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

[Estelle]

Could EP have given them mushroom soup as a starter?

 

[Sarahlou]

Confirms ex-husband was in icu 3 weeks last year with illness with similar symptoms. Also source says police investigating a food dehydrator disposed of at local tip.

Oh this is not looking good. Looks like she couldn’t get rid of the ex so went for his parents

Yep, looks that way to me. I think that's just too much of a coincidence that the ex was in hospital with similar symptoms.
I think it was deliberate.

 

[SusanDonim]

It's just my opinion, but I'm always uncomfortable when I see an interview with someone who sounds like they are crying but there are absolutely no tears....

And looks at their hand for tears...

 

[Jess M.]

It could still turn out to be a terrible mistake, ie mistaking the mushrooms for ok ones.

I can imagine getting into a panic if it was you who prepared and cooked the meal and someone died.

Would it be normal to try and cover up what happened even if you mistook the mushrooms for safe ones.

If someone died and I prepared the meal, I'd probably think that these days I'd go to jail even if it was just a terrible mistake.


And the ex, we don't know the cause of what happened to him.

So why dump the dehydrator at the tip?

 

[annpats]

Could they have been raw in a salad? If she used a hydrator, perhaps she had dried them to preserve them and that was used to hydrate them to add them to a salad.

It was a de-hydrator.

To make them dry, and lose their juice.

 

[Jess M.]

Will be interested to find out more of the details on this one. I do believe it's possible to do this accidentally (didn't author Nicholas Evans have this happen to him and friends/family?), but it is currently sounding quite odd that the cook managed to avoid it herself.

But maybe the fact her ex was ill a year ago is actually a sign that she's 'merely' careless/negligent?

Once could be an accident. Twice....

 

[kiwi50]

It's just my opinion, but I'm always uncomfortable when I see an interview with someone who sounds like they are crying but there are absolutely no tears....

Yes that stuck out like the proverbial to me.
Better to not pretend to cry.

 

[Jess M.]

I also found this:

Using Dried Mushrooms

In the midst of this dry California summer, we find ourselves in a short lull between local wild mushroom seasons. It is a fitting time, therefore, to take a look at mushrooms in their dried form. Fresh mushrooms are 80% water, and when you remove that, you are left with a highly concentrated...

farwestfungi.com

“Dried mushrooms tend to be very brittle, so it takes almost no effort to crush them into powder. In this form, they make excellent additions to spice blends, meat rubs, and brines. They can be added to flour for savory baking, or making fresh pasta.”

Could EP have given them mushroom soup as a starter?

And a finisher.

 

[Jess M.]

Police are forensically testing the dehydrator found at a local tip to see if it was used to prepare the meal.

Police request CCTV at tip in mushroom poisoning investigation

www.9news.com.au

 

[Kemug]

I am wondering what Simon, the ex, is feeling and thinking. He nearly died, and now both his parents have just died. His ex, or soon to be ex, is suspected. Does he also suspect her? I think he may be very relieved that the children have been removed from her care. That's probably the only positive thought he has at the moment.

 

[Jess M.]

I am wondering what Simon, the ex, is feeling and thinking. He nearly died, and now both his parents have just died. His ex, or soon to be ex, is suspected. Does he also suspect her? I think he may be very relieved that the children have been removed from her care. That's probably the only positive thought he has at the moment.

It's a very sad situation. The victims would have had an excruciating death.

 

[LaborDayRN]

Once could be an accident. Twice....

is a pattern. IMO

 

[JLZ]

Yep, looks that way to me. I think that's just too much of a coincidence that the ex was in hospital with similar symptoms.
I think it was deliberate.

I think it is a stretch to say that Simon had similar symptoms. There just isn't enough information to say his symptoms were consistent with food poisoning. He had emergency surgery to the small intestine, repeated several times. Perhaps an obstruction with removal of diseased tissue.

 

[mirage1]

She is guilty imo. Her performance infront of the cameras telling us how upset she was, is just another red flag, common with these types of killers.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/locals-trying-to-fathom-what-lies-behind-fatal-mushroom-poisonings/news-story/d8507cb665b54f1cad580abbdf234144?amp

Mushroom poisonings leave Victorian towns of Leongatha and Korumburra divided​

​

Behind paywall. Posting it here for those who subscribe.

 

[vls12345]

From:

Who's Who in the 'poisonous mushrooms' country lunch case

Erin Patterson, 48, invited Don and Gail Patterson and Heather and Ian Wilkinson to lunch at her Leongatha home, in Victoria's Gippsland region, on July 29.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Kemug]

I suppose it is possible that EP did poison her husband and then his parents. I don't even say probable, but possible. Everything is possible. Maybe ex-hubby left her for someone else, and she wanted to punish him. And perhaps then she wanted to punish his parents for siding with him. And because the ex hadn't died, she didn't think the in-laws would die either. Not very bright, but perhaps she isn't. Although for all I know, she could be a member of Mensa. All the above is just my random thought process, at the moment I have yet to form a definite opinion on guilt or innocence.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Mushroom poisoning twist: Lunch guest pulled out 'at the last minute'

The ex-husband of a woman who hosted a poisonous lunch where four people fell ill - three of whom have since died - had been invited to the deadly lunch.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[MerBeach]

I'm pretty sure this was a Midsomer Murders plot once. But I guess most everything here was a variant of a Midsomer Murders plot once.

That’s what immediately came to my mind. "Midsomer Murders" Destroying Angel (TV Episode 2001) 7.9 | Crime, Drama, Mystery

 

[GoneGoldfishin']

Mushroom poisoning twist: Lunch guest pulled out 'at the last minute'

The ex-husband of a woman who hosted a poisonous lunch where four people fell ill - three of whom have since died - had been invited to the deadly lunch.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I figured that would be the case. Moo.