Haunting six words woman who made killer Christmas cake said after guests complained it had ‘spicy taste’

The haunting six words that a Brazilian woman said after guests tucked into her poisoned Christmas cake that later killed three people have been revealed. 

The surviving four family members who consumed the tainted desert during the holidays reportedly noticed that it had an ‘unusual’ taste, according to police reports after a homicide investigation was launched. 

The victims, including Zeli dos Anjos, who baked the cake, took several bites and found that it had a ‘spicy’ flavor, as the family gathered for an afternoon coffee on December 23, Rio Grande do Sul Civil Police Chief Marcos Veloso told RBS TV.

Dos Anjos, 60, stopped eating the traditional holiday pastry, known as ‘Bolo do Natal,’ while her loved ones complained about it before they all fell sick.

After multiple guests voiced their concerns at the flavor, the woman reportedly put her hand over the cake, and uttered the words: ‘No one will eat it anymore.’ 

Dos Anjos’s sisters, Neuza dos Anjos, 65, and Maida da Silva, 58, and Neuza’s daughter, Tatiana dos Santos, 43, were taken to Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes de Torres Hospital for treatment.

Dos Santos died the evening of December 23 and da Silva passed away during the early hours of December 24 after they each went into cardiac arrest.

Neuza died the evening of December 24 – police attributed her death to ‘post-food poisoning shock.’ Zeli dos Anjos and Neuza’s 10-year-old grandson, remained hospitalized as of Monday.

Silva’s husband ate the cake and received medical attention, but was later released.

DailyMail.com has reached out to Dos Anjos for comment. A homicide investigation was launched following the mysterious deaths. 

Police Chief Veloso explained that some of dos Anjos’ loved ones were not too fond of trying out the cake – and only did so out of respect.

‘According to some testimonies, there were people who didn’t even want to eat, but so as not to be rude to her [Zeli], who is considered a very affectionate person with her family, they ended up eating,’ Veloso said.

It was only after the 10-year-old boy grumbled about the cake’s taste that dos Anjos decided to intervene.

‘She kind of put her hand on top of the cake, [and said] ‘And now no one will eat it anymore,’ Veloso added. ‘And people started to feel sick at that moment.’

Rio Grande do Sul Civil Police are analyzing traces of the toxic metal arsenic that were found in the victims’ blood.

Veloso said that investigators are also looking into the possibility that bacteria-laden raisins and other spoiled foods used as a cake topping after a power-cut could be linked to the fatal poisonings.

Dos Anjos, who is participating in the investigation, is said to have prepared the cake at a house in the beach resort of Arroio do Sal, a 35-minute drive south of Torres, where her sister Maida owed the apartment where they gathered last week.

The retiree had not visited the residence for a while because she had been living at her main home in Canoas a two-hour drive inland.

Veloso previously told G1 sister news outlet, Globo, that dos Anjos discovered the refrigerator was disconnected due to ‘some sort of power’ outage.

‘When she went into the property there was an unbearable smell. Some of the things in the fridge, perishable foods like meat, were thrown away,’ Veloso said. ‘But other items were re-used. What we’re trying to confirm is that some of those items, like raisins and other crystallized fruit, could have been used in the cake a month later.’

Veloso also said that they will be exhuming the body of dos Antos’ former husband and, who reportedly died from food poisoning September, to determine his cause of death.

Local chemist, Ubiracir Lima, told Metropoles news outlet that there was no way the the expired ingredients that were used to prepare the cake could have turned into arsenic.

The sale of the poison is banned – and is used as a pesticide that is sprayed on crops.

‘There is a limit amount of arsenic for food, which is residual,’ Lima said. 

‘If these limits have been exceeded, we are talking about a deviation in agricultural practices or even an accident during the application of the pesticide.’

He suggested that while the cake was being prepared, a container with arsenic may have been mistaken for one containing a food ingredient, or that it may have been applied on purpose.

‘There may have been a mix-up with an unidentified container, for example. Or a container may have been used to store arsenic and then used to store one of the cake ingredients,’ Lima said.

Zeli’s husband Paulo died from suspected food poisoning in September and now authorities have made an official request to remove his remains from his resting place so they can be examined.

Paulo is buried in the Sao Vincent cemetery in the Porto Alegre suburb of Canoas where his wife’s sisters and her niece were buried on Christmas Day and Boxing Day after their bodies were released by the authorities.

Police have already interviewed 15 members of the family, and they have also searched Zeli’s home in nearby Arroio do Sal and are said to be examining CCTV footage of her buying ingredients at a local supermarket.

It was reported that ‘expired food products including mayonnaise’ had been found at Zeli’s house during police searches.

She and her great nephew are currently in the Nossa Senhora dos Navegantes hospital in Torres, where according to the latest medical bulletin they are said to be ‘clinically stable’.

On Saturday chief Marcus Vinicius Veloso confirmed blood tests had found traces of arsenic in their bodies and the victims.

He added: ‘As we became aware of this fact, we opened an investigation, and we are going to exhume the body (Paulo Luiz) to check for traces of poison.’

A picture released by police showed around a quarter of the cake – fruit filled with white icing and topped with cherries missing – and Zeli told them she had eaten ‘two slices more than the others.’

Of the seven people at the meal, one man did not eat the cake and suffered no ill effects.

Officer Veloso added: ‘With the evidence so far collected, we do not know whether the poisoning was negligent or intentional.

‘So far, I have not been able to find any intentional conduct and we have been told that there was no animosity between the family members.

‘However, other evidence that comes to light may contradict what I think now. This is an investigation that requires great caution.

‘We are working mainly by hearing from all the people who had contact with the family to understand this family life.

‘In short, the statements are that the family lived in harmony. This leads us to believe so far, that there was no malicious conduct.’

He added that survivors had told police the cake had ‘a peppery taste’ and that they had experienced sickness and diarrhoea in the early hours of Christmas Eve.

Hospital official said Tatiana and Maida suffered fatal heart attacks and Neuza died from ‘shock after food poisoning’.

Arsenic is a highly toxic substance, but police said that Zeli was currently ‘not a suspect’ in the current case or in her husband’s death.