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

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

*Mic drop guys*

Friends of the Patterson family have also told Daily Mail Australia she was an experienced mushroom forager and the family would pick fungi yearly.

BBM

The contradictions in the mushroom poisoning case

Is it possible she foraged, picked, dried various mushrooms. Used them in her cooking, this batch had highly deadly ones in. Her kids don't eat mushrooms (is this verified fact?) and she somehow didn't eat them or much of them either so she's accidentally killed people, probably realised herself very quickly that she's poisoned them, probably realised it must be the mushrooms, gone into a panic cover up mode and now she looks guilty as heck ?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

This still makes no sense as an innocent person wouldn’t need to panic would they?!

She would probably have figured it out herself by the time people had become acutely sick.

If she's an experience forager then she would also be alerted to the signs and symptoms of different toxic mushrooms and berries etc so could certainly could have been like whoaa this is not just food poisoning, this is not a piece of bad meat, this is life and death toxic

What I still don't understand is why everyone's fixed on the mushrooms. If guilty, she could have served a poison berry dessert or a cyanide cup of coffee with much the same outcome. Her husband said he thought deadly nightshade. The mushrooms could even be a red herring.

 

[CityKid]

Check this out, JBowie:

One of the three lunch guests who died after eating a poison mushroom beef wellington had a final conversation with a paramedics - details of which have been passed on to the police, a report claims.



Poison mushroom lunch guest had final conversation with paramedic

I am absolutely sending all of my best thoughts to the surviving victim, Ian, to get his liver transplant so he lives and the police can find out what happened.

 

[Eloise]

This is the post to which you replied and I wrote it and there is nothing in that post implying Erin was throwing her daughter under a bus.

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

Excellent points! I have been discussing with medical partner just how she could have faked her illness. But seemed to recall somewhere in the media, that she presented to a hospital in Gippsland and was then transferred by ambulance to a Melbourne Hospital. Maybe this is either fanciful...

www.websleuths.com

Yes, but as I said, it wasn't your post I was referring to. Don't worry about it, I know it wasn't you who said anything about Erin potentially blaming her daughter when it was maybe her. I don't know who said it.

<modsnip - quoted post and response to it removed>


Regarding this article about the dying last words of a victim being passed onto police, significantly
"They heard one of the guest’s dying words and felt the need to pass on what was said to police, the insider said."

Really hope Ian pulls through not only for his own sake (very important) but also because I have a feeling he'll have a lot to add to the case that will be crucial to actually getting charges laid and convictions made if the forensic evidence they can otherwise gather isn't enough.

ETA from the same article

She claimed she was hospitalised after the lunch with bad stomach pains and diarrhoea, put on a saline drip and given a “liver protective drug” despite initial reports she did not get sick.

And the mum-of-two admitted lying to cops when she told them she had dumped a food dehydrator at a local tip “a long time ago” - which was later seized by cops.

Erin said she was at the hospital with her kids “discussing the food dehydrator” when her ex-husband asked: “Is that what you used to poison them?”

Worried she might lose custody of the couple’s children, Erin said she then panicked and dumped the dehydrator at the tip.

What a whole mess she's made, whether intentionally or not.

 

[silvercrown]

She would probably have figured it out herself by the time people had become acutely sick.

If she's an experience forager then she would also be alerted to the signs and symptoms of different toxic mushrooms and berries etc so could certainly could have been like whoaa this is not just food poisoning, this is not a piece of bad meat, this is life and death toxic

What I still don't understand is why everyone's fixed on the mushrooms. If guilty, she could have served a poison berry dessert or a cyanide cup of coffee with much the same outcome. Her husband said he thought deadly nightshade. The mushrooms could even be a red herring.

Woman who cooked suspected poisoned meal details where she bought mushrooms

The woman who cooked a meal that is believed to have contained poisonous mushrooms and led to the deaths of three people gives a lengthy written statement to police detailing her account of what happened, and revealing she was hospitalised after the incident.

www.abc.net.au

‘Police have said the people who fell ill and died displayed symptoms of having eaten death cap mushrooms, and last week said Ms Patterson was being treated as a suspect but that investigators were keeping an open mind.’

 

[JBowie]

Check this out, JBowie:

One of the three lunch guests who died after eating a poison mushroom beef wellington had a final conversation with a paramedics - details of which have been passed on to the police, a report claims.



Poison mushroom lunch guest had final conversation with paramedic

It is not known what the lunch guest said to the paramedic.

Bummer!

 

[JBowie]

*Mic drop guys*

Friends of the Patterson family have also told Daily Mail Australia she was an experienced mushroom forager and the family would pick fungi yearly.

BBM

The contradictions in the mushroom poisoning case

IIRC, I've seen somewhere that she was involved -- at some level -- in a book about cultivating mushrooms.

I'll try to find that reference.


Edit: Here. It was in the newsletter that she edited:

Now a coincidental detail published in an edition of The Burra Flyer under Ms Patterson’s editorship has come to light.

The 2019 September-November edition of the newsletter included details of a local workshop teaching people in the community how to grow their own mushrooms.

In the Korumburra workshop people would be taught “how to grow gourmet mushrooms at home using easy to source materials and low-tech methods”.

“The class includes making your own oyster mushroom grow bag to take home, teaching notes and a delicious afternoon tea,” the notice in the newsletter read.

A mushroom growing workshop was advertised in The Burra Flyer. Picture: The Burra Flyer

Ms Patterson edited The Burra Flyer newsletter from 2018 to 2020 after taking it over from Gail and Don.

During her time editing the newsletter, the mum-of-two often included photos taken by her now estranged ex Simon, with multiple pictures showing their two children enjoying various activities around the local area.

Simon’s photographs were also a common feature in the newsletter when it was run by his parents, with the June-August 2016 issue standing out from the others.

The front page photo showed a group of poisonous red toadstools on a nature strip, which was taken by Simon.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/coincidental-detail-in-local-newsletter-edited-by-erin-patterson-years-before-mushroom-deaths/news-story/0c6467f0054f2ab3faa442d8dd28bd3d

 

[Salah11]

Is it possible she foraged, picked, dried various mushrooms. Used them in her cooking, this batch had highly deadly ones in. Her kids don't eat mushrooms (is this verified fact?) and she somehow didn't eat them or much of them either so she's accidentally killed people, probably realised herself very quickly that she's poisoned them, probably realised it must be the mushrooms, gone into a panic cover up mode and now she looks guilty as heck ?

You don’t forage if you don’t know what you are doing. Also that would be very coincidental that she was ok but everybody else ended up dead or near death.

 

[mirage1]

Is it possible she foraged, picked, dried various mushrooms. Used them in her cooking, this batch had highly deadly ones in. Her kids don't eat mushrooms (is this verified fact?) and she somehow didn't eat them or much of them either so she's accidentally killed people, probably realised herself very quickly that she's poisoned them, probably realised it must be the mushrooms, gone into a panic cover up mode and now she looks guilty as heck ?

Anything is possible, it comes down to plausible, and I don't think it is.

 

[MrJ]

There are so many media reports, it's hard to sometimes pick fact from, well, not fact. One bit of "information", though, is pretty obviously not a fact. One solitary claim (from the Mirror, so take that with a heavy dose of salt) said that Victoria Police has cleared her of all charges, declaring it a tragic accident, but that IMO is pretty rubbish. Haven't seen any Victoria Police statements to that effect, and even so, toxicology results haven't been in (that we know of). Way too early to make that determination.

Echoing other posters, I hope Ian pulls through and can give testimony to the police about what happened before he fell violently ill. Vital info to know for investigators. So many more questions than answers at this stage. I trust VicPol has a handle on this case, and hopefully we'll see official determinations relatively soon.

 

[silvercrown]

IIRC, I've seen somewhere that she was involved -- at some level -- in a book about cultivating mushrooms.

I'll try to find that reference.


Edit: Here. It was in the newsletter that she edited:

Now a coincidental detail published in an edition of The Burra Flyer under Ms Patterson’s editorship has come to light.

The 2019 September-November edition of the newsletter included details of a local workshop teaching people in the community how to grow their own mushrooms.

In the Korumburra workshop people would be taught “how to grow gourmet mushrooms at home using easy to source materials and low-tech methods”.

“The class includes making your own oyster mushroom grow bag to take home, teaching notes and a delicious afternoon tea,” the notice in the newsletter read.

A mushroom growing workshop was advertised in The Burra Flyer. Picture: The Burra Flyer

Ms Patterson edited The Burra Flyer newsletter from 2018 to 2020 after taking it over from Gail and Don.

During her time editing the newsletter, the mum-of-two often included photos taken by her now estranged ex Simon, with multiple pictures showing their two children enjoying various activities around the local area.

Simon’s photographs were also a common feature in the newsletter when it was run by his parents, with the June-August 2016 issue standing out from the others.

The front page photo showed a group of poisonous red toadstools on a nature strip, which was taken by Simon.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/coincidental-detail-in-local-newsletter-edited-by-erin-patterson-years-before-mushroom-deaths/news-story/0c6467f0054f2ab3faa442d8dd28bd3d

Oy

 

[SMK777]

I would have believed in her innocence, but her husband's last year illness looks suspicious. He spent 21 day in ICU, was in a coma. It is as if someone meant business.

I’m sure that’s a big part of what has law enforcement so suspicious of her.

 

[Bats]

This still makes no sense as an innocent person wouldn’t need to panic would they?!

Yes, this point about the disposal of the dehydrator is especially suspect for me.
Why feel the need to dispose of something that had nothing to do with the deaths (according to her story)?

 

[Ellery84]

You don’t forage if you don’t know what you are doing. Also that would be very coincidental that she was ok but everybody else ended up dead or near death.

Exactly. It seems like there may be a fungus amoungus, so to speak…. Very suspicious in my humble opinion.

 

[SMK777]

'She said they were a handwritten, white label and we have never sold that,' he said.

Around the corner, Daily Mail Australia was provided similar answers from both the East Mart and 28 Mart.

East Mart did not even sell dried mushrooms, with the shopkeeper - via use of Google Translate - showing his fridge stocked with only fresh or frozen mushrooms.

28 Mart's dried mushroom products were all neatly labelled, with that shopkeeper also disputing claims poisonous dried mushrooms had been sold in Mount Waverley.

'I sell dried mushrooms, do you want to try?' the shopkeeper asked.

Asian grocers deny deadly cook 'bought' fatal fungi from their shops

Asian grocers selling mushrooms in the region that supposedly sold the killer fungi to stay-at-home-mum Erin Patterson deny they are responsible for three deaths.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I think she made it up, and deliberately picked deadly ones herself.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Is it possible she foraged, picked, dried various mushrooms. Used them in her cooking, this batch had highly deadly ones in. Her kids don't eat mushrooms (is this verified fact?) and she somehow didn't eat them or much of them either so she's accidentally killed people, probably realised herself very quickly that she's poisoned them, probably realised it must be the mushrooms, gone into a panic cover up mode and now she looks guilty as heck ?

This is my number one theory.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Woman who cooked suspected poisoned meal details where she bought mushrooms

The woman who cooked a meal that is believed to have contained poisonous mushrooms and led to the deaths of three people gives a lengthy written statement to police detailing her account of what happened, and revealing she was hospitalised after the incident.

www.abc.net.au

‘Police have said the people who fell ill and died displayed symptoms of having eaten death cap mushrooms, and last week said Ms Patterson was being treated as a suspect but that investigators were keeping an open mind.’

It's good to know the investigators are keeping an open mind as half the globe has got her convicted.

Does anyone know in what way are 'death cap mushrooms' so distinctive from other types of poisonous mushrooms and or poisonous berries and or toxic deadly nightshade type plants?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Yes, this point about the disposal of the dehydrator is especially suspect for me.
Why feel the need to dispose of something that had nothing to do with the deaths (according to her story)?

Just a suggestion but maybe she smokes a heck ton of weed and has a grow room or maybe she forages psychoactive trippy mushrooms or such and didn't want the police to know because not legal?

They're very fashionable now small doses of mushroom for allegedly treating psychological problems. I am personally not a 'believer' but there's plenty of people making a lot of money off the back of selling tiny doses of mushrooms in caplets.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

They're very fashionable now small doses of mushroom for allegedly treating psychological problems. I am personally not a 'believer' but there's plenty of people making a lot of money off the back of selling tiny doses of mushrooms in caplets.

I must be pretty dumb because these posts that look like ads pop up in my twitter feed all the time.
Seems they're selling something called Shrooms.
When I see them I always think it must be some kind of illegal drug and how can Twitter allow it

It's only this case that made me realise that it's short for mushrooms LOL

Are they a "special" kind and are they not legal like I thought or what ?

 

[silvercrown]

It's good to know the investigators are keeping an open mind as half the globe has got her convicted.

Does anyone know in what way are 'death cap mushrooms' so distinctive from other types of poisonous mushrooms and or poisonous berries and or toxic deadly nightshade type plants?

Police could be working on that assumption due to a prevalence of death caps in the area. Not sure.