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

[SMK777]

Do you have a link to an article/report that says that she drove there?

I will try and find it, but I did see it in a News Nation report.

Law enforcement are looking at her for a reason. Certainly not because hospital officials said it could be from hundreds of things.

They have stated repeatedly that they suspect death cap mushroom poisoning.

The medical officials do NOT argue with this.

It speaks volumes.

 

[jjleroche]

The deaths of the Victorians are being investigated by police, who are awaiting toxicology results to confirm the cause — but they have said the symptoms were consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning. [bbm]

'I thought it was the end': Death cap mushroom survivor recounts brush with death

With the country gripped by the mystery surrounding the death of three elderly Victorians from suspected death cap mushroom poisoning, Simon Claringbold knows better than most how dangerous the fungus can be.

www.abc.net.au

So, the toxicology results have not yet been received?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

The deaths of the Victorians are being investigated by police, who are awaiting toxicology results to confirm the cause — but they have said the symptoms were consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning. [bbm]

'I thought it was the end': Death cap mushroom survivor recounts brush with death

With the country gripped by the mystery surrounding the death of three elderly Victorians from suspected death cap mushroom poisoning, Simon Claringbold knows better than most how dangerous the fungus can be.

www.abc.net.au

thank you for this link

I personally think this story has been a run away train and it's unlike WS members and the media to go so full pelt with a theory and accuse someone so openly like this.

It will be quite surprising and a bit laughable if the poison identified isn't anything to do with mushrooms and isn't the fault of E, after everything she's been put through.

Let's watch it unfold.

 

[SMK777]

@Observe_dont_Absorb

Where are the hospital officials refuting this?

Victoria Police Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said it wasn’t clear what type of mushrooms the guests had eaten, but their symptoms were consistent with those from a death cap, a particularly deadly variety.

Wild Australian mushrooms may have killed 3 at family lunch

Investigators say the incident “could be very innocent” but they “just don’t know.”

www.newsnationnow.com

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

So, the toxicology results have not yet been received?

No. That's the joke of it all because the world wide media has already got this woman convicted of mushroom poisoning murder and we don't even have verified evidence that it's from mushrooms or what kind of toxin it was at all yet.

Usually on WS we stick to verified published facts from authorised MSM sources. So this case is a little 'trippy', like mushrooms, so far!

It's going to be a strange life for this poor woman if she *didn't* finish off her friends with deadly mushrooms.

 

[SMK777]

I wonder if there will be an arrest this week?

I hope there will be, so all the speculation won’t be so scattered.
I’d be curious to know what was found on her phone and devices, and any cctv.

 

[SMK777]

It's going to be a strange life for this poor woman if she *didn't* finish off her friends with deadly mushrooms.

It certainly will be.
But I don’t think that’s going to be the case.

 

[k-mac]

thank you for this link

I personally think this story has been a run away train and it's unlike WS members and the media to go so full pelt with a theory and accuse someone so openly like this.

It will be quite surprising and a bit laughable if the poison identified isn't anything to do with mushrooms and isn't the fault of E, after everything she's been put through.

Let's watch it unfold.

Once the police announce a suspect publically its free game on WS
Why wouldn't we sleuth her suspiciously??

She has acted highly suspect.
The scrutiny is fair.

 

[jjleroche]

I agree but at the same time, I would speculate that thousands of poisons would cause liver and kidney failure and if the poisoning was intentional and targeted it could have just as easily been put in a chocolate biscuit or a cup of coffee.

The ex husband has mentioned a different poison from a plant. I don't know how that particular one he said works but assume that if someone knows all about poisons, anything they serve up could be the culprit.

Also, what if E was set up to look like she was the poisoner when in fact it was someone else?

Does anyone know, has there been any evidence of the dehydrator being taken to the dump or is that a non verified story thus far?

I was wondering the same thing. I know the "dehydrator at the dump" story has been reported frequently, but IIRC, this story has not been provided by any official sources to date.

 

[Kemug]

I'm still keeping my mind open to all possibilities.

Well, I'm trying to.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

@Observe_dont_Absorb

Where are the hospital officials refuting this?

Victoria Police Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said it wasn’t clear what type of mushrooms the guests had eaten, but their symptoms were consistent with those from a death cap, a particularly deadly variety.

Wild Australian mushrooms may have killed 3 at family lunch

Investigators say the incident “could be very innocent” but they “just don’t know.”

www.newsnationnow.com

Erm, OK, so first things first, I have never said hospital officials refuted anything have I? Why would hospital officials refute things? What even are 'hospital officials'? Why would anyone who works in a hospital with sick and dying people think it's their place to speak to the media about a possible murder investigation?

Secondly, usually a medical professional or scientist wouldn't comment or refute a story in the media anyway, it's not their job. It's LE who drip feed us the facts. We're waiting on forensic toxicology and pathology surely? Nothing to do with hospitals.

Thirdly, it seems quite clear that someone somewhere has alleged poisonous mushrooms and thus far they cannot be ruled out and are ruled in. ie. nobody knows but it's certainly possible. Even what was actually eaten at lunch transpires to be a piece of leaked info from a friend of a victim and is not verified fact. So, we don't really know if they did eat Beef Wellington with mushrooms. Probably did but it's not a known fact.

We can only wait until we're dealing with verified facts from reliable sources. I'm curious to know where this mushroom theory came from as it seems that someone is claiming to have inside info and has applied a convincing narrative.

Let's see?

 

[JBowie]

I was wondering the same thing. I know the "dehydrator at the dump" story has been reported frequently, but IIRC, this story has not been provided by any official sources to date.

As I understand it, VIC Police themselves have not made any statement relating to the dehydrator.

Police investigating the suspected mushroom poisoning deaths of three people and the serious illness of a fourth have spent the day combing a local tip [garbage transfer station] after finding a food dehydrator.

Police are forensically testing the dehydrator, which was first seized from the Koonwarra transfer station.

9News understands the dehydrator was seized by police from a bin on Friday.

Detectives returned to the site today to speak with employees and ask for CCTV footage.

Police request CCTV at tip in mushroom poisoning investigation

www.9news.com.au

 

[Kemug]

This case keeps reminding me of the woman who gathered castor beans in the garden of her retirement home, created some kind of concoction, and fed the mixture to fellow residents. She even tried it out first on some residents to see if it would work. There was never any reason that to me sounded like a viable motive.

But I keep thinking something like that went on here: she tried various ways and this one (either deliberately or by accident) ended up with fatalities. Perhaps we’re even looking at ricin, and not mushrooms or nightshade.

The castor bean case is here:

Elderly Woman Makes Ricin And Tests It On Neighbors

A woman in Vermont made ricin and tested it on her neighbors living at a senior living facility.

www.newsweek.com

You see where our "enquiring minds" might lead us?

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Once the police announce a suspect publically its free game on WS
Why wouldn't we sleuth her suspiciously??

She has acted highly suspect.
The scrutiny is fair.

Oh certainly she's declared a suspect and people can sleuth her if I'm understanding how WS works.

But in my observation, usually people are a bit more strict on ensuring 'information' is verified fact before running with it and here we have a whole story that's slightly got ahead of itself in my personal opinion, each to their own.

But I shall probably have a private and inappropriate giggle to myself if it turns out the four friends ate some random berries they picked earlier in the day or something. I once read a case of an elderly couple who were poisoned and it really went into far flung theories as to who was trying to murder them. What had actually happened is they'd foraged berries that they were convinced were blueberries, stored them in the freezer (which in this particular berry intesifies the poisonous quality), then baked them in a pie (which even more amplifies the toxicity) and eaten some of the pie months and months after they'd originally picked the berries. Anyway they survived but not until after tripping out for four days and they were found disheveled and dehydrated halucinating and running riot.

 

[Kemug]

Do they have individual ones you can buy in shops? I'm thinking the scale and look of a Cornish pastry. This would have been easy to stage in such a way that Erin didn't eat any or what she ate didn't have the toxic mushrooms.

IMO this recipe was developed in a time when households had armies of servants. Alas, I don't have a single one any more. Sigh.

Yes, so hard to find good help these days, as they say. Although I'd be happy with any!

 

[Jess M.]

Erm, OK, so first things first, I have never said hospital officials refuted anything have I? Why would hospital officials refute things? What even are 'hospital officials'? Why would anyone who works in a hospital with sick and dying people think it's their place to speak to the media about a possible murder investigation?

Secondly, usually a medical professional or scientist wouldn't comment or refute a story in the media anyway, it's not their job. It's LE who drip feed us the facts. We're waiting on forensic toxicology and pathology surely? Nothing to do with hospitals.

Thirdly, it seems quite clear that someone somewhere has alleged poisonous mushrooms and thus far they cannot be ruled out and are ruled in. ie. nobody knows but it's certainly possible. Even what was actually eaten at lunch transpires to be a piece of leaked info from a friend of a victim and is not verified fact. So, we don't really know if they did eat Beef Wellington with mushrooms. Probably did but it's not a known fact.

We can only wait until we're dealing with verified facts from reliable sources. I'm curious to know where this mushroom theory came from as it seems that someone is claiming to have inside info and has applied a convincing narrative.

Let's see?

 

[DeDee]

A fatal Victorian mushroom lunch, which has killed three people and left another person fighting for their life...

< > toxicologist and University of Melbourne’s director of emergency medical research George Braitberg to issue a blunt warning against foraging in Australia.

“Do not forage for mushrooms in Australia,” he said. < >

According to figures from the Department of Health and Human Services Victoria, 19 people across the state were admitted to hospital this year due to mushroom poisonings, in figures dated to June 30.

In 2022, 23 people attended hospitals for the same reason, however the government department said figures may be subject to future updates.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/br...1/news-story/f8e041a630d68f84595f8adca13bae54

Claringbold mistakingly believed they were harmless when he picked them from his backyard, and his wife prepared them dinner.

“Seven days into it was probably the worst,” he recalled. “That’s when I started to black out, just see the tunnel vision and lights. I was lying down and was just barely conscious. I was preparing for the end, I really thought it was the end. The lights were starting to go out.”

The mushrooms typically grow under oak trees.

I accidentally ate the mushrooms that killed 3 in Australia — how I survived

 

[Jess M.]

Oh certainly she's declared a suspect and people can sleuth her if I'm understanding how WS works.

But in my observation, usually people are a bit more strict on ensuring 'information' is verified fact before running with it and here we have a whole story that's slightly got ahead of itself in my personal opinion, each to their own.

But I shall probably have a private and inappropriate giggle to myself if it turns out the four friends ate some random berries they picked earlier in the day or something. I once read a case of an elderly couple who were poisoned and it really went into far flung theories as to who was trying to murder them. What had actually happened is they'd foraged berries that they were convinced were blueberries, stored them in the freezer (which in this particular berry intesifies the poisonous quality), then baked them in a pie (which even more amplifies the toxicity) and eaten some of the pie months and months after they'd originally picked the berries. Anyway they survived but not until after tripping out for four days and they were found disheveled and dehydrated halucinating and running riot.

And some on here will have to eat humble pie if and when EM is arrested...

 

[Kemug]

Indeed they have but she's a very obvious suspect - the only living and unharmed adult who was in the home at the time.

I wonder if they're going to be able to back up that idea with any evidence and have sufficient grounds to charge her. I suspect not because my argument is that nobody can be sure where those people went before and after the meal and whether someone else poisoned them in a different manner than the very obvious one.

Even if she did this, I don't think they could get a conviction unless there's some proof / evidence over and above that 'they were poisoned'.

Yes but - omo, but I really don't see the victims going somewhere else before their lunch. Not when they lived in country towns probably no more than 10 mins away. Surely each couple would just leave their respective homes, and drive the short distance to EP's home. Plus the couples weren't of the generation that has to meet for coffee at every opportunity. Likewise after the lunch. JMO

 

[Kemug]

Absolutely.
Do you know where that information was?
I missed that.
But it may be they saw her on cctv, and the probable cause which allowed them to seize her phone and computer.

Do small towns in Australia really have CCTV at their rubbish dumps? Seems unlikely to me, but what would I know?