Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #4

[JLZ]

IMO possibly Weed which is why she dumped it fast ! I commented this a month ago. #1125

We don't know if EP has addictions.

The remnants would be nothing to charge her with.

Would it be of interest if the dehydrator showed she had been working with magic mushrooms?

 

[Neet_Mc]

I'll stick my neck out & comment IMO the dehydrator will have no evidence of Death Cap mushrooms.

IMO if someone dried out Death Caps they would have immediately disposed/smashed the dehydrator. Sent it to the bottom of a river. (Never to be found).

And stored/hidden the dry version of Death Caps in a very safe place until required.

Quite possibly!!!
Could be a deliberate red herring too - ie if this dehydrator is found to have no evidence of death cap etc then, logically, it can’t be established that the death cap mushrooms served at the lunch were prepared in that dehydrator by EP. All the while the dehydrator or other equipment used to prepare the mushrooms, quite possibly used some time ago to prepare them before use, wasn't also disposed of some time ago too.
This then lends itself to LE needing to find other kitchen utensils used in preparation of the meal - spoons, knives etc that may have traces of toxin on them.
I haven’t gone down the rabbit hole about the toxin, so I am wondering whether a few rounds in a dishwasher, or soaking in a strong cleaning agent, would be able to remove from stainless steel cooking utensils?

 

[Neet_Mc]

I haven't seen EP's work experience or education anywhere.

Just that her mum was a children's literature professor at Monash University, and writer of articles and reviews.
Her mum may have encouraged her daughters to gain a higher education of some sort. imo

The DM says that EP and her sister grew up in Mount Waverley with both of their parents.

After EP married Simon and had two children, they moved to a remote town in Western Australia (across the country) for 4 years. That remote town is called Quinninup, and is a tiny place with a population of only about 155 people. They bought a house there.

Then they moved back to the east coast.

Fatal mushroom cook's multimillion property portfolio

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

www.dailymail.co.uk

They owned a bookshop there in WA.

 

[Charlot123]

I'll stick my neck out & comment IMO the dehydrator will have no evidence of Death Cap mushrooms.

IMO if someone dried out Death Caps they would have immediately disposed/smashed the dehydrator. Sent it to the bottom of a river. (Never to be found).

And stored/hidden the dry version of Death Caps in a very safe place until required.

Three people fed a lunch showing GI symptoms the next day and dying within 5-6 days, with the fourth one, fighting for his life screams poisoning to me.

Keep in mind that even amatoxin is not the official statement yet. Tbh, I view amanita phalloides as a red herring unless we are told that was it by LE. Maybe they are still investigating.

- If amatoxin, my feeling is, powdered mushrooms could be added anywhere. The plan was for 4-5 people to eat/drink whatever contained the poison and die.

- Where? If the two couples went directly to Erin and then to own homes, then, her house. If they stopped somewhere else before/after and consumed something, then other possibilities have to be considered. To me, the fact that EP went to ER the next day indicates it was her house, but we are not 100% sure.

The dehydrator so far is a red herring.

 

[jjleroche]

Yeah, they do. I've known at least one Victorian instance of property settlement before divorce.

Yes, it's quite common. My ex-husband and I organised a property settlement between us well before we divorced. (Years ago.)

Australia has "no fault divorce" legislation. ie Regardless of the reason for the breakdown of the marriage, divorce may be granted if it can be demonstrated that the marriage has broken down irretrievably.
For the purposes of this legislation, that is demonstrated by a couple having lived seperately and apart for a continuous period of at least 12 months.

FAMILY LAW ACT 1975 - SECT 48 Divorce

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Maybe she was drying out all sorts of different types of plants and mushrooms that have medicinal or psychoactive properties?

Is it possible that something like death cap mushrooms can be turned into a paste that is applied to the skin for some type of remedy? to burn off warts or something?

I once had a friend who would pay huge money for any of these sort of alternative remedies any time he was unwell despite in the end it caused his early death.

 

[Charlot123]

IMO possibly Weed/Kronic which is why she dumped it fast ! I commented this a month ago. #1125

We don't know if EP has addictions which could add to her mental health.

The Weed remnants would be nothing to charge her with.

Not at all. But if she had prior history of alcohol use in her young years, and currently was afraid of the parenting plan being reviewed, I understand how she could have gotten scared. Poisonings + (hypothetical) traces of weed in that dehydrator would not have strengthened her case about the kids.

I think there is some valid reason for the police to view EP as the potential poi. At the same time, one additional dimension should be added to the story. EP and SP used to live modestly, in a tiny city of WA. Suddenly EP became a very well-off woman. Lots of family/ex-family dynamics might have changed. And her support system is not as good as that of SP and his relatives. JMO. She must have been under a lot of stress.

 

[DeDee]

In the statement, Patterson said the poisoning of her lunch guests and the intense speculation generated by the case had seriously affected her mental health and wellbeing.

Not a speculated menopause or other gender bias..
Just the intense online hatred and bullying and malice


This is the police statement, it has not been renewed afaik.
They have listed 3 possibilities here


Homicide squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas has said Patterson remained a suspect because she cooked the meals. But he has also said police were still considering an accidental poisoning “not at the hands of somebody else” to be a possibility, alongside a potentially “nefarious activity”.

Mushroom cook says she bought fungi from Asian grocer and her children ate the lunch leftovers

Erin Patterson told police she, too, was sick from the beef Wellington lunch that police suspect killed her former in-laws and another relative.

www.theage.com.au

Thank you. I kept seeing the Det's statement in the thread and now I have the found source.

"Patterson said her two young children were never at the lunch, but instead went to the movies.

Her son and daughter later ate part of the leftover beef Wellington, but the mushrooms had been scraped off the dish before it was served. Neither child became ill."

The mushrooms were scraped off the Beef Wellington dish. So, the mushrooms weren't in a gravy?

"Patterson’s in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson died after eating the dish at Erin Patterson’s house in Leongatha in South Gippsland on July 29."


theage.com.au

 

[Tweet57]

EP is 48 not 18 and a meeting with SP’s parents to discuss a marital reconciliation is just bizarre IMO.

Totally agree

 

[jjenny]

here's another article describing an attempt to harness dc to create medicine..

Sequencing poisonous mushrooms to potentially create medicine

A team of MSU scientists has genetically sequenced two species of poisonous mushrooms, discovering that they can theoretically produce billions of compounds through one molecular assembly line. This may open the door to efficiently tackling some lethal diseases.

msutoday.msu.edu

I sincerely doubt EP was trying to create medicine out of DC mushrooms.

 

[jjenny]

I'll stick my neck out & comment IMO the dehydrator will have no evidence of Death Cap mushrooms.

IMO if someone dried out Death Caps they would have immediately disposed/smashed the dehydrator. Sent it to the bottom of a river. (Never to be found).

And stored/hidden the dry version of Death Caps in a very safe place until required.

And I bet you are wrong.

 

[jjenny]

I have a simple question:

Does anyone know what was EP's education and work experience? Her kids are rather young, she should have done something before marriage. And we are probably allowed to discuss her to that level? All I know is that she could edit the neighborhood bulletin. Could anyone "on the case" expand, please?

What has been reported is that her mother had a PhD and was a critic of children's literature. EP's sister also has a PhD so apparently followed in her mother's footsteps.
EP doesn't have a PhD so she didn't follow in her mother's footsteps.

 

[SouthAussie]

What has been reported is that her mother had a PhD and was a critic of children's literature. EP's sister also has a PhD so apparently followed in her mother's footsteps.
EP doesn't have a PhD so she didn't follow in her mother's footsteps.

Just to add, with the close association that they seem to have with Monash University, it is probable that EP was a Research Officer at the university in the past. imo


Link

 

[Officer Dibble]

EP seems to me to be in a very precarious position … she may be charged with accidental poisoning of her childrens grandparents or with their murder
If it’s the latter , her time in prison will damage her relationship with the children and impact divorce financial settlement
If it’s the former it may still do the same as those kids are going to be troubled by the charges against her

At best she s going to have troubled and traumatised teenagers on her hands
At worst she may lose them completely

The ex husband will eternally blame or suspect her unless the cops prove none of this is true ( ie she was set up)
I really hope this family get clarity soon because I feel for those poor kids caught in this

Good point - I hadn't thought of this. MOO

 

[Officer Dibble]

And she could also feed the Beef Wellington to the children as she claimed she did.

That makes more sense to me. JMO.

 

[mirage1]

I'll stick my neck out & comment IMO the dehydrator will have no evidence of Death Cap mushrooms.

IMO if someone dried out Death Caps they would have immediately disposed/smashed the dehydrator. Sent it to the bottom of a river. (Never to be found).

And stored/hidden the dry version of Death Caps in a very safe place until required.

Then why did she dump it, after the event? You need to explain that logically.

You underestimate how stupid some people are. Some literally bury bodies in their yard or put them in their fridge, keep the murder weapon etc.

 

[bearbear]

anybody searching her home location, its probably reasonably easy to track down her house if you spend some time searching with a sixmaps aerial search of leongatha?

 

[Ellery84]

kittythehare, I pray she did not knowingly commit these poisonings. "Knowingly" is how the law measures intent.

Detective Kenneth Mains, Founder AISOCC
In 2013, he established the American Investigative Society of Cold Cases (AISOCC)
https://www.history.com/shows/the-hunt-for-the-zodiac-killer/cast/kenneth-mains#:~:text=In 2013, he established the American,even the most difficult unsolved murders.&text=In 2013, he established,most difficult unsolved murders.&text=he established the American,even the most difficult
Det Mains says there's typically 3 reasons people murder:
GSR : Greed, Sex, Revenge

At this stage, we cannot rule out revenge bc we don't know the story or evidence the Police is privy to possessing.

JMOO

I’m not a criminologist but I’d say greed, sex, revenge and/or straight-out crazy.

Jmo

 

[SouthAussie]

anybody searching her home location, its probably reasonably easy to track down her house if you spend some time searching with a sixmaps aerial search of leongatha?

Sixmaps only covers NSW, bearbear.
Maybe on Google Maps or Google Earth.

 

[katydid23]

Thank you. I kept seeing the Det's statement in the thread and now I have the found source.

"Patterson said her two young children were never at the lunch, but instead went to the movies.

Her son and daughter later ate part of the leftover beef Wellington, but the mushrooms had been scraped off the dish before it was served. Neither child became ill."

The mushrooms were scraped off the Beef Wellington dish. So, the mushrooms weren't in a gravy?

I don't see how that is possible, that they just scraped the mushrooms off and no problem eating it.

We have seen articles posted upthread here, describing how the toxins in the shrooms inundate liquids and seep into the substances around it. They said if you drop a death cap shroom in a cup of water, the water would be toxic, even if you removed the shroom.

In beef wellington, you pack the mushrooms right up against raw beef and then cook at low temps for hours.

How could you possibly scrape off the deadly mushrooms and the eat that beef without getting ill? I don't believe that story she told. The toxins in the mushrooms would seep into that beef it was smushed on top of while baking.

"Patterson’s in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson died after eating the dish at Erin Patterson’s house in Leongatha in South Gippsland on July 29."

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theage.com.au