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

[ch_13]

I was wondering if she got some of her money following her father's death. The house she inherited from her mother, split with her sister, wouldn't have funded all her property purchases. Perhaps her mother left a large cash inheritance as well. But if she'd inherited from her father a decade before, it's more likely that her husband would have entitlement.

It's unclear exactly how big her property portfolio really is. There are a couple of articles that paint her as a mini-tycoon, but I'm not sure that's the reality.

From this Daily Mail article:

Following her mother's death, Erin sold her mother's home for $900K. Presumably this was split with her sister.

She then bought a home in Korumburra and sold it within seven months. (This is the home with the drawings on the wall.) The article states she made $85K in profit. But if the market in Australia is anything like the one in the U.S., she probably at best broke even after closing costs, sales commissions, fees, etc.

She also bought land in Leongatha for $260K and built the house where the fateful lunch took place. According to the Mail, she owns this home 'outright'. The Mail also describes this as place as currently worth a million dollars, but if so this must have been a very expensive house build.

Her other home is in Mount Waverley, the town where she claimed to have bought the dried mushrooms from an Asian store. She purchased it for $931K around the same time she bought the land in Leongatha. Unlike the other property, this one is not described as being owned outright. Possibly she holds a mortgage on it.

So, depending on the valuations and mortgages she holds on her homes, I could see her actual property portfolio ranging from around 750K to over 2 million.

 

[abovethestorm]

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

Plus it would be easy to dispose of any leftover gravy and still present the leftover Wellington to the authorities for analysis...

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Totally agree

I also doubt it was regarding reconciliation -unless- it was SP who wanted it and they were there to reason on his behalf and back up his claims (also with him present if he'd attended).

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I don't know. Why would she impulsively dump it, making it look suspicious, IF there was no reason to do so ?

If I was innocent, I'd want them to check out my dehydrator, which would show it was clear of death cap toxins. Throwing it out looks suspect.


What you say above is very logical and the correct move. But IF someone was planning to serve death caps to their in-laws, they would not likely be in a very calm, rational state.

IMO, they'd likely be stressed and irrational and do impulsive things in response.

It is possible that EP isn't very well IMO. However, if she's 'not very well' in the way that I'm wondering, it would not be a good idea to eat the food she'd prepared on various grounds not just the risk of being poisoned. So that conflicts with my suspicion.

Also, something I don't understand, why is no-one supporting this woman? For her mental health and her own personal safety, shouldn't she have an advocate or support worker? Why were LE not immediately sealing her home and examining her home for poisons and toxins? I'm baffled. The whole household could have been targeted for reasons we know nothing of such as the novichok (sp?) type poisonings. Obviously it doesn't appear to be that way but all the same - several people are dead - shouldn't this all be taken a bit more seriously ?

 

[jjenny]

I also doubt it was regarding reconciliation -unless- it was SP who wanted it and they were there to reason on his behalf and back up his claims (also with him present if he'd attended).

I kind of doubt it because if he wanted to reconcile seems like he would attend the lunch instead of declining at the last minue.

 

[jjenny]

It is possible that EP isn't very well IMO. However, if she's 'not very well' in the way that I'm wondering, it would not be a good idea to eat the food she'd prepared on various grounds not just the risk of being poisoned. So that conflicts with my suspicion.

Also, something I don't understand, why is no-one supporting this woman? For her mental health and her own personal safety, shouldn't she have an advocate or support worker? Why were LE not immediately sealing her home and examining her home for poisons and toxins? I'm baffled. The whole household could have been targeted for reasons we know nothing of such as the novichok (sp?) type poisonings. Obviously it doesn't appear to be that way but all the same - several people are dead - shouldn't this all be taken a bit more seriously ?

Not sure what you mean. She has a lawyer who represents her. Also, death cap mushroom is only dangerous if you eat it. Living in the house therefore is perfectly safe if you don't eat the mushrooms. Nobody has suggested novichok in this case. There also have been no suggestions that household was somehow targeted by some outside force. EP is the person of interest. No other possible persons of interest have been suggested.

 

[jjenny]

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.

Well she does have a drunk driving incident from 20 years ago which suggest at least at some point she was excessive in her alcohol consumption.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I kind of doubt it because if he wanted to reconcile seems like he would attend the lunch instead of declining at the last minue.

Indeed, I'm very curious about this relationship and would really love to know more.

Only because I come from a background where both my parents devoted their lives to trying to destroy one another... am aware of the level of horror and damage that is incurred in dysfunctional relationships gone awry, on both sides. Also that nobody really knows what's going on, including close family members because the level of deceptions and story telling are mindblowing.

Maybe the whole purpose of the meeting was to clear up some issues and when he backed out, it makes it look like he's the one not being honest and open. Or maybe E knew some lies and inaccuracies she's perpetuated were about to be brought into the open and decided to take extremely effective action?

 

[Kemug]

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?

Her mother was an author, she and her husband ran a book store in Western Australia, and she edited the local newsletter or whatever. So maybe any employment before marriage and children was in the field of literature, eg a library assistant, or working in a book shop, or as a proofreader.

 

[Elley Mae]

If I’m not mistaken it was a beef wellington Pie.
I had not heard of that, looked up recipes for it Australian beef wellington pie and most call for ground beef. So if true seems even scraping mushrooms off the juices from mushrooms would infiltrate the meat more so than a whole tenderloin.

Jmo

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Something has been niggling away at me, without me even thinking it.

Then it finally came.

The similarites between ERs actions in the car accident and the getting rid of the dehydrator.

Both actions I think were due to panic.

I don't think either were planned.

The mystery is why would she have mentioned it to her kids in the first place if she already knew she had dried poison mushrooms in it.
Doesn't sound like someone who had planned a murder.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

<modsnip - quoted post and response removed>

there are all sorts of people creating concoctions from toxic plants and calling themselves natural healers. It goes without saying that the origins of modern medicine did lie in plant based remedy so I'm not wholesale knocking it but in this instance, it was fatally ill advised.

Who knows what E could have been doing with dehydrated plants and substances? We'd need to know a lot more about her.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I actually think that she is quite an intelligent person who has had her confidence eroded over the years.

 

[kittythehare]

Something has been niggling away at me, without me even thinking it.

Then it finally came.

The similarites between ERs actions in the car accident and the getting rid of the dehydrator.

Both actions I think were due to panic.

I don't think either were planned.

The mystery is why would she have mentioned it to her kids in the first place if she already knew she had dried poison mushrooms in it.
Doesn't sound like someone who had planned a murder.

Could have been as simple as one of them asking where something was located and she was telling them by explaining it's proximity to the dehydrator.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Could have been as simple as one of them asking where something was located and she was telling them by explaining it's proximity to the dehydrator.

Could be, but you'd think she would know where it was, more than the children would.

 

[kittythehare]

Could be, but you'd think she would know where it was, more than the children would.

they come in different shapes and sizes so it's quite possible it was normally stored on an open shelf.

 

[Elley Mae]

Something has been niggling away at me, without me even thinking it.

Then it finally came.

The similarites between ERs actions in the car accident and the getting rid of the dehydrator.

Both actions I think were due to panic.

I don't think either were planned.

The mystery is why would she have mentioned it to her kids in the first place if she already knew she had dried poison mushrooms in it.
Doesn't sound like someone who had planned a murder.

Then why dispose of it if nothing poisonous had been in it.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I have other thoughts re the hydrator apart from where it was located in the house.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

My kids of that age likely wouldn't have had a clue where any kitchen things were kept.

 

[CityKid]

<modsnip - quoted post was off topic>
I would not be surprised if EP had tried to concoct herbal treatments when her parents were dying. I'd love to see what else is on her bookshelves other than mushroom-related books. And I'm curious about the dehydrator. It can be used for lots of foods other than mushrooms. I feel like she used it for something—death caps?—that made her not want to use it again for regular foods.

<modsnip - off topic>