After eating a Christmas cake laced with arsenic in Brazil last month, three women tragically died. Jefferson Luiz Moraes, the husband of one of the victims, expressed the immense pain of losing his wife, Maida Bernice Flores da Silva, 58. Describing the family gathering where the fatal incident occurred as akin to a “horror movie,” he shared how this heartbreaking loss has created a deep void in his life.

Moraes, aged 60, continues to grapple with the aftermath of the tragedy that unfolded during their holiday celebration in Torres on December 23. Alongside his wife, two other female relatives, Tatiana Denize Silva dos Anjos, 43, and Tatiana’s mother, Neuza Denize Silva dos Anjos, 65, lost their lives to the poisoned Bolo de Natal, a traditional Brazilian Christmas cake.

“My better half is gone. I have to rebuild everything again,” Moraes told local news channel G1 of his wife of 32-years.

“Sleep is difficult. I didn’t want to take sleeping pills, but I think I have to. At night it’s a hole that remains.”

The toxic dessert led to the deaths of Maida and Tatiana, both succumbing to cardiac arrest. Neuza passed away the next day, Christmas Eve, with authorities attributing her demise to shock induced by the poisoning. The untimely loss of these three women has left their loved ones reeling from the devastating aftermath of the tainted holiday treat.

Zeli Terezinha Silva dos Anjos, 61, who unknowingly helped prepare the tainted cake with her daughter-in-law — who was later arrested — was hospitalized along with two other family members.

Jefferson said his family members quickly noticed the cake had a “bad taste” just minutes before they each started vomiting and feeling sick. Within hours, his wife had died, the outlet reported. 

Deise Moura dos Anjos, Zeli’s daughter-in-law, was arrested earlier this month and charged with triple homicide after investigators found copious amounts of arsenic in the victims’ blood – with up to 350 times higher the amount necessary to kill a person found in one of them. 

Traces of arsenic were also found in the cake and the cake’s ingredients, police announced, with the suspect allegedly researching arsenic on the internet before the fatal incident. 

The disturbing discovery prompted officials to exhume the body of Zeli’s deceased husband, who died in September from food poisoning. His death was ruled natural at the time, though tests revealed he ingested arsenic before he perished, the outlet reported. 

Jefferson said the series of devastating events has left him feeling a sense of “terror.”

“But we didn’t know it was going to be so serious yet. I didn’t join the dots of Paulo (the death of Zeli’s husband)” he told the outlet. 

“But later, at Neuza’s wake, my sister started researching there, and she showed me ‘Look, it could be arsenic.’”

Police have said the surviving family members recalled an “unpleasant” and “spicy” hint to the cake.