Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #2

[ch_13]

If she really did let others pick their plates I’m on board with the gravy idea. Especially if she made a show of letting them pick their plates first. Easy to skip the gravy but make a big deal about “oh no you go first, I’ll just take what’s left” and then let others put the gravy on and then chuck the gravy or wash it down the drain when dinner is over. Maybe they used more gravy than she expected and was hoping just to make them sick, or her concentrations ended up off.
IMOO

Gravy is certainly a possibility. But if she really did use the dehydrator to turn the death caps into powder, she would have a very strong toxin that she could use anywhere.

She could have sprinkled it on top of the victims' dishes, and probably no one would have noticed. Or for that matter, she could have mixed it into their drinks. If it was a strongly flavored beverage (e.g. cola, beer, coffee) they would have never even tasted anything.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Lone survivor of beef wellington lunch holds key to what happened

The lone survivor of a deadly lunch that claimed the lives of three people, including his wife, could hold the key to what really happened.

www.dailymail.co.uk

A hospital insider told Daily Mail Australia on Monday that Mr Wilkinson had not been transported to The Alfred - recognised as the go-to hospital for Victoria's most critically ill patients - for one specific reason that likely saved his life.

'The Austin was not the natural hospital to go to. From Leongatha the closest hospital is Monash Medical Centre - that's where they normally go. They've basically gone to the hospital the farthest away they could,' the source said.

'The main intensive care unit, and you need the best, you go to The Alfred or Royal Melbourne. They haven't done that either. The state's poison centre is at the Austin, so that's why he's gone there. That says they're more interested in dealing with the mushrooms than the intensive care part of it.'

Mr Wilkinson is expected to need an urgent liver transplant and likely also suffered major damage to his kidneys.

'I suspect he's going to come out of this because if they thought he was that unwell and they just needed the best intensive care, I reckon he'd be at The Alfred. He'll probably get a transplant. There's a chance he's already had one, but no-one will tell you that because it could identify the donor,' the source said.

The insider said transplant organs are not generally supplied unless they are certain the patient will wake-up.

'You don't want to waste one. You're not going to give one to someone who is odds-on not to make it,' he said.

The source said people don't just 'wake up' from a coma, with some patients slowly gaining consciousness before lapsing back into it.

'It takes a couple of days and quite often someone wakes up and then they crash and they have to quickly put them under again and it can take two or three times before their body kicks into gear,' he said.

The insider believes Mr Wilkinson is likely still heavily sedated after enduring days on life support machines that effectively kept him alive.

 

[kittythehare]

Where cook bought mushrooms for beef Wellington lunch under spotlight as she provides new statement

Authorities are remaining tight-lipped on the investigation into a suspected mushroom poisoning, after the woman at the centre of the saga gave police a detailed written statement.

www.abc.net.au

Police keeping quiet on suspected Leongatha mushroom poisoning investigation, after cook provides new statement​

Very interesting read.
Suggests the deathcaps, if it was deathcaps, had to have been dried because they are not growing locally at this time of year.

But why did she rehydrate them prior to cooking with them?

So I googled because i had always understood dried mushrooms were fine for beef Wellington.

Some recipes call for it, some do not.

Beef Wellington | Outback Barbecues

An elegant Beef Wellington recipe. Tender beef fillet coated in a rich mushroom duxelles, wrapped in flaky puff pastry, and baked perfectly.

www.outbackbarbecues.com

 

[RickshawFan]

Pot Pie is actually a US phrase.

Other countries just say Pie

Out of @RickshawFan 's geek brain:

Yes, "pot pie" is a US term for meat pie, more or less a stew of some kind with pastry on top.

"Pie" in US is generally fruit or custard or even ice cream. We could have strawberry pie, pecan pie, or banana cream pie. Or....Whoopie Pie, which is frosting between two cakey cookies!

"Pie" in UK would always be meat or fish with a top, but might not have pastry, as in shepherds' pie or fish pie?

"Tart" in UK would be what in the US we generally call "pie", but may include a few other presentations, like "treacle tart"?

Don't even get me started with "mincemeat tarts"..... Mincemeat used to be meat (plus suet?), and still is when used savory, but now is a dried-fruit concoction when used in tarts.

AUS generally has UK usage?

The international linguistic lines are blurring apace. I speak both UK English and American English and they are like different languages, not just accents, (And then there's colonial usage in ex-empire....!), but what vocabulary is now current or understood in various English speaking countries is more of a challenge. Didn't used to be (I knew exactly which vocabulary to use), but is now.

 

[kittythehare]

A lot of reporting has them down as teenagers which should mean between 13 and 19.
Also where is it reported that the guests brought something ?

Was that in ER's latest statement ?

Watch: Crime reporter Chris Vedelago reveals details of Erin Patterson’s statement to police

In her statement to Victoria Police, Erin Patterson claimed she had panicked and dumped a food dehydrator after people began accusing her of intentionally poisoning the meal. She also reveals what she cooked and who ate what.

www.watoday.com.au

It's an interview, you need to actually listen to it, afaik it's at approximately 2mins plus a few seconds...

 

[JBowie]

Mr Wilkinson is expected to need an urgent liver transplant and likely also suffered major damage to his kidneys.

The recent Australian article I paraphrased (post #197) reports that he may not need a liver transplant. Although still quite ill, it seems he may be doing better than expected.

 

[RickshawFan]

Gravy is certainly a possibility. But if she really did use the dehydrator to turn the death caps into powder, she would have a very strong toxin that she could use anywhere.

She could have sprinkled it on top of the victims' dishes, and probably no one would have noticed. Or for that matter, she could have mixed it into their drinks. If it was a strongly flavored beverage (e.g. cola, beer, coffee) they would have never even tasted anything.

She could have turned it into a "salt"? They would then sprinkle this on themselves?

 

[loveplace]

Very interesting read.
Suggests the deathcaps, if it was deathcaps, had to have been dried because they are not growing locally at this time of year.

But why did she rehydrate them prior to cooking with them?

So I googled because i had always understood dried mushrooms were fine for beef Wellington.

Some recipes call for it, some do not.

Beef Wellington | Outback Barbecues

An elegant Beef Wellington recipe. Tender beef fillet coated in a rich mushroom duxelles, wrapped in flaky puff pastry, and baked perfectly.

www.outbackbarbecues.com

Do you have a source for stating that she rehydrated them? This thread moves quickly and I've not tracked that bit very well.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

When it was said she gave a new statement to Police, I assumed she had personally given a statement to them

Now I realise that she sent the new statement to them.

Is that an official statement to police if you do it that way.

Was it a statement sent through her solicitors or one she sent herself, perhaps witnessed by a JP

I have missed a few news items the last couple of days due to an injury.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

It's an interview, you need to actually listen to it, afaik it's at approximately 2mins plus a few seconds...

I have listened to it, but the version I listened to seems to have cut quite a lot out.

 

[kittythehare]

Do you have a source for stating that she rehydrated them? This thread moves quickly and I've not tracked that bit very well.

The source is in the link to which I responded. My reply was discussing what I had just read.

 

[JBowie]

Was it a statement sent through her solicitors or one she sent herself, perhaps witnessed by a JP

IIRC, in one of the numerous articles, it mentioned that the statement was sent to police via her lawyer, which would make sense to me -- after all why hire a dog and bark yourself?

But then again, in this case ...

 

[jepop]

IMO the biz about bringing something may be an interpretation of a statement that may be subject to local/demographic usage. I took it to mean something like "each person selected their own plate from the sideboard and took it to the table". I did not take it to mean "everyone brought a dish as potluck to the event".

Each chose their own plate of the meal cooked by EP according to EP. Seems EP sliced up the wellie and put it on plates - something like that (or others have speculated she could've made mini wellie pies -...), Someone did post earlier that perhaps the guest couples each brought a "plate" to the lunch (a contribution to the meal) which is a tradition/common practice for some in Australia. That hasn't been reported or stated by police but was simply speculated on the thread here. Moo

 

[al66pine]

"Tip" in Australia? Warning: Unduly Long Answer?

New article and statement from Erin:

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/erin-patterson-gives-new-account-of-deadly-meal-that-killed-three-in-suspected-mushroom-poisoning/news-story/f258a1c0bb9756bfa16d58a60e34f058

Highlights:

• ....
• She admits she dumped the food dehydrator off at a local tip (not sure what this is?)....

snipped for focus @ralyla
"Tip" may refer to what we Americans may call a dump, a landfill, or a waste transfer station. I've also seen it used in connection w a LEO or detective finding evidence or a dead body in a "dumpster"* a big metal container in a business parking lot.
Tip is aka by some as a skip or a wheelie bin.

Source: a veteran stream-watcher of Brit, Aussie, & N.Z. TV crime shows.

(Seems even in Australia, usage of tip and dump
depends on the state or territory,

https://www.reddit.com/r/australia/comments/tnf79r

)

______________________________
* "A dumpster is a movable waste container designed to be brought and taken away by a special collection vehicle, or to a bin that a specially designed garbage truck lifts, empties into its hopper, and lowers, on the spot.[1][2] The word is a generic trademark of Dumpster, an American brand name for a specific design. Generic usage of skip, or wheelie bin may be used in other English speaking countries.[3][4]"

Dumpster - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

 

[kittythehare]

Each chose their own plate of the meal cooked by EP according to EP. Seems EP sliced up the wellie and put it on plates - something like that (or others have speculated she could've made mini wellie pies -...), Someone did post earlier that perhaps the guest couples each brought a "plate" to the lunch (a contribution to the meal) which is a tradition/common practice for some in Australia. That hasn't been reported or stated by police but was simply speculated on the thread here. Moo

It was reported too, early this morning, I posted the link. i checked it this afternoon and it was still on it, I checked it just now and it's absent from the most updated report by same journalist, sydney Morning Herald

Watch: Crime reporter Chris Vedelago reveals details of Erin Patterson’s statement to police

In her statement to Victoria Police, Erin Patterson claimed she had panicked and dumped a food dehydrator after people began accusing her of intentionally poisoning the meal. She also reveals what she cooked and who ate what.

www.watoday.com.au

 

[jepop]

Watch: Crime reporter Chris Vedelago reveals details of Erin Patterson’s statement to police

In her statement to Victoria Police, Erin Patterson claimed she had panicked and dumped a food dehydrator after people began accusing her of intentionally poisoning the meal. She also reveals what she cooked and who ate what.

www.watoday.com.au

It's an interview, you need to actually listen to it, afaik it's at approximately 2mins plus a few seconds...

It's behind pay wall for me. Perhaps someone with access can transcribe the quote at about the 2 min mark. It's not in her statement sent to police, or at least not in the written reports concerning her statement.

 

[CityKid]

If her children are only 7 and 5 one would assume they didn't go to the movies by themselves. So was there someone who took the children to the movies? Does anyone know how old are the children?

Year 7 and year 5 in school (so 12-13 and 10-11). But if they went to the cinema it's unlikely they went alone. The mysteries and inconsistencies keep piling up.

 

[al66pine]

Quote: "two nations divided by a common language" ???

Out of @RickshawFan 's geek brain:
Yes, "pot pie" is a US term for meat pie, more or less a stew of some kind with pastry on top.
"Pie" in US is generally fruit or custard or even ice cream. We could have strawberry pie, pecan pie, or banana cream pie. Or....Whoopie Pie, which is frosting between two cakey cookies!...
The international linguistic lines are blurring apace. I speak both UK English and American English and they are like different languages, not just accents,...

snipped for focus @RickshawFan Thanks for this explanation about pot pies, etc.
Now I know what a "Whoopie Pie" is.

Gotta agree w you re English.
* "two nations divided by a common language." George Bernard Shaw was quoted in 1942 as saying, "England and America are two countries separated by the same language."

‘Origins of the Specious’ (Published 2009)

“Winston Churchill gave the folks at Bartlett’s plenty of fodder for their books of Familiar Quotations.”

www.nytimes.com

 

[imstilla.grandma]

In her statement, Erin said she dumped a food dehydrator at a local tip after the disastrous lunch following a conversation about the gadget with her children, where her ex-husband had asked “is that what you used to poison them?”.

She said in the statement she then “panicked” over the thought that she could lose custody of her children, according to the ABC, and rid herself of the processor.

She said she had lied to investigators when she told them she dumped it “a long time ago”.

Erin said her children were not present at the time of the meal, stating they had actually gone to the movies.

They ate the leftovers from the lunch the following night.

Erin said her children did not like mushrooms, so she “scraped” them off.

In her statement, she claimed that she was contacted by the Department of Health asking what could have caused her guests’ violent reactions.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/erin-patterson-gives-new-account-of-deadly-meal-that-killed-three-in-suspected-mushroom-poisoning/news-story/f258a1c0bb9756bfa16d58a60e34f058

 

[kittythehare]

It's behind pay wall for me. Perhaps someone with access can transcribe the quote at about the 2 min mark. It's not in her statement sent to police, or at least not in the written reports concerning her statement.

It's been edited.
here's the tube link

I sub to this, it's not paywalled, they just want you to register