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

[d0lphin]

I love mushrooms, especially fried with garlic and rosemary hmmm mmmm. However, this case could put a person off slightly and I'd definitely be wary of anyone who forages.

We usually buy mushrooms every week in the supermarket for use in recipes or as part of cooked breakfast.
I couldn't bring myself to buy any this week, I know it's irrational!

 

[Ellery84]

This article is great for providing some context around EP’s financial situation:

Credit: C Sutton, The Daily Mail

“The woman who cooked the fatal beef wellington pie with Death Cap mushrooms has a multimillion dollar property portfolio funded by a stunning oceanfront property she inherited from her mother.”

“Ms Patterson's mother, noted children's literature professor, Dr Heather Scutter, left a house on the South Pacific Ocean headland at Eden in her will when she died in early 2019.”

Fatal mushroom cook's multimillion property portfolio

 

[Blondiexoxo]

Beef Wellington is one of the most complex meals you can make so I believe if done deliberately then she has this planned out.

Oh yes definitely. If the suspicions are correct she would have had to make a series of conscious decisions IMO first of which method to use, which mushroom to use, how she would conceal it in the meal, sending the children to the movies (I don’t think we know if they decided off their own backs to go or if she suggested it and gave them the money to go with). That’s without the lengths one would have to go to after the fact to attempt to erase evidence - I.e dumping the dehydrator.

To sit eating with people knowing they were ingesting a deadly poison and would probably die in the next couple of days one would have to have a serious lack of empathy also. Definitely wouldn’t gel with the ‘sadness’ EP claimed to be experiencing in her statement to the media. Sitting round a table trying to engage in normal chit chat, listening to their future plans for example (like many do when out for dinner) and knowing that these people likely wouldn’t live to see next week would take a very cold and cruel individual IMO.

All MOO

 

[Ellery84]

I was thinking that she could have taken laxatives to give herself diarrhoea but then this would show up in a blood test, which would be routine for someone turning up to the hospital with stomach pains and diarrhoea.
I'm completely bamboozled by this case.
IMO.

I also think she’s possibly taken laxatives. How do you figure laxative use would show up in a blood test?

 

[jjenny]

I also think she’s possibly taken laxatives. How do you figure laxative use would show up in a blood test?

As far as I can tell laxatives don't show up on a blood test.

 

[Poppypie]

The death caps would have had to been foraged in autumn correct? And dried relatively soon afterwards… would the dehydrator even have traces left after this many months?

 

[Friday Fan]

I was thinking that she could have taken laxatives toI give herself diarrhoea but then this would show up in a blood test, which would be routine for someone turning up to the hospital with stomach pains and diarrhoea.
I'm completely bamboozled by this case.
IMO.

I doubt if laxatives would should up in blood tests.

I guess there might be a test out there somewhere, but .........I never heard of it

 

[Friday Fan]

The death caps would have had to been foraged in autumn correct? And dried relatively soon afterwards… would the dehydrator even have traces left after this many months?

I think in mild climates, they can be foraged year round.

We have mushrooms that pop up after it rains. The rain and mushrooms can be year round.

 

[SMK777]

I was thinking that she could have taken laxatives to give herself diarrhoea but then this would show up in a blood test, which would be routine for someone turning up to the hospital with stomach pains and diarrhoea.
I'm completely bamboozled by this case.
IMO.

She didn’t need to give herself laxatives. All she had to say is that she ate the same lunch as the people who were admitted in critical condition. They would immediately transport her via ambulance, give her an IV drip, and administer a liver detox pill.

As it was, there proved to be ZERO wrong with her. She was released and didn’t even need observation. IMO it was an act, while her poor lunch guests died.

Again, there are good reasons for law enforcement to choose her as the suspect.

 

[jjenny]

The death caps would have had to been foraged in autumn correct? And dried relatively soon afterwards… would the dehydrator even have traces left after this many months?

I don't think it's likely that the traces would remain, but she wouldn't know that for sure, would she?

 

[Mrs G Norris]

This article is great for providing some context around EP’s financial situation:

Credit: C Sutton, The Daily Mail

“The woman who cooked the fatal beef wellington pie with Death Cap mushrooms has a multimillion dollar property portfolio funded by a stunning oceanfront property she inherited from her mother.”

“Ms Patterson's mother, noted children's literature professor, Dr Heather Scutter, left a house on the South Pacific Ocean headland at Eden in her will when she died in early 2019.”

Fatal mushroom cook's multimillion property portfolio

They need to look into her mothers death too I think.

 

[SMK777]

They need to look into her mothers death too I think.

If she’s guilty, definitely.
I’ve read several true crime books about people who poisoned spouses and family members. Investigators often found that they had done these things to others, undetected, over the years.

 

[jjenny]

So her estranged husband apparently got really sick about a year ago, with an intestinal problem, and spend a lot of time in the hospital. Doesn't sound like the doctors figured out what caused this issue. I wonder if he suspected something?

 

[Salah11]

So her estranged husband apparently got really sick about a year ago, with an intestinal problem, and spend a lot of time in the hospital. Doesn't sound like the doctors figured out what caused this issue. I wonder if he suspected something?

Well he did after his parents died according to EP. That’s why she apparently panicked

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

So her estranged husband apparently got really sick about a year ago, with an intestinal problem, and spend a lot of time in the hospital. Doesn't sound like the doctors figured out what caused this issue. I wonder if he suspected something?

Allegedly a friend of his said he suspected deadly nightshade poisoning. AFAIK this is not a verified fact from a reliable source but it was mentioned in various MSM sites.

 

[MsMarple]

BTW, in law there’s an exception to the hearsay rule called dying declaration. Most of you are probably already familiar with it. I’ve been thinking about the statement made to a paramedic by one of the relatives. There may also be others and of course one relative survived so he’ll give a witness statement at some point if not already.

If no evidence is found on the dehydrator and the elusive Asian market can’t be identified then the victims themselves may provide answers, either exculpatory or damming.

For the sake of the children I hope the case is resolved one way or another.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/mushroom-poison-victims-final-words-to-paramedic/news-story/13ea59d2bcb3947bb5e9d2503819e8ba

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/mystery-hangs-over-mushrooms-used-in-deadly-meal/news-story/54301ef23cbf7769d3e812c1c74be12c

 

[SMK777]

BTW, in law there’s an exception to the hearsay rule called dying declaration. Most of you are probably already familiar with it. I’ve been thinking about the statement made to a paramedic by one of the relatives. There may also be others and of course one relative survived so he’ll give a witness statement at some point if not already.

If no evidence is found on the dehydrator and the elusive Asian market can’t be identified then the victims themselves may provide answers, either exculpatory or damming.

For the sake of the children I hope the case is resolved one way or another.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/mushroom-poison-victims-final-words-to-paramedic/news-story/13ea59d2bcb3947bb5e9d2503819e8ba

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/mystery-hangs-over-mushrooms-used-in-deadly-meal/news-story/54301ef23cbf7769d3e812c1c74be12c

I’m wondering if the victim statement given in the ambulance and reported to police was that once they began to feel really ill, they had immediately suspected EP of poisoning them:

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.

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

 

[HinterlandObserver]

Not sure how it is in Vicco, but where I’m from, most of the Asian community don’t shop at supermarkets. They shop at their Asian grocers.
If there was a batch of bad mushrooms, a whole community would have been affected. IMOO

 

[SMK777]

Not sure how it is in Vicco, but where I’m from, most of the Asian community don’t shop at supermarkets. They shop at their Asian grocers.
If there was a batch of bad mushrooms, a whole community would have been affected. IMOO

Exactly.

 

[MsMarple]

Also puzzling is that EP is a mushroom forager who owns a dehydrator yet she traveled to an Asian market to purchase “dried mushrooms.” Not dried shitakes or maitakes or porcinis, just generic mushrooms. What was the point?