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

[CityKid]

<modsnip - quoted post was removed for insinuations against a non-POI/not victim friendly>
we only have EP's word that the children don't eat mushrooms.

 

[SouthAussie]

I know that everyone's pretty dead set on the concept of poisonous mushrooms but what is the difference between deadly nightshade poisoning and death cap mushrooms? Since S has raised this very specific plant, why is no one suspecting the same?

Also why did he get that in his mind and not one of a thousand other plant based or other toxins / poisons?

I find that aspect very bizarre.

It doesn't sound as if the symptoms present in the same way. Maybe because the toxins are different.


Deadly nightshade is a poisonous perennial plant in the nightshade family with round black or purple berries, which are highly toxic. Ingesting these poisonous berries can result in fever, skin flushing, vomiting, confusion, and hallucinations.

10 Highly Poisonous Plants in Australia - First Aid Pro

People who work or often spend time outdoors are at risk of exposure to poisonous plants in Australia.

www.firstaidproadelaide.com.au

 

[jjenny]

It seems curious to me why the husband would even bring up the dehydrator to begin with, in relation to his parents' being in the hospital at that time. Had he used it before himself to dry mushrooms? Why would his mind even go there? MOO.

He didn't bring up the dehydrator. Per EP's own story, her husband heard her and the children discussing the dehydrator. You have to ask why EP and the children were discussing the dehydrator. It's a strange thing to discuss in the hospital.

 

[jjenny]

Also, we only have EP's word that the children don't eat mushrooms.

Exactly. And people are buying it hook, line and sinker. She claims kids don't like mushrooms. She also claims she fed them Beef Wellington with mushrooms scrapped off. I have doubts that either of these claims are even accurate.

 

[jjenny]

Yes and it sounds like it was his thinking that the dehydrator equated to poisoning.

Cause one would dry mushrooms in a dehydrator. We also don't know what exactly EP and the children were talking about in connection to dehydrator. Whatever was said could have been suspicious.

 

[Forest_Wood]

I know that everyone's pretty dead set on the concept of poisonous mushrooms but what is the difference between deadly nightshade poisoning and death cap mushrooms? Since S has raised this very specific plant, why is no one suspecting the same?

Also why did he get that in his mind and not one of a thousand other plant based or other toxins / poisons?

I find that aspect very bizarre.

There are many ways to say something without using the words. S said in his eulogy that he was taught to never call someone a liar. And yet, in front of his children, reportedly, he discredited his wife by accusing her of poisoning his parents. Sounds like poisoning young minds. Also, she was concerned her children might be taken away. Is this something she had been threatened with before? All speculative. MOO.

 

[jjenny]

There are many ways to say something without using the words. S said in his eulogy that he was taught to never call someone a liar. And yet, in front of his children, reportedly, he discredited his wife by accusing her of poisoning his parents. Sounds like poisoning young minds. Also, she was concerned her children might be taken away. Is this something she had been threatened with before? All speculative. MOO.

You don't know if he accused her in front of their children.

 

[jjenny]

I know that everyone's pretty dead set on the concept of poisonous mushrooms but what is the difference between deadly nightshade poisoning and death cap mushrooms? Since S has raised this very specific plant, why is no one suspecting the same?

Also why did he get that in his mind and not one of a thousand other plant based or other toxins / poisons?

I find that aspect very bizarre.

Different toxins produce different symptoms.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Different toxins produce different symptoms.

I understand this but one would have to have vast and extensive knowledge of plant based poisons versus chemical toxins versus regular food poisonings or allergies in order to say 'deadly nightshade'. It's a bit *specific* isn't it?

For example, most people would say I've been feeling very odd since ate with X and feel like I've maybe been spiked or drugged. I know X is heavily into foraging and knows all about poisonous plants and now I'm wondering if X has deliberately poisoned me with something.

 

[jjenny]

I understand this but one would have to have vast and extensive knowledge of plant based poisons versus chemical toxins versus regular food poisonings or allergies in order to say 'deadly nightshade'. It's a bit *specific* isn't it?

For example, most people would say I've been feeling very odd since ate with X and feel like I've maybe been spiked or drugged. I know X is heavily into foraging and knows all about poisonous plants and now I'm wondering if X has deliberately poisoned me with something.

We don't know what he actually said. The deadly nightshade claim comes from some un-named friend.

 

[jjenny]

There are many ways to say something without using the words. S said in his eulogy that he was taught to never call someone a liar. And yet, in front of his children, reportedly, he discredited his wife by accusing her of poisoning his parents. Sounds like poisoning young minds. Also, she was concerned her children might be taken away. Is this something she had been threatened with before? All speculative. MOO.

By the way EP is a self-admitted liar. She admitted she lied to the police about the dehydrator. Since she admitted lying to the police, then I find it hard to believe her other claims without verification.

 

[jjenny]

Sometimes people are a bit psychic when it comes to extreme situations and they have sudden clarity where the dots join together.

However, we don't have enough facts and I don't see how any woman who loved her children would dry out poisonous mushrooms and / or powder them many months ago and then store them in the kitchen where *anything* could happen that could kill her kids or household members. Unless she stored it in a lock up safe.

Also I'm not convinced she hasn't been framed for this but I can't say why as it's breach of T&C, as she remains the only named suspect.

One has to actually eat death cap mushrooms to get sick. In a bag or a jar, they are perfectly safe. If one touches them, one won't get sick (as the expert demonstrated in a video posted on this thread). So they are not going to be dangerous if stored unless eaten. There are a lot of household cleaners and so on that are likely more dangerous to children than dried mushrooms in a bag or a jar.

 

[CityKid]

There are many ways to say something without using the words. S said in his eulogy that he was taught to never call someone a liar. And yet, in front of his children, reportedly, he discredited his wife by accusing her of poisoning his parents. Sounds like poisoning young minds. Also, she was concerned her children might be taken away. Is this something she had been threatened with before? All speculative. MOO.

BBM. Again, this is only coming from EP, who supposedly told the police/wrote it in her statement that it happened as a way to explain away her lie about when she disposed of the dehydrator. We have no idea if this event happened. I can't figure where it fits in the timeline.

 

[Mirabel091]

We don't know what he actually said. The deadly nightshade claim comes from some un-named friend.

He could have been talking about the symptoms he experienced with his friends and they then tried matching them up with known toxins. They could just have been reading Wikipedia and thought it sounded right.

 

[SMK777]

It wouldn't surprise me if her intention was just to make them ill (if guilty, of course).

This would imply that she didn’t know very much about death cap mushrooms, because they cause rapid organ failure and death in small amounts. Something else would have been chosen if her intent was only to make them ill.

 

[RickshawFan]

I don't disagree with you. I can't understand it either. People do get sick to different degrees sometimes, but if she ate that particular poison-strength beef wellington - enough to kill 3 people and make another critically ill - she 'should' have been critically ill too.

imo

I also note that she wasn't treated with all of the drugs they administer for Death Cap poisoning.
They also use activated charcoal, penicillin, and if they have enough supply they use milk thistle. Link
.

FWIW You buy milk thistle OTC at the vitamin store.

 

[ch_13]

It also says that a third guest recovered, having not eaten as much as the others.

Death Cap Mushrooms kill three - Australian food history timeline -

2012-Two people died after eating Amanita phalloides, or Death Cap Mushrooms at a New Year’s eve dinner in Canberra. Another later died.

australianfoodtimeline.com.au

"It appears Liu Jun was a fan of foraging and fresh food and used his local finds to prepare a private dinner for friends after the official New Year celebrations ended. He and one of his guests died a few days later waiting for liver transplants at the Royal Prince Alfred Hospital in Sydney. A third guest recovered, not having eaten as much of the stir-fry that contained the poisonous fungi. Another man who died in hospital at around the same time was poisoned in a separate incident"

I wonder why no one suspected the one who recovered ?

That seems awfully suspicious. How can someone survive and not be affected as much.

These days it's totally suspicious if you're not affected as much, back then not so much.

The person who foraged the mushrooms and cooked the meal didn't survive.

The person who recovered was just some random guest who apparently didn't eat as much as the other two. There's not a scintilla of evidence they were involved, and I can't see why anyone would think otherwise. In fact, if you click through to the original article, there were actually two survivors and they both were in the hospital for an extended period of time.

Compare that to the case in Leongatha where EP not only prepared the meal, by her own admission she never spent a night in the hospital, tried to destroy evidence and lied to the police.

 

[Salah11]

I would believe her story a lot more if she had been seriously ill. I just don’t believe she cooked one of the most complex meals going that takes hours of prep and she then didn’t eat any ( one would assume or she would be dead of serious ill)

 

[Charlot123]

I've been wondering the same thing. What if someone who knew that the kids did not eat mushrooms, substituted or added to the bag of mushrooms she thought were from the Asian store. They could have sat in that container for some time until she made a meal with them. I haven't been able to find any info if she had used the mushrooms from that container previously before this meal. It was reported by a neighbour that the entire family foraged for mushrooms, not just her. MOO.

I was thinking about it, but it had to be the adult to use the dehydrator and make the paste? Or is it very easy?

 

[al66pine]

Other Relationships? When?

I had actually been wondering if either of them have had someone else in their lives since the separation.

@TootsieFootsie Yes.
And may be possible that "someone else in their lives" began BEFORE theIr separation.
Not convinced of "someone" either before or after.
Maybe not even now, but an unofficial separation triggered by existence of a "someone" is not likely to lead to an amicable legal separation or divorce.
imo.