunch took place, she said: “I didn’t do anything. I loved them and I am devastated that they are gone.”

Police seized a food dehydrator from the home that is believed to have been used to prepare the mushrooms.

The highly unusual case has gripped the country, baffled police and left a tight-knit community desperate for answers.

Patterson, 48, is said to have invited her ex-partner Simon Patterson to her home for a meal on July 29 with his parents Gail and Tom Patterson, 70, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian, 68.

Simon was supposed to come, but he couldn’t come ‘at the last minute’. Police said the couple had parted ‘amicably’, suggesting the lunch would not have been unusual.

Simon, who lived with his parents for a year after their divorce before moving, previously spent 21 days in intensive care after developing ‘severe intestinal problems’ in May 2022. It is unclear exactly when he divorced his wife.

The Pattersons’ two children also attended the luncheon, but ate different meals than the adults and did not experience any illness. They have reportedly been placed under surveillance.

All four guests became ill after eating the meal. It is not clear which dish was served, but it contained hand-picked mushrooms.

Police said the victims’ symptoms were consistent with those caused by Death Cap mushrooms, the world’s most dangerous fungi that grow wild in Victoria.

The four went to hospital the next day as their condition worsened. The two sisters, aged 70 and 66, died on Friday. Don, 70, died Saturday evening.

Ian, 68, remains in a critical condition in hospital and is believed to be awaiting a liver transplant.

Detectives say they are unsure if Mrs. Patterson ate the same food as her guests.

They noted that she had separated from her husband – the Pattersons’ son – but said it had been an “amicable” separation.

“At this time the deaths are unexplained,” said Detective Dean Thomas. “It could be very innocent, but we just don’t know.”