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

[gitana1]

Death cap mushrooms contain multiple toxins. I don't think there are people immune to it.
"The death cap contains three main types of toxins: amatoxins, phallotoxins, and virotoxins; it is unknown what function the toxins are meant to serve in nature. In humans, amatoxins prevent the production of DNA, which leads to liver and kidney failure and, if untreated, coma and death. A single mushroom may contain many times over the amount of toxin that would prove fatal; ingesting only a small piece is enough to kill an adult. The toxins cannot be destroyed by boiling, cooking, freezing, or drying the mushrooms. "

Death cap | Description, Mushroom, Poisoning, Symptoms, & Facts

The death cap is a species of poisonous mushroom, the deadliest known to humans. The fungus is responsible for the majority of mushroom poisonings worldwide, some of which prove to be fatal.

www.britannica.com

Immunity is different from what @TootsieFootsie suggested which was “less affected”. And apparently, that’s true. Older people are more affected than younger:

Miranda Epifania’s age, 83, was surely one of the reasons why she died while five others in her family who consumed the deadly fungi eventually recovered, a hospital spokesman said.

“Typically the older you are, the more vulnerable you are to this kind of toxic poisoning, ” said Kevin McCormack, spokesman for San Francisco’s California Pacific Medical Center.

“You have a good meal, and 8 to 12 hours later, you have severe vomiting and diarrhea over the next days,” Olson said. In 10 to 20 percent of the cases, victims will die or require a liver transplant.

Matriarch of Santa Cruz family dies after eating poison mushrooms By Truong Phuoc Kha`nh

Matriarch of Santa Cruz family dies after eating poison mushrooms By Truong Phuoc Kha`nh

www.mercurynews.com

That being said, in that case in CA, the younger family members were ill, being hospitalized for a week.

 

[jepop]

ITA! This case is horrible enough regardless of how the poisonings occurred, does msm really need to bring In innocent children and suggest “satanic” connections? WTH!

, I'm not sure that word was used except by me- just trying to describe the flavour of the reports up thread- eerie, death messages etc - horrible and unnecessary and irrelevant to the case but looking to sensationalise off the poisonings Imo. Arrrggg. The kids are going through hell and need to be protected from bs MSM (Moo) - hopefully A Current Affair won't run with it. They probably won't owing to legal thank God. My heart sank when I read that the painter was going to talk with them - but it looks like he sold the photos to news.com instead. Moo

ETA: correction - the word satanic has been used by new.com -awful stuff and shameful of the outlet

 

[MsMarple]

, I'm not sure that word was used except by me- just trying to describe the flavour of the reports up thread- eerie, death messages etc - horrible and unnecessary and irrelevant to the case but looking to sensationalise off the poisonings Imo. Arrrggg. The kids are going through hell and need to be protected from bs MSM (Moo) - hopefully A Current Affair won't run with it. They probably won't owing to legal thank God. My heart sank when I read that the painter was going to talk with them - but it looks like he sold the photos to news.com instead. Moo

Here are the photos:

https://www.news.com.au/lifestyle/real-life/news-life/death-wall-inside-mushroom-chefs-house/news-story/a879b2505a32b22dc16214201659dab4

“Creepy Death Wall” is bad enough. Shame on the tradesman for exposing two young kids. He wants to remain anonymous but he wants the money. Bah.

Edited to add:
Some msm are referring to satanic messages. So stupid:

Mushroom poisoning cook’s home had creepy ‘death wall’

Photos have emerged of a creepy ‘death wall’ filled with satanic messages, tombstones, dead bodies, and multiple references to dying, inside the home of Victoria’s mushroom chef.

thewest.com.au

 

[gitana1]

It makes no sense to kill them either though the internet is wild speculating.
She was wealthy in her own right, had nothing materially to gain from their deaths.

Bear in mind that LE has released almost no information.
We don't even have official confirmation that deathcaps were the causative agent.
We have no idea what else they consumed only that the guests contributed to the meal and brought dishes too.

True. But murder never makes sense to me. I mean, look at the nurse Letby case. Or countless others we read on here where people kill for bizarre reasons that don’t make sense to normal people.

In any event, it seems impossible that her kids had no symptoms after eating this dish which her mom “scraped” of mushrooms. She would have to open the dish and unpeel the layer of prosciutto and then scrape off the paste. She wouldn’t be able to get off every bit of the paste.

When we add in that her ex was also severely ill after eating a dish she made previously, that she claimed to have purchased dried mushrooms at an Asian market in a package none state they carry, that she “panicked” and threw away her food dehydrator and that the grandparents would come to dinner and the grandkids weren’t even there for them to see? I believe it’s logical to opine that this woman did something intentionally.

 

[kittythehare]

True. But murder never makes sense to me. I mean, look at the nurse Letby case. Or countless others we read on here where people kill for bizarre reasons that don’t make sense to normal people.

In any event, it seems impossible that her kids had no symptoms after eating this dish which her mom “scraped” of mushrooms. She would have to open the dish and unpeel the layer of prosciutto and then scrape off the paste. She wouldn’t be able to get off every bit of the paste.

When we add in that her ex was also severely ill after eating a dish she made previously, that she claimed to have purchased dried mushrooms at an Asian market in a package none state they carry, that she “panicked” and threw away her food dehydrator and that the grandparents would come to dinner and the grandkids weren’t even there for them to see? I believe it’s logical to opine that this woman did something intentionally.

I agree it is impossible to separate mushrooms in beef wellington.
She stated she had rehydrated the mushrooms prior to cooking them.
I cannot see a way that the toxins did not infect the entire meal and not mere select pieces.

There is simply not enough confirmed information at the present time to take even an educated guess at what exactly happened.

This kind of sums it up in ultra careful language

 

[jepop]

dbm

 

[jepop]

“This is not ‘Midsomer Murders‚’” Nathan Hersey, the mayor of South Gippsland, said in an interview with 9 News Australia, referring to a British detective drama. “This is real people’s lives.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/15/new-details-about-australian-mushroom-deaths-stir-speculation/

View attachment 441069
A creepy "death wall" was reportedly photographed in the home of Erin Patterson, the Australian woman whose cooking allegedly resulted in the death of three individuals.

According to news.com.au, the exclusive photograph depicted a wall filled with satanic messages and images of tombstones, dead bodies, and multiple references to death.

The illustrations were described as childlike with messages including, "You don't have long to live,” “your dead from my sword, ” and others like “ME R.I.P.”

The photos were taken by a handyman last year, who wished to stay anonymous. He was allegedly called to the property by a real estate agent who requested him to paint over the wall for sale purposes.

Speaking to news.com.au, he said: “I’ve looked at it and gone, holy , what the hell’s going on here? I went, 'This is actually really scary for kids to do this inside the kitchen-dining room.' I didn’t think it was right, it looked scary. It just didn’t look right to me as a parent.”

“We started calling it the death wall,” he said. At least one image was dated August 1, 2021. According to the handyman, it took about six coats of paint to cover the drawings.

'Death Wall' Full of Threats Found in Home of Woman Accused of Poisoning Family with Mushrooms

The wall contained "satanic" messages and drawings of tombstones at the home of the Australian woman at the center of a poisonous mushroom scandal, a handyman said.

themessenger.com

Reprehensible sensationalism,irrelevant and has massive potential to harm the children- Are we living in the dark ages? they have to live in the community, go to school - potentially be shunned, pointed at and talked about by their peers. This is just shameful. Moo

 

[jjenny]

Would be interesting to know if children actually ate any of the dish. Obviously the idea that the mushrooms were scarped off doesn't sound very believable. There could have been more than one pie. Or if there was gravy involved, potentially the toxin wasn't even in the dish itself but in the gravy.

 

[Salah11]

At the moment nothing adds up so that’s why it’s all rather suspicious.


It’s not like this is a witch hunt the facts remain she cooked a lunch where she is absolutely fine and yet her Guests died and one remains critically ill in hospital. Then add in the fact her ex husband also believes she played a part in it and he also was seriously ill and he suspects she was now responsible.

 

[MsMarple]

Would be interesting to know if children actually ate any of the dish. Obviously the idea that the mushrooms were scarped off doesn't sound very believable. There could have been more than one pie. Or if there was gravy involved, potentially the toxin wasn't even in the dish itself but in the gravy.

Also, there hasn’t been any mention of EP bringing the kids with her to hospital for a precautionary check. Wouldn’t doctors and the health department want to make sure they were okay even though they weren’t showing symptoms? Did she say she scraped off the mushrooms or did she maybe just say they didn’t eat the lunch? Sneaky but true.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

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 ?

For most people, it would be considered very rude to turn up for a lunch / dinner at someone's home and not bring a little something to contribute whether that be by way of dessert, drinks, sweets, or a little gift.

 

[gitana1]

“This is not ‘Midsomer Murders‚’” Nathan Hersey, the mayor of South Gippsland, said in an interview with 9 News Australia, referring to a British detective drama. “This is real people’s lives.”

https://www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/08/15/new-details-about-australian-mushroom-deaths-stir-speculation/

View attachment 441069
A creepy "death wall" was reportedly photographed in the home of Erin Patterson, the Australian woman whose cooking allegedly resulted in the death of three individuals.

According to news.com.au, the exclusive photograph depicted a wall filled with satanic messages and images of tombstones, dead bodies, and multiple references to death.

The illustrations were described as childlike with messages including, "You don't have long to live,” “your dead from my sword, ” and others like “ME R.I.P.”

The photos were taken by a handyman last year, who wished to stay anonymous. He was allegedly called to the property by a real estate agent who requested him to paint over the wall for sale purposes.

Speaking to news.com.au, he said: “I’ve looked at it and gone, holy , what the hell’s going on here? I went, 'This is actually really scary for kids to do this inside the kitchen-dining room.' I didn’t think it was right, it looked scary. It just didn’t look right to me as a parent.”

“We started calling it the death wall,” he said. At least one image was dated August 1, 2021. According to the handyman, it took about six coats of paint to cover the drawings.

'Death Wall' Full of Threats Found in Home of Woman Accused of Poisoning Family with Mushrooms

The wall contained "satanic" messages and drawings of tombstones at the home of the Australian woman at the center of a poisonous mushroom scandal, a handyman said.

themessenger.com

The handyman thought it was weird enough that he took and saved a photo of it.

I find it very odd that kids would write all of that on a dining room wall. In my cases, a small drawing of stuff like this, on a single piece of paper, is used as evidence (or analyzed by professionals) as a sign of anguish or disturbance, anxiety, depression, in kids going through issues.

Teens going through a macabre phase and creating art for their bedroom walls is different, IMO.

But this appears to be the work of a younger child. The location, size and subject matter make it strange to me.

I think whoever drew that was going through something at the time. Kids who can spell and reach that high know they’re not supposed to write on the walls. This isn’t the work of a three-five year old.

 

[Salah11]

For most people, it would be considered very rude to turn up for a lunch / dinner at someone's home and not bring a little something to contribute whether that be by way of dessert, drinks, sweets, or a little gift.

The question remains though that she is absolutely fine if it’s something they brought to the lunch and are we meant to believe they brought a box of poisonous mushrooms?


She has already admitted she brought mushrooms and the symptoms match to Mushroom poisoning.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

The question remains though that she is absolutely fine if it’s something they brought to the lunch and are we meant to believe they brought a box of poisonous mushrooms?


She has already admitted she brought mushrooms and the symptoms match to Mushroom poisoning.

I agree with all this but I do honestly think that the actual meal might be a red herring. Personally I'm open to hearing anything, including that someone who isn't currently named as a suspect may be introduced into this story. Or not.

I do wonder if she had dried powdered mushroom kept somewhere and added or sprinkled it onto a dessert or coffee?

I also wonder if it's possible that E made a spontaneous and rash decision to do something during the course of the meal as the conversation didn't go her way or she felt the guests were being rejecting of her (apparently this is all part of the story, that they didn't think she was 'good enough' / 'well enough' - not verified - for a reconciliation with her husband).

Also I wonder how religious she is and if that plays a part in 'letting them choose their own dishes'? If you set a plate of poisoned after dinner chocolates down on the table and let people help themselves, then it's more in gods hands what becomes of the person than if you serve them up poison in the main dish (in some sort of distorted / twisted logic). Maybe if they were a deeply religious set of people and she'd been rejected by them, she was thinking well let's see if god is protecting you now.

 

[LadyL]

Look, even if they don’t investigate Erin’s whole life, I’m sure the Daily Mail will - and if they don’t, us Web-Sleuthers will surely come up with a bit of background info!

on point

 

[Emerald1328]

When I read about the wall drawings my first thought was that one or both of the kids were acting out due to some stressor in the home.

Maybe a reaction to the death of the maternal grandmother or anxiety over the parents’ separation? Kids don’t really have agendas IMO and sometimes just lash out when they feel they can’t control their environment. Plus, EP seems to be easily excited, maybe even dramatic so that could contribute to their reactions.

All my own opinion of course. In any case I hope the kids receive counseling as they must be going through a confusing time.

When I was little, my parents were finishing the basement and let me and my siblings draw on the plywood behind the studs. They thought it would be fun to let us do that and it didn’t matter much since it would get drywall put over it. It may be that they were getting the wall painted already, maybe the daughter is very artistic and they said she could draw whatever she wanted on the wall before it was painted over. I can imagine having a huge canvas like that would be so fun for anyone to draw on!

EDIT: and as far as the subject matter, I have an 11 yr old and 12 yr old and they sure find it funny to do harmless things for shock value haha

JMO

 

[Doesitmakesense]

Im interested in knowing when EP presented herself to the hospital, on both occasions and did it coincide with any phone calls from/regarding the other lunch guests stating they are unwell, in hospital etc

 

[LadyL]

I hope for the children's sake the exposure of these drawings doesn't cause them issues and affect their privacy. This case really has nothing to do with them. I hope the ghoulish innuendos and speculation over the wall graffitti or whatever people want to call it dies down. I don't think it's that odd for kids to play and draw and imagine what dead is - through imaginative play - or drawings - explore what dead means. They watch tv, they wonder what dead is. It is like bang bang with guns, bank robbers, cowboys and Indians. Imo the drawings look age appropriate and not weird, apart from the fact they are on a wall. Moo

yep it's just doodling and I also don't find it odd that they did it on a wall

 

[imstilla.grandma]

News.com.au reported that one of the ambulance workers who responded to the tragedy alerted police after hearing the dying words of one victim. They reported the guest’s last whispers were so alarming that they felt obliged to pass them on to investigators. However their exact words have not been made public.

Ms Patterson is yet to be charged with anything and denies any wrongdoing. She claimed that guests chose their own plates and she ate the same beef wellington. Despite initial reports she didn’t fall ill, she claimed that she was hospitalised with bad stomach pains and diarrhoea.

When she was at the hospital with her children talking about the food dehydrator her ex-husband reportedly asked: “Is that what you used to poison them?”

However, Ms Patterson is now feared missing, and lawyers acting for her have camped outside her home to deliver her legal instruction after she was last seen last Thursday. Ms Patterson told reporters just before 10am local time today that she was en route to visit her lawyers in Melbourne, Australia.

But a representative of the law firm was then seen waiting outside Ms Patterson's home around 5pm to hand deliver a letter from the firm. However, after she didn’t show before nightfall, the lawyer was forced to leave.

Eerie dying words of mushroom lunch victim made paramedic call cops immediately

Erin Patterson invited her ex-husband, his parents and aunt and uncle over for lunch, but three of the four guests died as the other remains fighting for their life in hospital

www.mirror.co.uk

 

[jjleroche]

It makes no sense to kill them either though the internet is wild speculating.
She was wealthy in her own right, had nothing materially to gain from their deaths.

Bear in mind that LE has released almost no information.
We don't even have official confirmation that deathcaps were the causative agent.
We have no idea what else they consumed only that the guests contributed to the meal and brought dishes too.

Very good point Kittythehare. "The guests contributed to the meal and brought dishes too."
I'm quite puzzled that more attention has not been paid to this aspect of the case.

I wonder whether one of the other dishes also contained mushrooms. It seems plausible to me that the toxin which caused the deaths could have been present in any of the dishes.

To be clear, I'm not suggesting that anyone who provided dishes for the meal deliberately intended to cause illness or death. Whoever provided the dish which contained the toxin may have had no idea that it was present.
(It is also possible that, as has been mentioned previously, after the lunch, the four affected people may have stopped at a cafe/one of their homes for a snack/coffee).

JMO