A mum has died after eating chocolate sent to her on her birthday.
Lindaci Viegas Batista de Carvalho from Brazil had received the chocolates from an unknown person along with some flowers as a gift on her birthday.
Ms Carvalho, 54, ate the chocolate and tragically died soon afterwards. Her family believe that the mum was poisoned and police have now opened an investigation into the alleged poisoning.
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Her sister, Lenice Batista, said that she became sick shortly after eating the chocolates. She described that her eyes had been rolling back and her arms were contracting, the Daily Mirror reports.
She was pronounced dead when she arrived at hospital in Rio de Janeiro. Her son had also tried some of the chocolate, but had spat it out saying that it tasted bad.
Batista has also claimed that an expert from the Instituto Medico-Legal, a forensics body, had confirmed that there were traces of rat poison found in her body.
A police investigation is now underway.
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This includes analysing the chocolate for traces of any substances that could have led to Ms Carvalho's death. This should come back with a conclusion within 30 days.
Ms Carvalho's family have said that she had received threats on social media. She had also received a suspicious call last Saturday.
In the call, she was told that there was a delivery for her. She asked for the package to be left at her boyfriend's shop.
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She later took the confectionary to a beauty salon, however, she refused to eat the chocolates until she knew who had sent them to her.
Her ex-husband later claimed that he had sent the gifts to her, so she felt it was okay to eat them. However, he later claimed that he had been joking about having sent them.
Ms Carvalho's sister has since claimed that she doesn't consider her sister's ex to be suspicious in this as the pair had a good relationship together.
Her sister added that police are investigating a former partner of Ms Carvalho's current partner. She told O Globo (translated): "We suspect that an ex of her current partner is the main suspect. We have evidence of her making threats, a picture of her holding a weapon with a threatening message for my sister."
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She added: "She [Carvalho] got messages saying they wanted her head, that she was going to choke on her own blood."
No arrests have been made, and the investigation continues.
Topics: Crime, World News, News
Kit Roberts