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

[SouthAussie]

There is a possibility that the poisoning didn’t happen at the lunch at all.

RSBM

I think that even EP thinks the poisonings happened at her lunch, and from her beef wellington, and from Death Cap toxin.


"I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved."

Ms Patterson said it had not been previously reported that she was also hospitalised after the lunch with bad stomach pains and diarrhoea, and was put on a saline drip and given a "liver protective drug".

The Gippsland Southern Health Service confirmed a fifth person who presented at Leongatha Hospital on July 30 with suspected food poisoning later returned and was sent to Monash.

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

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Yes she said the mushrooms "may" have contributed to the deaths.

To me that's not her saying she feels certain that it was the mushrooms, just that it could be.

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

 

[SouthAussie]

Yes she said the mushrooms "may" have contributed to the deaths.

To me that's not her saying she feels certain that it was the mushrooms, just that it could be.

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

Though people can use "may have" as a definite.

As in, "I may have overlooked that error on my tax return" when they know very well that they deliberately made the error.

For me, there is an accumulation of things that are not doing her any favours. Things that could be cleared up if she went to the police station, with her lawyer, and answered their questions.

Why does she think it is okay not to do that, I wonder.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I think that if it was me and it did happen at my meal, and even if it wasn't intentional, I would be worried that somehow I would be blamed for it, one way or the other.

And maybe the first Police interview confirmed her fears.

Perhaps she is now too frightened to go through another interview.

It doesn't automatically mean she is guilty of anything.

 

[JLZ]

Though people can use "may have" as a definite.

As in, "I may have overlooked that error on my tax return" when they know very well that they deliberately made the error.

For me, there is an accumulation of things that are not doing her any favours. Things that could be cleared up if she went to the police station, with her lawyer, and answered their questions.

Why does she think it is okay not to do that, I wonder.

The definitive use of "I wonder".

 

[Oona]

I’m not quite ready to accuse EP of murder just yet but I’m rejecting most of the stranger theories.

For example, IMO it’s possible EP foraged the mushrooms but is lying to avoid getting in trouble. I don’t think it’s possible the ex relatives were poisoned by coffee or tea consumed at a cafe that has not been mentioned at all in msm but caused EP to think she was poisoned due to anxiety.

I was leaning toward “foraged and accidentally used death caps” initially but….it seems that ship has sailed. EP could have saved herself all the speculation and media harassment if she released a statement admitting her mistake, if that were the case.
Instead she has dumped the food dehydrator, lied to the police and then claimed the mushrooms were bought from a supermarket and an Asian grocery. So now, in my opinion, the only way she could be telling the truth about the whole thing (assuming it was mushroom poisoning) is if death cap mushrooms can be linked conclusively to an Asian grocery product.

 

[JLZ]

I think that if it was me and it did happen at my meal, and even if it wasn't intentional, I would be worried that somehow I would be blamed for it, one way or the other.

And maybe the first Police interview confirmed her fears.

Perhaps she is now too frightened to go through another interview.

It doesn't automatically mean she is guilty of anything.

If it was you and I didn't know you and you used that language (BBM), yes, I'd be suspicious.

You'd be talking about a meal that you cooked. The mushrooms didn't pull themselves out of the ground, wander into your house and jump into your meal behind your back. You'd be wanting to know whether you made a mistake and if so what it was so that you definitely wouldn't make it again. (And so nobody else did either.) You'd probably blame yourself and you wouldn't be surprised if the police suspected malice or negligence.

I don't know whether E is being as unco-operative as we're assuming. She's given feedback on the mushroom packaging that police collected so that's at least one further contact after the first.

 

[SouthAussie]

RSBM

I don't know whether E is being as unco-operative as we're assuming. She's given feedback on the mushroom packaging that police collected so that's at least one further contact after the first.

It was the Dept of Health she gave that feedback to, not the police.

From her statement .... "Ms Patterson said officials from the Department later sent her photographs of packs of mushrooms with hand-written labels, similar to those she described to them."

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

 

[JLZ]

It was the Dept of Health she gave that feedback to, not the police.

From her statement .... "Ms Patterson said officials from the Department later sent her photographs of packs of mushrooms with hand-written labels, similar to those she described to them."

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

OK thanks. I was going to say, at least it's something to help the investigation. But I've no way of knowing whether it's that or the reverse.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I was leaning toward “foraged and accidentally used death caps” initially but….it seems that ship has sailed

I don't think so...

 

[JLZ]

If the object was to discuss the situation re the marriage, I can see the four inlaws spending some time together by themselves to talk over their opinions re EP.

If so I can see a cup of coffee or tea being offered. Either a call in to a nearby cafe or at one of their homes.

Yes they already ate, but most people over a discussion would still have something to drink.

I don't think it's consistent with the discretion of a pastor to discuss other people's sensitive family matters in public. I just don't think he'd do it in a cafe.

In one of their homes? There might be other conflicts in the family we don't know about. (Edit to add: I don't mean conflicts between the victims.)

 

[Ellery84]

Perhaps she is now too frightened to go through another interview.

I think in terms of public health and wanting to protect the other members of the community from getting sick, since she allegedly purchased the mushrooms at the “Asian store,” one would think she would want to be as cooperative as possible.

IMO

 

[Ellery84]

“The estranged husband of the woman whose deadly mushroom lunch left three dead asked her point-blank if she had deliberately poisoned his relatives.”

Credit: Olivia Day for DMA

Daring question ex-husband asked mushroom cook before lie exposed

Erin Patterson, 48, cooked a beef wellington at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria's Gippsland region on July 29, that contained death cap mushrooms.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Ex-husband Simon has evidently asked Erin the hard-hitting question that we all want to know - did she do it????

IMHO

 

[Ellery84]

LEONGATHA has it own cinema theatre. Address: 14/18 Smith St, Leongatha VIC 3953

Home

Stadium Cinema, Stadium 4, Leongatha, South Gippsland, things to do

stadiumcinema.com.au

Amazing sleuthing! Thanks for sharing!

 

[Baby baby Jane]

It was the Dept of Health she gave that feedback to, not the police.

From her statement .... "Ms Patterson said officials from the Department later sent her photographs of packs of mushrooms with hand-written labels, similar to those she described to them."

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

Wondering also if they are looking through her household rubbish. There have been cases there they’ve been able to find items at the local dump as there are records of collection routes and dump areas. Not sure how often hers is collected … and if residents required to sort which would make the job easier if plastic & packaging is separate from food waste … it would be critical for public health to learn if there are toxins in commercial food supply.

 

[Telltale]

Ok several things about her being able to do this accidentally.

1, the mushroom lady on Under Investigation estimated it would take about 10 mushrooms to have that impact. - and most of the toxin is in the cap.

Death cap mushrooms are big, especially when fully mature

Health authorities issue poison warning for wild mushrooms

READING LEVEL: GREEN

www.kidsnews.com.au

That's already going to be knocking on the door of the top of the required mushroom range for beef Wellington (40g dry, 200g -500g fresh) and she said she added supermarket mushrooms.

2) The toxin is water soluble and heat resistant.

3) Beef wellington doesn't require you to just... Idk drizzle the mushrooms sauce on top. They get blended, cooked then mixed into white wine. The meat is purposefully left to marinate in the mushroom sauce while it cools. Then it's rolled into the middle of the pastry with the meat and left for another 30 min to chill.

Beef wellington recipe | Good Food

Gordon Ramsay's version of the classic steak dish - a show-stopping centrepiece on a special occasion, from BBC Good Food.

www.bbcgoodfood.com

My laboured point being, there are few dishes more likely to have those toxins leech into every element of the dish or harder to eat around the mushrooms. Even if she... Idk dismantled the pastry to try and scrape blended mushroom paste from the meat for her kids? - hell it would have had even more time to leech overnight.

They might have not got enough to kill them, but her only getting little tummy upset and the kids being 100% fine when there was enough toxin in there to kill three almost 4 people?

That just doesn't work. I don't even care about the rest of the shady stuff she's done or weird lies she's told. Unless someone can explain to me how that this is an easy one.

 

[jjenny]

She gave the leftover meal to investigators for analysis. Would be interesting to see if there are any death cap mushrooms in the leftovers. Regarding her feeding the kids, she either didn't feed them, or whatever she fed them didn't have death cap mushrooms. Because clearly you can't just scrape them off the dish and be fine.

 

[bearbear]

if at least 10 dc mushrooms would have been needed, as stated on under investigation, in powdered form they wouldnt bulk up the recipe and you would possibly just use the recipe amount of button mushrooms, in powder form it would permeate the whole dish so its very doubtful ep or her children ate any of it

 

[jjenny]

if at least 10 dc mushrooms would have been needed, as stated on under investigation, in powdered form they wouldnt bulk up the recipe and you would possibly just use the recipe amount of button mushrooms, in powder form it would permeate the whole dish so its very doubtful ep or her children ate any of it

I question 10 mushrooms claim. I've read that even half a mushroom can kill an adult. So seems like a couple of mushrooms would be enough to kill 4 people.

 

[bearbear]

I question 10 mushrooms claim. I've read that even half a mushroom can kill an adult. So seems like a couple of mushrooms would be enough to kill 4 people.

yes i read it was a much smaller amount to kill also, 10 seems extreme