Friday, April 18, 2025 - A seven-year-old child has died and two others have been left hospitalised in a serious condition after allegedly eating a poisoned Easter egg.
A 35-year-old woman who sent the Easter egg to her ex-boyfriend's family
has been arrested in the Médio Mearim region of
northern Brazil.
Jordélia Pereira Barbosa was taken away by police on
Thursday, April 17, who accused her of sending the
spiked chocolate to a family in Santa Ines, also in northern
Brazil.
Luís Fernando Rocha Silva died in the early hours of
Thursday morning and his mum Mirian Lira, 32, and sister Evelyn Fernanda, 13,
are still in hospital.
The unsuspecting family were delivered the Easter egg by a motorcycle courier on Wednesday night, April 16. A message from a secret sender was left with the egg, which said: "With love, to Mirian Lira. Happy Easter."
Mirian reportedly also received a mystery call later that night from an
anonymous person who did not respond when the mum-of-two asked who was on the
other end. The mysterious caller asked the mum if she had been sent the Easter
egg.
The mother’s sister, Naiza Santos, said: "The woman on the phone said
'you'll find out who it is'. And she hung up and didn't say
anything."
"When the egg arrived, there was no identification of who had sent
it, just the note and they didn't say who it was from," Santos said.
"She [Miriam] only received the call, the voice was of a woman, asking if
she had received [the Easter egg]. She said, 'Yes I did, who is
it?'.
Santos said that the woman told Lira, "You'll find out who it
is," and hung up the phone without saying anything else.
Her seven-year-old son was the first to start feeling unwell, and he was
rushed to a local hospital, according to Globo. Luís died several hours
after he was admitted and his mum only started showing worrying symptoms while
at the hospital for her son.
Her hands reportedly started to turn purple and she was struggling to
breathe before being admitted to the hospital's intensive care unit.
13-year-old Evelyn quickly followed and was admitted into the emergency
unit with the same symptoms as her mum. The mother and daughter are reportedly
fighting for their lives at the Municipal Hospital of Imperatriz.
Police have launched an investigation into the shocking case and revealed samples of the potentially killer egg were taken away for analysis at the Imperatriz Criminalistics Institute.
Jordelia Barbosa, 36, was on a bus attempting to flee when she was taken
into custody in Santes Inés on Thursday afternoon.
The arrest came less than 24 hours after she allegedly had a tray with the
holiday treats delivered to the family’s home, 239 miles away in the town
Imperatriz.
The Maranhão Civil Police said Barbosa had previously dated Mirian's
former husband and father of her two children, Rafael Silva.
This has not been the first time a potentially poisoned festive treat has
allegedly killed unsuspecting victims. A Christmas cake laced with
arsenic is believed to have killed three family members in Brazil.
Maida Bernice Flores da Silva, 58, Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65 and
Tatiana Silvia dos Santos, 43 all died in December after biting into the
homemade fruitcake. Their relative Deise Moura dos Anjos, 42, was arrested in
January on suspicion of triple murder and triple attempted murder - and was
accused of poisoning the flour used to make the sweet treat.
Deise died in February and it is believed she took her own life in her
prison cell, while in custody. Local reports stated that, according to the
police, Diese left a note in her cell claiming she was innocent and that she
felt depressed.
Another family in Australia faced a lunchtime horror when three
people died after eating a beef Wellington that was also allegedly
poisoned. Erin Patterson has been accused of triple murder after cooking for
her ex-husband's family but she has denied any wrongdoing.
Police believed the unsuspecting Wellington was laced with poisonous
mushrooms. The victims died days after eating the meal.
