When Marcelo Lombardi, 45, complained he was feeling sleepy on a Friday, his family didn’t think much of it.
Lombardi often put in long hours running his family’s 17-year-old real estate business in São Paulo, Brazil, working alongside two of his older sisters. A well-known attorney, he was a beloved figure in Sacomã, the southeastern neighborhood where he had lived for more than 35 years.
Fernanda Lombardi, one of his sisters, recalled their life being “perfect” until that day, September 26. “Earlier in the week, he came home with some groceries, which included a bottle of vodka,” she told CNN. “It was his favorite liquor.”
On Saturday, Marcelo woke up blind. “He told his wife he couldn’t see anything but a big bright light,” Fernanda said. Upon arriving at the hospital, no one could tell the family what was wrong with Marcelo.
“It took them about five hours to tell us that my brother had been poisoned,” Fernanda said. “By then, all of his organs were shutting down. He looked me in the eye and said, ‘I’m not leaving this place.’” Marcelo died the following day.
The family later learned from health officials that the sips of the vodka cocktail he had casually enjoyed at home days before were laced with an invisible killer – industrial methanol.
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