Twin sisters Antonia and Manuela were discovered dead after mysterious incidents at their home in Brazil. They were found dead eight days apart, with authorities believing they were poisoned
An evil mum is accused of killing her twin daughters just days apart after baffling prosecutors with their mysterious deaths.
Gisele Beatriz Dias, 42, was arrested after Antonia and her sister Manuela, aged six, were discovered with purple lips and fingers inside their home in Igrejinha, in the Brazilian state of Rio Grande do Sul. According to prosecutors, they are thought to have been poisoned on separate occasions.
Manuela was found alive by her father Michel Persival Pereira, who raced her to hospital. But she sadly never regained consciousness. Michel, 43, also discovered Antonia at the family home just eight days later. She was pronounced dead at the scene.
Recalling the heartbreaking moments he discovered his daughters, he said: “I went out to work, I came back, had a dead daughter. I went out to the supermarket, I came back and had another daughter dead.”
He added: “With Manu I had some hope. I took her on my lap, ran to the hospital, shouted, I yelled, I prayed to God. But not with Antonia. When the paramedic said she was dead, I sat down and stayed there. I had no more strength.” Civil Police Deputy Chief Ivanir Luiz Moschen Caliari said both deaths happened in October while Dias was alone with her daughters.
Prosecutors say a battery of forensic toxicology tests were carried out on the sisters’ bodies to establish just how they died in virtually identical circumstances. Dias is being held in custody and is expected to go on trial accused of double murder next month.
Last month, another mother was jailed after she killed her two children and lived with their decomposed bodies for two weeks. Eliara Paz Nardes, 33, was put behind bars for 64 years by a court in Guarapuava, in the Brazilian state of Parana. She smothered her three-year-old son Joaquim with a pillow and then hanged her daughter Alice, 10, after giving her a sedative.
Neighbours alerted police to a rotting stench coming from the apartment. Police arrested Nardes 15 days after the double murder.
Officers stepped inside and found the children lifeless laid out on a bed. A jury ruled Nardes as guilty on November 5, after judges dismissed the defence claim that he had suffered a breakdown. She was also found guilty of concealing corpses.
Police spokesperson Ana Hass reportedly said: “When we entered the apartment, in her room, we found the children lying down. They looked like they were sleeping in the bed, but they were already dead and in an advanced state of decomposition. She said the boy was killed by suffocation with a pillow and, later, the girl was strangled with a scarf, but we are waiting for a report to confirm this.
“The suspect would have committed the crimes against her own children 14, 15 days ago. She claimed she was very tired and alone, and could no longer afford to raise her children, not just financially but also emotionally. As a result, she said she intended to kill herself, but as the children had no one to count on, according to her, she ended up killing them first.”
