The two children died after eating an Easter egg sent to them by their stepdad’s ex-girlfriend – police in Brazil now believe a banned rat poison had been put in the chocolate
A banned rat poison was used to lace an Easter egg that killed two children after a woman ‘sent it to her ex-partner’s new family’, forensic experts have confirmed.
The new development comes after a teenage girl became the second victim of the Easter egg killer, who is accused of sending poisoned chocolates to her ex’s new family. Evelyn Fernanda Rocha Silva, 13, died of multiple organ failure on April 22 after a five-day fight for life in an intensive care unit in Imperatriz, Brazil. She and her seven-year-old brother Luis Fernando fell ill almost instantly after eating the chocolate mini eggs delivered to their mum, 32-year-old Mirian Lira Silva.
Luis died just hours later on April 16, while the siblings’ seriously ill mother remains in hospital. According to Brazil’s Imperatriz Municipal Hospital, Evelyn’s death was caused by a vascular shock linked to organ failure.
Unfortunately, the clinical condition showed serious and rapid deterioration without responding to treatment,” Imperatriz Municipal Hospital said in a statement. Police believe the killer chocolates were sent by Jordelia Pereira Barbosa, 36, the ex-wife of Mirian’s new boyfriend.
Barbosa was seen in CCTV footage buying the box of luxury mini Easter eggs disguised with sunglasses and a black wig hiding her dyed blonde hair. Investigators say Barbosa then poisoned the chocolates and sent them by courier to Mirian, who unsuspectingly shared them with her children on April 16.
A chilling note sent with the egg read: “With Love To Mirian Lira – Happy Easter”. Following the delivery, Mirian received an anonymous call asking if she had received the package.
Maranhao Civil Police say Barbosa was arrested the next day on a long distance coach heading for her hometown Santa Ines, a city nearly 200 miles away from Imperatiz, where the victims’ family lives. Officers also seized two wigs, receipts, cards, scissors, a saw-edged knife and what police said appeared to be drugs.
Barbosa has confessed to sending the chocolate eggs, but denied adding the poison. Forensic testing, however, has now confirmed that the chocolates were laced with ‘chumbinho’, a banned rodenticide often used illegally in Brazil.
Maranhao Secretary of Public Security Mauricio Martins explained: “The evidence suggests that the crime was motivated by revenge, by jealousy, considering that the perpetrator’s ex-husband is currently the partner or boyfriend of the victim, who was poisoned along with her two children.”
Barbosa remains in custody at the Sao Luis Women’s Rehabilitation Prison Unit.
It follows the high-profile case of a woman accused of fatally poisoning three of her in-laws with an arsenic-laced Christmas cake in December. The mass poisoning unfolded in Torres in southern Brazil on Christmas Eve, when seven members of the same family began feeling unwell after eating the cake. Three died within hours.
Deise Moura dos Anjos was arrested in January, and was found dead the following month during a daily check on inmates at a women’s penitentiary. Authorities said she suffered a “self-inflicted mechanical asphyxiation”.
