Investigators are probing whether an Italian father accidentally poisoned his wife and daughter to death with rat poison-laced flour after a Christmas dinner proved fatal.
It comes after Antonella Di Ielsi, 50, and Sara Di Vita, 15, passed away within hours of each other over the weekend at Cardarelli Hospital in Campobasso, southern Italy, days after consuming a festive meal.
Following a dinner in the run up to Christmas, the mother and daughter suffered nausea and abdominal pain, followed by liver and multiple organ failure, resulting in their sudden deaths.
The 55-year-old father, Gianni Di Vita, who ate with the victims throughout the week and also fell ill, has been rushed to hospital.
Investigators initially suspected food poisoning as the cause of death, and have seized clams, mussels, cuttlefish, cod, and mushrooms from the family’s home in Pietracatella – food traditionally eaten around Christmas in the mountainous region of Molise.
However, police are now examining the possibility that the mother and daughter were accidentally poisoned by the contamination of flour with rat poison.
A few weeks ago, a flour mill owned by Mr Di Vita was disinfected for rats, according to Italian newspaper Corriere della Sera.
An autopsy on the deceased, including toxicological tests, scheduled for Wednesday will likely shine a light on the circumstances of their deaths.
Antonella Di Ielsi, 50, pictured with husband Gianni and her daughter Sara (15, in front of the photo), and her other daughter, 18, who wasn’t present at the meal on December 23
Antonella Di Ielsi, 50, died a few hours after her daughter on Sunday morning
Sara Di Vita, 15, passed away on Saturday evening at Cardarelli hospital in Campobasso, southern Italy
According to Italian media, clams, mussels, cuttlefish, cod, and mushrooms were consumed during a dinner party on December 24.
‘These ingredients are widely consumed here in town; they’re part of the traditional Christmas menu,’ a resident said.
Those items were sent to the Molise Zooprophylactic Institute and the Gemelli Polyclinic in Rome, where ‘a series of highly specialised diagnostic investigations have been initiated , including tests on the poisonous Amanita phalloides mushroom,’ said Giovanni Di Santo, director of the Molise regional health authority.
But investigators are primarily focused on meals consumed on December 23 – when the couple’s 18-year-old daughter, who has suffered no symptoms, apparently didn’t eat with the family.
Pasta with tomato sauce was identified as what they ate for lunch, but it remains unclear what was on the menu for dinner – attended only by the couple and their youngest daughter.
Five doctors are under investigation following the discovery that the mother and daughter were each discharged from hospital twice before their deaths over the weekend.
The medics – three working at the Cardarelli Hospital and two on-call doctors – are allegedly accused of various counts of multiple manslaughter, negligent bodily harm, and medical malpractice.
Mrs Di Ielsi and Sara first felt ill on the afternoon of December 25 and visited hospital, before being discharged with simple food poisoning and gastroenteritis.
They returned to hospital the next morning, still ill, before allegedly being sent home again.
On December 27, with worsened symptoms, Sara was admitted to intensive care where she died around 10.30pm. Her mother, also hospitalised that evening, died the following day at 11.00am.
The mother and daughter died in Cardarelli hospital in Campobasso, southern Italy
Mr Di Vita was hospitalised with similar symptoms in intensive care at Cardarelli, before being transferred to Rome’s Spallanzani Hospital.
The couple’s elder daughter has been hospitalised at the Spallanzani Hospital as a precaution.
Mr Di Santo clarified that medical staff at Cardarelli followed the best possible guidelines and practices.
He is quoted in Corriere della Sera as speaking of ‘food poisoning’ without specifying its nature, ‘because it’s possible that something was consumed or inhaled, even environmental. It could be food poisoning, but it could also be chemical poisoning.’
Spallanzani doctors are performing tests on Mr Di Vita to help further the investigation.
Officers aim to understand not only the impact of medical interventions, but what led to ‘such a sudden death for a 15-year-old girl and her mother, clarifying the reasons for such virulence,’ said Campobasso prosecutor Nicola d’Angelo.
‘We last spoke to Sara on the phone on Santo Stefano (St. Stephen’s day, December 26),’ said Giovanna, Donatella and Giuseppe – friends of the young victim since childhood.
‘She thought the heavy treatment they had given her in the hospital would be enough; she absolutely didn’t think her condition could worsen,’ they told La Repubblica.
‘So much so that we had planned some parties with friends in the last few days.
‘Yesterday we were supposed to go to a birthday party together. She said she would get better soon.’
The Di Vita family is well-known in Pietracatella, with the 55-year-old father – an accountant – having previously served as a mayor of the town for two terms.
The community is angry and full of grief. ‘We want to understand what happened at the hospital,’ one person said, seemingly referring to the fact that the mother and daughter were discharged twice before returning to emergency care.
Originally, doctors suspected gastroenteritis, but as their symptoms worsened, medics began considering botulism, listeria, fulminant hepatitis, or ‘chemical poisoning,’ investigators said.
‘The clinical picture had a truly rare evolution that led rapidly to death despite the intensive care we implemented,’ Dr. Vincenzo Cuzzone, head of the intensive care unit at Cardarelli Hospital, told La Repubblica.
‘They began to show symptoms after a meal, but this information is fragmentary.
‘There was liver failure and then a cascade of events, one after the other, with truly unparalleled rapidity that led to multiorgan failure.’
Investigators are inspecting medical records and interviewing people at Cardarelli hospital to find out what happened in the lead up to the mother and daughter’s deaths.
Police continue to recover food samples from the family’s home, including canned goods and fresh produce, to determine which item may have caused the poisoning.
Mayor Antonio Tommasone described the incident as a ‘tragedy that leaves us speechless’.
‘The town is now empty. We’re all at home, we don’t know what to say. I’ve declared a day of mourning for the funeral and canceled all Christmas celebrations,’ he said.
‘Now we hope Gianni recovers,’ some friends of the family said at a local bar.
‘But there’s anger. We want to understand the cause of the poisoning, but above all, whether the doctors could have saved them and why they were sent home multiple times. You can’t die like this.’
