Video Bolsters Brazil Serial Poisoning Probe, Police Say

Overview

• Security footage published by G1 shows Ana Paula Veloso Fernandes smiling briefly as she is told of neighbor Marcelo Hari Fonseca’s death, a reaction police say reinforced suspicion of her involvement.
• Prosecutors in Guarulhos have charged her with four homicides by suspected poisoning between January and May across São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro, naming Marcelo Fonseca, Maria Aparecida Rodrigues, Neil Corrêa da Silva, and Tunisian national Hayder Mhazres.
• Investigators say her twin, Roberta Cristina Veloso Fernandes, acted alongside her, while Michelle Paiva da Silva, the daughter of Neil, allegedly paid R$ 4,000 for her father’s killing, with WhatsApp messages using the code “TCC” to discuss payment.
• Forensic work continues with three exhumations completed and toxicology results pending; experts suspect a rodenticide known as “chumbinho,” while Mhazres’ body was not exhumed after repatriation to Tunisia.
• The case widened after a July incident in which the suspect allegedly tried to poison classmates with a cake, leading to her July arrest, conversion to preventive detention in September, and ongoing inquiries into possible additional victims.