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

[srper2]

I notice this article specifically states twice that LE has called her a "person of interest." But it's the Daily Mail. Do we have a LE source that calls her a POI?

7 News reported she is considered a "suspect"....

Ex-husband of woman at centre of deadly mushroom lunch spotted for the first time

Simon Patterson’s parents and aunt died after eating a meal believed to contain poisonous mushrooms.

7news.com.au

 

[srper2]

Maybe the meal was for one of the grandchildren’s birthday, and they felt obliged to attend.
Perhaps the kids were having takeaways.

Very convenient that her and the grandkids ate other food and had none of what she fed the other people........

 

[TootsieFootsie]

I wonder how long she's felt she had to "prove herself worthy"

Just since the separation, or all through the marriage

 

[AliceInPain]

You mean the suspect (at least to some of us) just happened to have a supply of suitable poison in her kitchen, ready for these annoying little occasions? Well, if the lady in question turns out to have done all the things we are wondering about, then yes, maybe.

Lol yeah, I keep a stash of poison foods in my cupboard all the time, just in case the ready meals doesnt please my guests. This is turning more and more into some Agatha Christie stuff =)

 

[TootsieFootsie]

There have been poisons at one time or another that were commonly used for household purposes.

Though I can't think of any good reason to knowingly have poisonous mushrooms.

 

[Kemug]

Yes and who would want a marriage where the parents have a say in whether you're good enough for their son.

IMO, that phrase "not good enough" doesn't quite gel with the 2 elderly couples' apparent reputations as good kind Christian people. I doubt they would look down on someone just because of a perceived lower social status, less education, etc. So I wonder if any disapproval of EP may have been based upon facts or suspicions about EP which we don't know, or don't yet know, eg past actions, past reputation, past treatment of her husband, even possible suspicions about the deaths of her late parents. JMO

 

[Mrs G Norris]

I was thinking maybe the cost of it, there wasn't enough to go round.

Some people who are well off, can be very frugal. Sometimes I think that's how they got to be wealthy

So far it hasn't been said what she ate, if anything.

Maybe she didn't eat meat or was on some special diet.
Some articles said that the kids ate a different meal, but I don't recall reading that she ate something different.

Or she just skipped the poisoned dish .. maybe she was ‘reducing’ but even then one dish on a special occasion won’t kill you .. oh wait!!

 

[Mrs G Norris]

IMO, that phrase "not good enough" doesn't quite gel with the 2 elderly couples' apparent reputations as good kind Christian people. I doubt they would look down on someone just because of a perceived lower social status, less education, etc. So I wonder if any disapproval of EP may have been based upon facts or suspicions about EP which we don't know, or don't yet know, eg past actions, past reputation, past treatment of her husband, even possible suspicions about the deaths of her late parents. JMO

Churches are full of petty judgements for any number of reasons, maybe she was overly emotive and that was enough for them to think that, plus some families just think nobody is good enough for their child, it’s just the way they are and nobody can measure up .. who knows the dynamics, maybe it was toxic?

 

[boomburger]

In the wash up it wouldn't surprise me at all if religion was a big part of all this. I can imagine a group of fundie religious in-laws (particularly a pastor father-in-law) making your life absolute hell as a divorced woman. Obviously its no excuse at all to do what she might have done, but food for thought.

 

[Mrs G Norris]

In the wash up it wouldn't surprise me at all if religion was a big part of all this. I can imagine a group of fundie religious in-laws (particularly a pastor father-in-law) making your life absolute hell as a divorced woman. Obviously its no excuse at all to do what she might have done, but food for thought.

Same .. it does seem strange that others were involved, but who knows what went on .. hopefully the book / mini series / etc will go into all of that.

Is it too soon to negotiate the rights for a story like this?

 

[Algorithm]

Her interaction with the media at her house just had me thinking of Gerard Baden-Clay when he fronted the media before he was charged.

 

[MrJ]

I've been following this case for a while since earlier this week and my main question has to do with a potential financial motive, if she did this intentionally.
Maybe I'm approaching this a bit too logically but I'd have thought that if she stood to gain inheritance from any of this, she'd be investigated eventually and found out if she were guilty. It's also one of the most horrible ways to murder someone, so why do that at all? I'm not saying she is guilty but if she deliberately did it, why would she have seen the point of doing that?

 

[LacieL]

In the wash up it wouldn't surprise me at all if religion was a big part of all this. I can imagine a group of fundie religious in-laws (particularly a pastor father-in-law) making your life absolute hell as a divorced woman. Obviously its no excuse at all to do what she might have done, but food for thought.

If it’s true that he suspected her of poisoning him previously maybe the meeting was to mediate/get to the bottom of that.

I could see how someone thinking their wife had attempted to murder them might not be believed. It’s a pretty wild claim without evidence and it sounds like his mystery illness wasn’t suspected to be a poisoning by the hospital. Perhaps he didn’t disclose he suspected she tried to kill him but simply declared her crazy to his parents and to them that wasn’t enough to give up on a marriage.

I think his parents wanted them back together, maybe to save face. Divorce in a deeply Christian family can be stuff that parents disown their children for.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

When my brother and I were kids back in the 60's, our father would often take us mushrooming and it was a fun experience. The mushrooms would last us a few days. Back then, they were plentiful and there didn't seem to be so many of these toadstools around, that resemble mushrooms. Because of the sulphates now, they are harder to find, however mushroom foraging has become very popular recently. I wonder if this poisoning will affect that, even though I believe it was deliberate?

Or, might we see more familial homicides.

 

[LacieL]

I'm not saying she is guilty but if she deliberately did it, why would she have seen the point of doing that?

The thing that I don’t understand is that if she did do it, how did she think she could murder four people in one sitting and get away with it? She would have had to had known it would look incredibly suspicious right from the start with the common denominator being a meal she cooked.

Does she want to get caught?

 

[Sarahlou]

The thing that I don’t understand is that if she did do it, how did she think she could murder four people in one sitting and get away with it? She would have had to had known it would look incredibly suspicious right from the start with the common denominator being a meal she cooked.

Does she want to get caught?

Some people are just really not very bright.

 

[AliceInPain]

Her interaction with the media at her house just had me thinking of Gerard Baden-Clay when he fronted the media before he was charged.

It's an incredibly scary, panic- and anxiety inducing experience to be followed around by media like that.
I can't judge anyone from just watching and hearing anyone dealing with that, because innocent people may act like that too. We all react different to different situations.

I'm still waiting to find out if her statement to LE is true: "I bought the mushrooms at the supermarket."
Because if it is, goodbye to your freedom lady.

 

[Eloise]

The thing that I don’t understand is that if she did do it, how did she think she could murder four people in one sitting and get away with it? She would have had to had known it would look incredibly suspicious right from the start with the common denominator being a meal she cooked.

Does she want to get caught?

if there's one thing I've learned from being on WS for nearly 10 years, its that a lot of murderers aren't very smart. They thought everyone would buy their silly little cover story.

If she did this, I bet she just thought everyone would go "oh, yeah, accidental mushroom poisoning. That happens. So sad. Anyway,"

 

[nhmemorymaker]

Death cap mushrooms: why are they so toxic and how can poisoning be treated?

Eating even a very small amount of the mushrooms at the centre of the suspected poisoning in Victoria can be fatal, and treatment is often only effective if administered very quickly

www.theguardian.com

Informative article. I do love the Guardian.

 

[nhmemorymaker]

I mostly agree. They had a reason to look for it. The thing with poison though is that it's difficult to prove exclusive opportunity. If the poison got into the food by the malice of somebody else, that person could have planted the dehydrator and made the tip-off. Or else not planted it but taken advantage of its disposal, and, again, made the tip-off. But with the most recent articles about the beef wellington and the attempt to reconcile--and how loathsome to draw the parents into the argument--I am swinging the other way.

I can easily see her being set up from the get go.

Just a question: Do we have more details about HER inheritance....