A 27-year-old Brazilian woman unfortunately lost her life after experiencing symptoms of poisoning associated with a chocolate candy allegedly received from a fortune-telling woman who had purportedly predicted her imminent death.
Fernanda Silva Valoz da Cruz Pinto became sick on August 3rd, experiencing severe abdomen pains, vomiting, nosebleeds, and excessive salivation. Medics rushed her over to Santa Casa de Misericórdia Hospital, but the doctors could do nothing for her, and she died in the early hours of the next day. According to the initial report provided by her own family, Fernanda had told them that she had received chocolate candy from a supposed fortune teller in the center of Maceió City who had also predicted that she would die very soon. She ate the candy that day, fell ill, and started experiencing the poisoning symptoms.
Due to Fernanda’s family having told doctors that she also suffered from stomach ulcers and gastritis, which have similar symptoms to food poisoning, her death was listed as “yet to be clarified.” However, after the autopsy findings showed that the 27-year-old woman had died from poisoning with toxic substances, the family’s story about the fortune teller’s candy didn’t seem implausible anymore.
Soon after the toxicology report came out last week, the Homicide and Personal Protection Police Station (DHPP) began a probe into this bizarre case. Still, the chances of finding new clues are slim due to the long time gap between Fernanda Silva Valoz da Cruz Pinto’s death and the investigation.
“The unusual story in itself brings some difficulty to the investigation,” the DHPP’s Lucimério Campos told journalists. “The time interval of almost two months also presents a challenge, as the homicide investigation begins at the scene of the crime, and we were not there. However, we will make every effort to compensate for this loss of information and provide a solution to the case.”
Police sources attributed information on Fernanda’s death to the cooperation of her family as they had buried her two months ago, right after her death, without requesting toxicology tests, there wouldn’t even be an investigation.
The story about the fortune teller who gave the victim the chocolate candy and predicted her imminent death remains a theory at this point, and police sources have acknowledged that identifying the culprit, if there is one, will be very difficult after so long since the woman’s death. After two months, CCTV surveillance systems in the area where they allegedly met no longer have the recorded footage and finding eyewitnesses will prove to be very difficult. Following the extensive media coverage around the case, the culprit may have gone into hiding somewhere else.