Deise Moura dos Anjos was found dead in her cell after she was arrested over the poisoning killings of three relatives and left a note claiming she was innocent of the crimes
The husband of the Brazilian woman accused of killing three relatives with a poisoned Christmas cake had told her he wanted a divorce 24 hours before she was found dead in her prison cell, it emerged today.
Deise Moura dos Anjos’ partner Diego is said to have sent a lawyer to the jail in Guaiba near the southern Brazilian city of Porto Alegre to tell her yesterday he wanted out of their marriage. The 42-year-old suffered “behavioural changes” after being given the news, according to local media reports.
Police also confirmed Deise, whose death is being treated as a suicide, left a note in her cell claiming she was innocent of the horror crimes she was accused of and admitting to being depressed before hanging herself. She was found dead this morning during roll call.
Fernando Sodre, head of the Rio Grande do Sul state police which is leading a probe into Deise’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.” It’s believed she took her own life in her cell “during the night or in the early hours of the morning” and was “discovered dead during he morning roll call”.
He said he was unable to comment on the divorce reports because investigators had not had time to probe all the circumstances surrounding Deise’s death properly. Asked whether the triple murder suspect had left a suicide note, Mr Sodre told a Brazilian TV programme during an interview: “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 remanded in prison on January 6 on suspicion of three murders and three attempted murders. Her mother-in-law Zeli dos Anjos had baked the cake eaten by several relatives late on December 23 and later found to have been contaminated with arsenic-laced flour. Zeli, 61, was hospitalised but survived.
Her teacher 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, died within hours of eating the cake late on December 23. Tatiana’s 10-year-old son Matheus, Zeli’s great nephew, was also taken into intensive care and spent several days in hospital. Maida’s husband Jefferson needed hospital treatment too. Deise was protesting her innocence but police branded her an alleged ‘serial killer’ after her arrest.
Police in Torres in southern Brazil where the three poison victims died said at a press conference after her detention the evidence they had against her was “robust.” Forensic experts confirmed after Deise’s arrest the cause of the deaths of victims was arsenic poisoning and said the source of the contamination was flour found in Zeli’s house in Arroio do Sol near Torres.
Deise was facing three murder charges and three attempted murder charges. Police were also investigating her over the death last September of her father-in-law Paulo Luis dos Anjos, 68. The retired bus driver died last September after eating bananas mixed with powdered milk Deise had taken him.
Forensic experts had exhumed Paulo’s body from the Sao Vincente cemetery near Porto Alegre as part of the probe which they believe was fuelled by Deise’s long running feud with her in-laws. Family members suspected poisoning at the time but Zeli refused to believe it, insisting the banana tree the fruit came from must have been contaminated following floods in the area.
The exhumation went ahead after investigators probing the Christmas cake deaths found the treat had been laced with arsenic. The Christmas cake poisoning made headlines around the world.
Before Deise’s death this morning, Brazilian detectives had said they were confident she would “probably not leave prison in her lifetime” with the evidence they had so far.
Deise’s lawyer Cassyus Pontes, speaking shortly after her arrest after then-unconfirmed reports the evidence against her included records of online searches for arsenic she allegedly made from her phone, had said: “Everything’s all very preliminary. There are still questions to be answered. What is the causal link between the poison and Deise?
“There is no explanation of how the flour ended up in Zeli’s house, or where or how it was acquired. These are minimal questions to indicate the authorship of the facts. Instead, all we have are the accounts of some family members and a supposed extraction of data from a mobile phone.”
Confirming Deise’s death in a statement today, regional police said: “‘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 chief Mr Sodre said the poisoning investigation would continue despite Deise’s death, even though she can never be brought to justice following her prison suicide, and indicated he expected detectives would wrap up their probe by the end of next week.
