Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #6 *Arrest*

[Ellery84]

Will she plead guilty for a plea deal? I guess that will depend on the brief of evidence that the prosecution assembles.

(And News Corp has coined a new moniker 'Mushroom Suspect'.)

It is unlikely that she will get bail due to the seriousness of her charges.

. . .

Ms Patterson is likely to languish in the tough conditions for more than a year, with her next court appearance scheduled for May.

Legal experts predict the case will drag out due to its complexity and seriousness of the charges.

If she pleads not guilty, it could take up to two and a half years before it gets to trial in Victoria’s Supreme Court. A guilty plea could see it resolved more quickly.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/erin-pattersons-new-life-in-jail-revealed-in-victorias-maximum-security-prison/news-story/67f540d7aecb4326b3c913f52ef73459

Ha! Slow clap for News Corps, regarding the new Moniker.

She’s not the suspect, she’s now the accused.

 

[Ellery84]

Many an accused has strenuously denied charges ... until they are shown the brief of evidence and presented with the likely sentence.

That brief is going to be voluminous.

I wouldn’t be surprised if she studied it in jail and started to map out her own defence, tortoiseshell glasses and all.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Considering she has been charged with multiple attempts on her ex husband let alone that fateful lunch what makes you believe there isn’t Evidence that won’t be presented at trial?

I'm sensing there probably is! LOL

The fact that they searched her house and took away a lot of things undermines that a little bit though as they're obviously still frantically searching for evidence (of which there may not be any as I'm sure one wouldn't need to document the plot).

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

JMO I’m just guessing that the results of the tests on the dehydrator have come back with a positive for death cap spores. The timing of EP’s arrest may very well have coincided with those results.

That would strongly point to EP foraging the mushrooms and even more damaging, evaporating them and storing them until she was ready to use them to poison her relatives. Well, at least her former in laws as sadly, I believe that Ian and Heather were simply collateral damage because they attended the lunch.

Of course a jury will have to weigh the evidence and decide if she’s telling the truth but IMO LE also has additional evidence that flies in the face of her claims. IOW more than just spores.

It will be interesting to see what, if anything is uncovered from the tech search.

In any case it’s hard to lose sight of the horrific death caused by ingesting the mushrooms. How could this have been done to a woman who EP said was like a second mother to her? She herself said these people never did anything to her.

All MOO

Australian woman on murder charges after guests die from eating poisonous mushrooms

A woman accused of serving her ex-husband’s parents and an aunt poisonous mushrooms with lunch has appeared in an Australian court

abcnews.go.com

I wonder, if she had used the dehydrator to dry out and powder death cap mushrooms that weren't in the meal and then later used it to make the mushrooms for the BW?

To my mind this would make the most sense as it buys into the concept she was trying to poison her husband at some time but not wipe out four other people. That theory would rely on the tiniest particles of DC mushrooms cross contaminating to be enough to cause death. This also complies with a previous police statement where they said something about it may be the case there was an intention to perpetrate some form of other nefarious behaviour. ie. she prepared DC mushrooms, powdered them, intended to poison SP at the meal probably, used the dehydrator without cleaning it for the prep of the BW, cross-contaminated only tiny amounts of DC mushroom which was still enough to kill most of the elder people.

 

[Salah11]

I'm sensing there probably is! LOL

The fact that they searched her house and took away a lot of things undermines that a little bit though as they're obviously still frantically searching for evidence (of which there may not be any as I'm sure one wouldn't need to document the plot).

Just hopefully making sure they get an airtight case and not missing anything.

 

[JBowie]

The fact that they searched her house and took away a lot of things undermines that a little bit though as they're obviously still frantically searching for evidence

We need to keep in mind that police said that the toxicology test results would take weeks, if not months, to become available. I gather that is because of the limited number of facilities onshore capable of running the tests and the backlog of work they have and, IIRC, there was the suggestion that samples went overseas for testing.

Also, as I understand it, Ian Wilkinson has only recently become well enough to be interviewed.

In order to charge and detain EP on three counts of murder and five of attempted murder, tends to suggest to me that both VIC police and the OPP are pretty confident in whatever evidence they have already.

 

[jjleroche]

If she hadn't done any 'dumb things' she probably wouldn't be in jail with multiple murder and attempted murder charges right now. JMO

Could be part of the end game. MOO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

At first, I wondered if Munchausen syndrome in some degree could be involved. If she meant to make them a little ill so she could then care for them or fuss over them and feel needed when they didn't feel well... but she gave them way to much and they died. Did she also do this to Simon in the past to have him close to look after him after they split up by being able to comfort him and nurse him when he felt ill? Not sure if was in another relationship at that time or not but was just a thought.

My suspicion is she didn't want to have to go through formal divorce proceedings as she was attempting to protect her wealth and property from being shared with SP.

If she was poisoning people to make them a bit poorly rather than dead, then I would suggest that was as a delay tactic and not because she wants to care for everybody unwell.

If she did this, maybe she thought she'd be making people feel long term sickly and taking a good few years off their lives through long slow liver failure. Perhaps she didn't know how DC mushrooms work or she though just a tiny bit would only have tiny effect (a lot of people here have said that even in tiniest amounts they are fatal)?

It's hard to imagine she had a cover story for everyone dropping down dead within a week. JMO MOO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Like what?

Diaries, emails to lovers or family or friends about the state of her relationship or resentments against SP and his family that conflict with her account of how she loved them. Text messages going back in time on old out of use handsets.

More importantly, online searches for the effects of different toxins and poisons. If she did this, she must have been doing a lot of research and she's clever enough to use a VPN and delete her search histories but maybe there's something can be detected anyhow?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

I wonder why they would put her in isolation because the crime she has been charged with doesn’t normally warrant such actions I thought? It’s not like she has access to food.

MOO

Various reasons for isolation in her case - two mostly being risk of harm to self or suicide attempts and risk of attack or harm from other prisoners. She's alleged to have killed three elderly well liked people who had done her no harm.

 

[Kittybunny]

Happy to see an arrest in this case relatively quickly. I was worried that it might languish for a long time due to lack of concrete evidence, but it seems that there is a potentially solid case here based on what she has been charged with, including the previous attempted murder charges on SP.

Also, to the earlier discussion about intelligence, common sense, and grandiosity, I find that after following hundreds of homicides here on Websleuths and other places, the one trait that many accused and convicted murderers share in common regardless of sex, is arrogance. At the core, they absolutely believe they will get away with it or they wouldn't take the risk. That is why it is so hard for us, ordinary, law enforcement respecting folk to put ourselves in the mindset of someone who kills.

 

[Salah11]

My suspicion is she didn't want to have to go through formal divorce proceedings as she was attempting to protect her wealth and property from being shared with SP.

If she was poisoning people to make them a bit poorly rather than dead, then I would suggest that was as a delay tactic and not because she wants to care for everybody unwell.

If she did this, maybe she thought she'd be making people feel long term sickly and taking a good few years off their lives through long slow liver failure. Perhaps she didn't know how DC mushrooms work or she though just a tiny bit would only have tiny effect (a lot of people here have said that even in tiniest amounts they are fatal)?

It's hard to imagine she had a cover story for everyone dropping down dead within a week. JMO MOO

It’s been claimed she was a experienced forager so you would think she would be fully aware of Death Cap mushrooms and their toxicity.

IMO

 

[ch_13]

(And News Corp has coined a new moniker 'Mushroom Suspect'.)

What a weird nickname. Makes it sound like she's suspected of being a mushroom.

 

[dalsglen]

What a weird nickname. Makes it sound like she's suspected of being a mushroom.

Well....

 

[katydid23]

Happy to see an arrest in this case relatively quickly. I was worried that it might languish for a long time due to lack of concrete evidence, but it seems that there is a potentially solid case here based on what she has been charged with, including the previous attempted murder charges on SP.

Also, to the earlier discussion about intelligence, common sense, and grandiosity, I find that after following hundreds of homicides here on Websleuths and other places, the one trait that many accused and convicted murderers share in common regardless of sex, is arrogance. At the core, they absolutely believe they will get away with it or they wouldn't take the risk. That is why it is so hard for us, ordinary, law enforcement respecting folk to put ourselves in the mindset of someone who kills.

Oh, I like that [bbm]===arrogance

"the quality of being unpleasantly proud and behaving as if you are more important than, or know more than, other people"

So if you are more important than other people they are disposable. I have seen extreme 'arrogance' in many of the accused suspects in these cases. Sometimes it leads to narcissism too.

 

[Ellery84]

I thought she was intentionally giving the press the angle she'd planned for them to take.

Yeah, that’s a fresh perspective: I like it.

 

[Chimera]

We need to keep in mind that police said that the toxicology test results would take weeks, if not months, to become available. I gather that is because of the limited number of facilities onshore capable of running the tests and the backlog of work they have and, IIRC, there was the suggestion that samples went overseas for testing.

Also, as I understand it, Ian Wilkinson has only recently become well enough to be interviewed.

In order to charge and detain EP on three counts of murder and five of attempted murder, tends to suggest to me that both VIC police and the OPP are pretty confident in whatever evidence they have already.

Bbm.
Glad to hear IW has become a bit better.
The importance of his testimony can't be understated.

Imo we only have EP's word that she also ate the tainted meal, I'd question that if I was LE.
Second bolded : Good news. They must have found more incriminating evidence then they had to start with ?
Now that there's been an arrest, EP can be fully sleuthed.
Evil, evil, evil.

May there be justice for the victims !

Omo.

 

[Ellery84]

What? I'm sure they have proof she intended him to be there/was upset he didn't show.

She must've hated these people so much she didn't even care what happens to her, because how the hell did she think she'd get away with poisoning an entire family.

Right! Like if she’s done what police suggest she’s done, she’s written her own sentence.

She’s not even applying for bail, so it seems like maybe she doesn’t really care what happens to her.

And truthfully, no matter what kind of sentence she gets (if she’s found to be guilty), nothing will bring those people back.

 

[Chimera]

Happy to see an arrest in this case relatively quickly. I was worried that it might languish for a long time due to lack of concrete evidence, but it seems that there is a potentially solid case here based on what she has been charged with, including the previous attempted murder charges on SP.

Also, to the earlier discussion about intelligence, common sense, and grandiosity, I find that after following hundreds of homicides here on Websleuths and other places, the one trait that many accused and convicted murderers share in common regardless of sex, is arrogance. At the core, they absolutely believe they will get away with it or they wouldn't take the risk. That is why it is so hard for us, ordinary, law enforcement respecting folk to put ourselves in the mindset of someone who kills.

I'm assuming she can afford the bail -- so it's surprising EP hasn't bonded out yet ?
Omo.

 

[Chimera]

Right! Like if she’s done what police suggest she’s done, she’s written her own sentence.

She’s not even applying for bail, so it seems like maybe she doesn’t really care what happens to her.

And truthfully, no matter what kind of sentence she gets (if she’s found to be guilty), nothing will bring those people back.

Not to mention, imo -- they must have had a painful, terrible death !