Police say a 36-year-old law student and mother now sits at the center of a baffling and brutal murder probe that spans two major cities and multiple methods of killing. Authorities have linked Anna Paula Veloa Fernandez to four deaths over five months, and investigators describe a pattern that, if proven, would make her one of the world’s rarer alleged female serial offenders.

Fernandez Confessed To The Crimes

Fernandez, who studied law in São Paulo, remains in custody after detectives say she confessed and provided details of the killings. The allegations are already unsettling in their variety: a stabbing, and multiple suspected poisonings. Police in São Paulo and Rio de Janeiro say they exhumed bodies, traced communications and bank records, and found what they describe as forensic evidence tying Fernandez to at least four victims.

There Are Four Victims

The first death investigators point to dates to January and involves a man identified as Fernandez’s landlord. Authorities say she stabbed him in his apartment, then concealed the scene until the smell of decomposition forced a delayed report. In later cases, the violence looks less impulsive and more calculated. One woman, according to local reporting, died after eating cake that authorities say had been laced with a toxic substance. Another man who ate a traditional feijoada stew reportedly fell ill and died; police allege he was poisoned. A fourth victim, a young Tunisian man Fernandez met through a dating app, reportedly died after drinking a milkshake that investigators suspect contained poison.

Authorities Say She Tried To Frame Someone With A Cake

Chief Inspector Allison Ido, who has spoken to Brazilian outlets, described Fernandez as “cold, unremorseful” and accused her of using the legal training she was receiving to try to cover her tracks. Investigators say she once reported a suspicious cake at her law school — an episode they now view as an early attempt to frame someone else. That report, officials say, eventually helped prompt a deeper look at her activities when connections between multiple unexplained deaths emerged.

She Poisoned People and Animals

Police also report shocking ancillary findings: messages that suggest Fernandez may have been hired for at least one killing, text conversations that link her to co-conspirators, and the discovery of a banned pesticide at her residence — a substance authorities say appears similar to rodenticide. Local reporting says she admitted testing poison on animals to calibrate dosages before using it on humans, a detail that deeply disturbed investigators and prompted animal-cruelty inquiries. Forensic teams exhumed bodies to run toxicology and piece together a chain of evidence that was not apparent at the time of burial. Poisoning cases often leave subtler traces than a stabbing, requiring specialized testing of tissue and bone marrow — a slow, painstaking process that Brazilian officials say they have been pursuing to build a prosecutable case.

There May Be More People Involved

Interviewed experts and investigators quoted in local media framed Fernandez as an organized offender who adapted her methods — moving from violent, bloody attacks to more removed techniques like poison — possibly to avoid detection. Authorities also detained Fernandez’s twin sister, who local outlets say may have advised her, and a handful of other people remain under investigation. Court filings and formal charges remain fluid while prosecutors assemble corrosion-proof evidence. For now, Fernandez faces allegations that, if sustained in court, paint a picture of a person who combined personal relationships, technical savvy and—police say—cold calculation. Brazilian authorities say they will continue to seek witnesses, forensic corroboration and digital trails to confirm whether these deaths form the pattern they now believe them to be.