22-04-2025
Girl, 13, second child to die in woman's poisoned Easter egg plot to extract revenge on ex-husband's new lover
A 13-year-old girl has died just five days after her younger brother, 7, died from a poisoned Easter egg - delivered 'with love' by a woman allegedly seeking revenge on her ex-husband's new lover.
Evelyn Silva passed away Monday at Brazil 's Imperatriz Municipal Hospital, where she had been hospitalized since last Wednesday.
The medical facility said Silva's death was caused by a vascular shock that was linked to the failure of multiple organs.
'Unfortunately, the clinical condition showed serious and rapid deterioration without responding to treatment,' Imperatriz Municipal Hospital said in a statement.
Silva, her brother, Luis Silva, and their mother, Miriam Lira, 36, each took a bite from the holiday treat after it was dropped off by a courier at their home in Imperatriz, a city in the northeaster state of Maranhão.
The eggs were placed in a plastic tray accompanied by a note in Portuguese that read, 'With love, to Miriam Lira. Happy Easter!!'
Luis was unresponsive after eating the candy and was administered CPR by his father, Rafael Silva, before he was rushed to Imperatriz Municipal Hospital.
He went into cardiac arrest and was revived and died at 4am last Thursday.
Lira remains under observation at the same hospital and is in a stable condition. She has responded well to medication and is scheduled to be released within the next three days.
Authorities responded quick and were able to arrest the suspect, Jordélia Pereira, while stepping off a bus Thursday in the city of Santa Ines.
She told the Maranhão Civil Police that she had purchased the chocolate but denied lacing them with poison.
She was married to Rafael and was not happy that the relationship was ended in a divorce, according to the Maranhão Civil Police.
'The evidence suggests that the crime was motivated by revenge, by jealousy, given that the author's ex-husband is the current partner or boyfriend of the victim, who was poisoned along with her two children,' said Maranhão's Department of Security Secretary, Maurício Martins said, as quoted by Brazilian news outlet G1.
Pereira traveled from Santa Inés to Imperatriz and booked a hotel room last Wednesday.
She then visited a chocolate shop, where she was captured on camera wearing a wig to disguise her identity to pay for the treat.
'We can say, with what we have gathered so far, that we have enough elements to point to the authorship of this person who was arrested,' Maranhão Civil Police chief Manoel Almeida said.
'Now we will clarify the details. What poison it was, the type, that the experts will indicate, so that we can strengthen our investigation and present it to the Judiciary.'
Luis' aunt, Naiza Santos, told the outlet that he initially complained to his mother that he was feeling 'weak' but she did not take him seriously.
'She said she thought it was a joke and didn't take it seriously,' Santos said. 'But then she looked at him and saw that he was already fainting. That's when she ran to her mother's house asking for help.'
Santos thought Luis was choking and tried to save his life by placing her finger down his throat before he threw up a yellow discharge.
Santos revealed that Lira received a call from an unknown woman after the Easter treats were delivered.
'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.
