A Brazilian woman tragically lost her life after eating poisoned chocolates she believed were a birthday present from her ex, but had in fact been sent by his jealous lover.

On May 20th, Lindaci Viegas Batista de Carvalho, celebrated her 54th birthday. It was also the day she died. The woman received a box of chocolates and a bouquet of flowers from an anonymous source, and after calling a number of friends and relatives to find out who had sent her the gift, she contacted her ex-boyfriend Mário Sérgio Gratital, who confirmed that he had indeed sent her flowers and chocolates.

Reassured, the woman ate some chocolates and then went to a salon to get her hair done. According to eyewitnesses, soon after leaving the salon, Lindaci fell on the sidewalk and started having seizures.

Military police arrived on the scene and rushed her to Rio de Janeiro’s Hospital do Andaraí, but she was pronounced dead on arrival.

Lindaci’s autopsy results showed that she had been poisoned, and when investigators analyzed the box of chocolates she had opened on her birthday, they found the source of the poison. As the woman had told her friends and family that they had been sent by her ex, Mário Sérgio Gratital was arrested as the prime suspect for her murder. Only the man didn’t seem to know anything about any poisoning, and when investigators started digging deeper, they started to suspect that Gratital had been framed.

According to Abilio Gratital, Mário’s brother, Lindaci had dated his sibling for four years before their relationship fell apart, but the two remained friends. Then, at one point, Mario started dating a certain Susane Martins da Silva, a jealous woman that he himself described as a “passionate and out-of-control woman”. Their first relationship ended when Gratital was imprisoned for a number of years.

Susane and Mario resumed their relationship after his release, but in November of 2022, the woman’s reportedly lost her mind after seeing texts between her boyfriend and Lindaci Viegas Batista. Knowing about their past, Susane allegedly contacted Lindaci, sending her hateful messages and even death threats. During the ongoing investigation, police learned that Susane da Silva had tried to find out Lindaci’s address several times.

Earlier this year, Mario ended his relationship with Susane, and she was convinced that it was all because of Lindaci. The man had made it very clear that he no longer wanted to date her, let alone marry her, and she was going to get her revenge on the woman who she was sure had driven a wedge between her an Mario. And she was going to punish him for leaving her as well…

According to Brazilian news website Globo, Susane Martins da Silva managed to find out Lndaci’s address, and on her 54th birthday she sent her a box of poisoned chocolates and a bouquet of flowers, framing Mário as the sender.

She would have gotten away with it too, if not for the delivery man, who confessed that it had been Susanne’s son who gave him the tainted present for Lindaci Viegas Batista de Carvalho. Susane herself was apprehended while trying to contact the delivery man to convince him not to reveal the conversation with her son. She is now facing charges of qualified homicide.