According to multiple local media reports, the husband and mother of a Brazilian pilates teacher have been charged with her death.
Larissa Rodrigues, 37, was found dead in her Ribeirão Preto apartment in the Brazilian state of São Paulo on March 22, according to O Correio Brazilense.
On May 6, Rodrigues’ husband, Luíz Antônio Garnica, 38, a doctor, and his mother, Elizabete Arrabaça, 67, were arrested on suspicion of qualified homicide, according to G1 and the Civil Police. G1 reported that Rodrigues recently discovered Garnica had an extramarital affair, citing investigators.
According to one of G1’s translated posts, local police chief Fernando Bravo accused Rodrigues of telling friends that she “felt sick every time her mother-in-law visited her.” According to the outlet, Arrabaca is believed to have seen Rodrigues alive for the last time.
“This indicates that she was gradually poisoned, which supports all of the information we received, namely that she became ill during the week following her mother-in-law’s visit. “This is an indication that, for us, she was gradually poisoned,” Bravo told the publication.
According to UOL, a toxicology report “concluded the cause of death was poisoning after finding the substance popularly known as ‘chumbinho’ in the victim’s body.”
“Chumbinho is a pesticide, but it is not sold over the counter in Brazil for domestic use,” toxicologist Daniel Junqueira Dorta, professor in the USP Chemistry Department, told G1.
“It is restricted and difficult to access. It causes a cholinergic crisis [loss of motor function], which, depending on the extent and intensity of the crisis, can result in a variety of outcomes, including the individual’s death,” he added, according to the outlet.
According to G1, the toxicology report revealed traces of lead in Rodrigues’ system. According to UOL, Arrabaça attempted to purchase lead 15 days before her daughter-in-law’s death and allegedly called a friend who owns a farm to inquire whether she possessed the substance.
According to police officer Bravo, Garnica tried to remove evidence by cleaning their apartment after discovering his wife in rigor mortis.
“His involvement was very obvious to us,” Bravo told the outlet.
Garnica had allegedly been having an affair, and police discovered his lover at the apartment while conducting a search warrant, according to the outlet. According to UOL, the pair went to the movies together the day before Rodrigues died.
Arrabaça denied involvement in the murder case during a brief interview with reporters on her way to a custody hearing on Wednesday, May 7, G1 reported. Garnica’s lawyer, Julio Mossin, denied all charges against his client in an emailed statement to PEOPLE, saying, “There is no evidence that he poisoned his wife or helped anyone else do so.”
In an interview with TV Globo-affiliated EPTV, Rodrigues’ longtime friend, Maísa Ramos, stated that Rodrigues’ marriage was not working out, but she could not leave. So much so that when we last spoke, she said, ‘I can not leave.’… She stated in the message we exchanged that it was due to fear, but she did not specify what kind of fear,” according to O Correio Brazilense.
In addition to the Rodrigues murder case, the Civil Police have requested the exhumation of Garnica’s sister’s body, who died in February, according to G1.
PEOPLE contacted the Civil Police and Court of Justice of São Paulo for more information, but they did not respond immediately.