Daughter-in-Law of Baker Whose Christmas Cake Killed 3 Arrested on Murder Charges: Reports

The daughter-in-law of a woman who prepared a Christmas cake that is believed to have killed three people and left three others hospitalized over the holidays, has reportedly been taken into custody.

On Sunday, Jan. 5, police arrested a woman identified only as “Deise” on suspicion of triple homicide and triple attempted homicide, according to local outlets including O Globo and GZH citing police.

She is reportedly the daughter-in-law of Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, who is thought to have prepared a homemade Brazilian Christmas cake called Bolo de Natal on Monday, Dec. 23., that caused the deaths of Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, Maida Berenice Flores da Silva, 58, and Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65.

Deise has been taken to the Torres Police Station, around 125 miles northeast of Porto Alegre, and is now being held at the Torres State Women’s Prison, reported O Globo. She will appear in court on Monday, Jan. 6.

As previously reported by PEOPLE, Zeli, who prepared the cake with her sister, was among those who fell ill, along with a 10-year-old boy. The identity of a third victim who was hospitalized has not been revealed.

The boy was discharged from the hospital on Friday, Jan. 3, but Zeli remains in the ICU in stable condition, per O Globo.

The Polícia Civil do Estado do Rio Grande do Su didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE.

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Police are investigating whether arsenic was present in the victims’ blood, according to O Globo.

Police officer Marcos Vinícius Veloso said of the cake, “As soon as the 10-year-old boy ate it and also complained about the taste, [Zeli] kind of put her hand on top of the cake, [and said] ‘and now no one will eat it anymore’. And people started to feel sick at that moment,” per the translated article.

According to the World Health Organization (WHO), arsenic “is naturally present at high levels in the groundwater of several countries,” but “is highly toxic in its inorganic form.”

As previously reported by PEOPLE, the three Christmas cake deaths prompted police to reopen an investigation into the death of Zeli’s late husband, Paolo Luiz.

His death from food poisoning in September wasn’t investigated because it was considered natural, O Globo previously stated.

“As we became aware of this fact today, we opened a police investigation and we are going to exhume this man’s body to check whether there was also poisoning,” Veloso said, per the Dec. 24 article.