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

[JBowie]

Mushroom chef's ex tells how his father desperately clung to life

A tearful Simon Patterson was seen still wearing his wedding ring at the memorial for his parents, who police suspect were poisoned by Simon's estranged wife Erin, who did not attend the event.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Mystery continues to surround the recovery of Ian Wilkinson.

Last week, a family spokesperson advised Mr Wilkinson was 'showing signs of improvement'.

What he says when well enough will likely assist detectives in how the case progresses. (bbm)

Understatement of the year!

 

[JBowie]

I cannot for the life of me see any possible advantage to killing them all.
She had nothing to gain.
She is independently wealthy.

Hell hath no fury ...?

 

[Salah11]

Also statistically isn’t Poison considered a woman’s way to kill?

 

[jjenny]

Also statistically isn’t Poison considered a woman’s way to kill?

"Over the centuries, both men and women have chosen it to kill in at least equal measure. But because women seem to preferentially chose poison, when they do turn to murder, its reputation has come be that of an almost purely feminine weapon."

The Imperfect Myth of the Female Poisoner

There's a popular idea in our culture that poison belongs to the female killer. In the 1945 Sherlock Holmes movie, Pursuit to Algiers, Holmes considers it obvious: "Poison is a woman's weapon." And you hear that same thought echoing down the decades, surfacing, for instance, in George Martin's...

www.wired.com

 

[NeverPersonal]

1. Can you cite a reliable source for that?
2. She did inherit from her parents. Many people do. All Australian houses are expensive. Hers looks to be a nice-enough house in a moderately cheap district. The parents are reported as having died of cancer.
3. "Last minute" is disputed.
4. Unclear where Erin was when her husband fell ill--they were separated. Unclear how much if any nursing she did if they were indeed living apart.
5. Fair comment.
6. The video you link says the opposite.
7. Yes, except I don't think she ever said it was a market.

1. i definitely read that in a link on these very threads.
2. her house is over 1 mil.
3. last minute is only disputed by person of interest.
4. it has been said he got sick every time he was around her.
6. the video i linked says exactly what i typed. she went to a landfill further away.
7. i'm pretty positive she did indeed say that it was a market, i believe thats in the video i posted.

 

[NeverPersonal]

she is also according to friends a dedicated mushroom forager. i think this was 100% on purpose imo

 

[Salah11]

she is also according to friends a dedicated mushroom forager. i think this was 100% on purpose imo

Here is a link

Mushroom cook was experienced fungi forager

The mushroom chef behind the toxic beef Wellington pie that poisoned four of her relatives was an experienced fungi forager, a source close to the family says.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Charlot123]

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

I met it in only one article but Simon said that he totally recovered except for weakness in one arm?

That won’t be a belladonna-like plant. Belladonna is essentially atropine. Remember? “red as a beet, dry as a bone, blind as a bat, mad as a hatter, hot as a hare, and full as a flask." (The symptoms of flushing, dry skin and mucous membranes, mydriasis with loss of accommodation, altered mental status, fever, and urinary retention.)

I thought, maybe he had botulism? That could explain coma, 21 day in ICU and lingering weakness. This couldn’t explain GI bleeding, but so won’t the nightshades. (Any bleeding, including a brain mini-stroke with subsequent weakness, makes me think of Coumadin.)

Botulism one could get totally innocuously, with home-made preservatives. This could have been a true mistake, as it most often is, but explain why he felt poorly if EP was into home cooking.

Neither belladonna nor botulism could explain GI bleeding.

If we had more symptoms, we could at least make certain half-educated guesses, but as it is, nothing definite comes to mind.

 

[MsMarple]

According to the statement EP gave to her lawyer which was leaked to the media she purchased button mushrooms from a supermarket and dried mushrooms “several months ago” from an Asian market that she can’t identify.

EP herself never said anything about foraging the mushrooms used in the luncheon meal.

A dehydrator does exactly that; it dehydrates food. There is no reason whatsoever to use a dehydrator to dehydrate already dried mushrooms to prepare the duxelles. It’s redundant.

Why EP would think the dehydrator would cause her to lose her children is a mystery. There’s been speculation but nothing has been shared yet by LE. They recovered the dehydrator on August 4 and sent it for forensic testing.

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

 

[Charlot123]

Also statistically isn’t Poison considered a woman’s way to kill?

Absolutely. And there are many. Licrezia Borgia and Catherine of Medici come to mind.

 

[Auntie Cipation]

I wonder how quickly the DC toxin, once eaten, moves into the bloodstream. Since symptoms take 8-12 hours to appear, I think I read, perhaps it's not immediate.

So perhaps EP ate some of the allegedly poisoned meal, and then excused herself to the bathroom and forced herself to vomit? Might that result in actual-but-mild effects such as she had?

Seems too risky to try, but I suppose it's a possibility. People have done riskier things.

MOO

 

[al66pine]

FreindS Say "Dedicated" Mushroom Forager?

she is also according to friends a dedicated mushroom forager....

@NeverPersonal (rsbm) Respectfully wondering ---
Did reporter quote these interviewees verbatim?
Did a friend or multiple friends say ^ Verbatim?
Did friends actually describe her foraging as "dedicated?"

Here is a link

Mushroom cook was experienced fungi forager

The mushroom chef behind the toxic beef Wellington pie that poisoned four of her relatives was an experienced fungi forager, a source close to the family says.

www.dailymail.co.uk

In reading this DM link,* I'm missing the ref to friendS (plural) and the "dedicated" description. Maybe those came from a defferent source?
Does dedicated mean she is knowledgeable about them? Can she differentiate "safe" from DC's or other toxic mushrooms? Or has she been lucky?

BTW, decades ago a neighbor in apt adjoining mine sang opera loudly in the shower daily. Despite his dedication to very early morning arias, he sang mostly off-key. Oh, my ears.

_______________________
* From Daily Mail, Aug. 15.
".... The mushroom cook behind the toxic beef wellington that poisoned four of her relatives was an experienced fungi forager, a source close to the family says.
"Erin Patterson, 48, was known to pick wild mushrooms around Victoria's Gippsland region,...
"A friend of the Patterson family said Erin was 'very good at foraging' and identifying different mushroom varieties.
"'The Patterson family (including Erin and Simon) would pick mushrooms each year when they were in season,' the friend said.
" 'It’s very common for people to go mushroom picking around that area.' "

Mushroom cook was experienced fungi forager

The mushroom chef behind the toxic beef Wellington pie that poisoned four of her relatives was an experienced fungi forager, a source close to the family says.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[jjenny]

I wonder how quickly the DC toxin, once eaten, moves into the bloodstream. Since symptoms take 8-12 hours to appear, I think I read, perhaps it's not immediate.

So perhaps EP ate some of the allegedly poisoned meal, and then excused herself to the bathroom and forced herself to vomit? Might that result in actual-but-mild effects such as she had?

Seems too risky to try, but I suppose it's a possibility. People have done riskier things.

MOO

I think it would be easier not to eat whatever was toxic to begin with. But yea, one of the treatments for mushroom poisoning is pumping the stomach. So if one ate it, then threw it up, one could presumably avoid the severity of symptoms.

 

[MsMarple]

FreindS Say "Dedicated" Mushroom Forager?

@NeverPersonal (rsbm) Respectfully wondering ---
Did reporter quote these interviewees verbatim?
Did a friend or multiple friends say ^ Verbatim?
Did friends actually describe her foraging as "dedicated?"



In reading this DM link,* I'm missing the ref to friendS (plural) and the "dedicated" description. Maybe those came from a defferent source?
Does dedicated mean she is knowledgeable about them? Can she differentiate "safe" from DC's or other toxic mushrooms? Or has she been lucky?

BTW, decades ago a neighbor in apt adjoining mine sang opera loudly in the shower daily. Despite his dedication to very early morning arias, he sang mostly off-key. Oh, my ears.

_______________________
* From Daily Mail, Aug. 15.
".... The mushroom cook behind the toxic beef wellington that poisoned four of her relatives was an experienced fungi forager, a source close to the family says.
"Erin Patterson, 48, was known to pick wild mushrooms around Victoria's Gippsland region,...
"A friend of the Patterson family said Erin was 'very good at foraging' and identifying different mushroom varieties.
"'The Patterson family (including Erin and Simon) would pick mushrooms each year when they were in season,' the friend said.
" 'It’s very common for people to go mushroom picking around that area.' "

Mushroom cook was experienced fungi forager

The mushroom chef behind the toxic beef Wellington pie that poisoned four of her relatives was an experienced fungi forager, a source close to the family says.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Even if the family friend is correct about EP being an experienced mushroom forager it may be irrelevant unless it’s possible to identify a death cap once it’s dried.

I don’t know the answer but just looking at dried edible mushrooms in real life and in photos only a few are easily identifiable (by me) like chanterelles or shitakes. If death caps are difficult to identify when fresh it might be quite a challenge when they’re dried.

That’s assuming EP told the truth in her statement about the source of the mushrooms. I have doubts but there’s not much else to go on right now.
MOO

 

[DeDee]

Even if the family friend is correct about EP being an experienced mushroom forager it may be irrelevant unless it’s possible to identify a death cap once it’s dried.

I don’t know the answer but just looking at dried edible mushrooms in real life and in photos only a few are easily identifiable (by me) like chanterelles or shitakes. If death caps are difficult to identify when fresh it might be quite a challenge when they’re dried.

That’s assuming EP told the truth in her statement about the source of the mushrooms. I have doubts but there’s not much else to go on right now.
MOO

AUG 18, 2023

Erin Patterson had a collection of books about mushrooms that she kept at her home where her fatal beef wellington lunch took place, according to a family friend.

The friend claimed the shelves of her family home at Leongatha included books about delicious yet potentially deadly fungi. [If so, the Police removed these items, using a search warrant, after Don's death.]

It was reported this week that Ms Patterson, 48, was an “experienced forager” who — like many families in the area — picked mushrooms when they were in season.

< >

She has denied any wrongdoing.

Deadly mushroom cook had ‘books about fungi in home’

Ms P < > dumped a lawyer < > after police declared her a ‘person of interest’ in the deaths of her in-laws. < > after realising she had made a “serious mistake” providing a no comment interview to investigators on advice from her lawyer, whom she promptly dumped.
< > now represented by < > criminal barrister [BDoogue].

 

[katydid23]

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.

I am not sure how old her kids are....but I can assure you, if I had dehydrated mushrooms in my pantry, there would be ZERO chance my kids would have eaten any of them at any time. They would be safe in that pantry from them for sure.

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.

It is a possibility but not sure it's a probability. Although we don't know if anyone stood to gain financially if all the elder relatives died...

 

[al66pine]

Describing (Most) DC Mushrooms as Red? My Bad.

....
If death caps are difficult to identify when fresh it might be quite a challenge when they’re dried....

@MsMarple Thx for pointing this out, prompting me to realize my goof in an earlier post --- a hypo, about shoppers noticing red DC's in a grocery bin and being puzzled, maybe reporting to manager.

From images online I mistakenly concluded all or most DC's are red. Nope, I was wrong wrong wrong.

"Death Cap mushrooms" images - Google Search

Searching google images for "red Death Cap mushrooms" gives us lotsa red mushrooms.

"red Death Cap mushrooms" - Google Search

 

[SouthAussie]

FWIW You buy milk thistle OTC at the vitamin store.

The kind of milk thistle they use in treating Death Cap poisoning is called silibinin.

The reason that I said "if available" is because I had read an Australian study where they were following the progress of treatment of 10 Death Cap poisoning patients and they stated the following:


"Silibinin supply was exhausted during the treatment of one patient, who was subsequently given oral silymarin ...."
"Maintaining a supply of silibinin to treat patients was a challenge due to the clustering of events ....."
"Additional stock was urgently required for the cluster of four patients ...."

"Decisions regarding stock holdings of silibinin require consideration of cost (about $1400/day/patient), stock expiration, and time to obtain replacement or additional stock (potentially long, as it is not marketed in Australia). Our experience suggests that Poisons Information Centre knowledge of silibinin stocks, and rapid communication with the distributor and hospitals is required."

Amanita phalloides poisoning and treatment with silibinin in the Australian Capital Territory and New South Wales

A review of clinical records of patients treated in Canberra and Sydney identified 10 patients who were likely to have suffered “deathcap” mushroom poisoning between 1999 and 2012. Despite treatment according to current standards, including use of the purported antidote silibinin, eight...

www.mja.com.au

 

[jjenny]

I am not sure how old her kids are....but I can assure you, if I had dehydrated mushrooms in my pantry, there would be ZERO chance my kids would have eaten any of them at any time. They would be safe in that pantry from them for sure.

It is a possibility but not sure it's a probability. Although we don't know if anyone stood to gain financially if all the elder relatives died...

Exactly. Kids are not likely to eat dried mushrooms. Neither are adults for that matter.

 

[RickshawFan]

Hell hath no fury ...?

Oldest motive in a book.