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

[Charlot123]

So there could be a financial motive to knock him off, as well as anyone else who might benefit from his will...

Really. So unless her divorce was finalized in 2019 and her husband stands to get nothing from the divorce, here is your motive. They all say she's obsessed with him, but a woman who pays cash and invests wisely is more likely obsessed by the money.

 

[boomburger]

We all hope the poor guy survives, and I'm sure he'll have a lot to say to police.

Re gravy, traditionally the mushroom component of Beef Wellington is in a paste layer between the pastry and the meat centre, so it would have to be scraped away, which is what she claimed to have done when her children ate leftovers (allegedly because they don't like mushrooms).

Erin said her children were not present at the time of the meal, stating they had actually gone to the movies.

They ate the leftovers from the lunch the following night.

Erin said her children did not like mushrooms, so she “scraped” them off.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/erin-patterson-gives-new-account-of-deadly-meal-that-killed-three-in-suspected-mushroom-poisoning/news-story/f258a1c0bb9756bfa16d58a60e34f058

imo the death caps were dehydrated, turned into powder and mixed into a component of the dish which was completely separate to the meal itself so that she, and her kids that ate the leftovers, could avoid completely. My guess is there was a gravy of some kind that was poured onto all dishes except for her own and I imagine said gravy was poured down the sink afterward to prevent the kids having any later. I think she was hoping police would blame the mushrooms used in the Wellington itself and investigate the grocery that they were bought from. She's guilty imo

 

[Tortoise]

[...]

"1. Erin admitted to originally lying to police and 'panicked' by dumping the food dehydrator at a nearby tip, amid fears she would lose custody of her children."

Shock twist after mushroom poisoning as woman who cooked meal speaks

The woman who prepared a mushroom meal, which is thought to have caused the deaths of three individuals, says she purchased the mushrooms from both a supermarket and an Asian grocery store and was hospitalised herself after eating the meal.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I don't think this thought would ever cross my mind as a parent, if I had bought the mushrooms from a shop. I think this part of the statement could however be revealing of an issue she was already concerned about.

JMO

 

[Charlot123]

I wouldn't.

If it is a chain, then you name a store and a town this one is located in. It was a chain Asian store.

 

[Charlot123]

If she is guilty, I am absolutely perplexed she thought she would be able to pull this off.

I think she pulled some other things off before. She is a planner, she counts her money, and there was a reason beyond "obsessed" with Simon

 

[TootsieFootsie]

It was a chain Asian store.

New to me.

I've never heard of any chain asian food stores. I didn't know they existed,

 

[d0lphin]

Maybe she rarely went there and it was mainly to check up on the house.

Or maybe it's the opposite and she goes there often, frequenting more than one Asian supermarket so she can't remember which one she bought these particular mushrooms from.

 

[Inthedetails]

[...]

"1. Erin admitted to originally lying to police and 'panicked' by dumping the food dehydrator at a nearby tip, amid fears she would lose custody of her children."

Shock twist after mushroom poisoning as woman who cooked meal speaks

The woman who prepared a mushroom meal, which is thought to have caused the deaths of three individuals, says she purchased the mushrooms from both a supermarket and an Asian grocery store and was hospitalised herself after eating the meal.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I don't think this thought would ever cross my mind as a parent, if I had bought the mushrooms from a shop. I think this part of the statement could however be revealing of an issue she was already concerned about.

JMO

Seems like retro-fitting the story, imo.

Why indeed would you lose custody if a store sold you poisonous mushrooms? Makes no sense. (FWIW, I don't believe the store story at this point anyway.)

jmo

 

[Charlot123]

New to me.

I've never heard of any chain asian food stores. I didn't know they existed,

I don't live in Australia, but here is a chain Japanese store, popular in WA and OREGON

Uwajimaya Asian Market

Uwajimaya is an Asian market and grocery store providing the widest variety of Asian meats, seafood, produce and gifts. Locations in WA and OR.

www.uwajimaya.com

 

[Charlot123]

I always wonder if she used some antidote for herself, just in case. This is just one article but I read other ones. They just have to be used early on but she had the time

https://www.npr.org/sections/goatsandsoda/2023/05/17/1175494500/new-hope-for-an-antidote-to-death-cap-mushrooms-and-other-poison-fungi#:~:text=Mushroom%20poisonings%20are%20tough%20to,with%20no%20proven%20antidote%20available.

 

[Sarahlou]

[...]

"1. Erin admitted to originally lying to police and 'panicked' by dumping the food dehydrator at a nearby tip, amid fears she would lose custody of her children."

Shock twist after mushroom poisoning as woman who cooked meal speaks

The woman who prepared a mushroom meal, which is thought to have caused the deaths of three individuals, says she purchased the mushrooms from both a supermarket and an Asian grocery store and was hospitalised herself after eating the meal.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I don't think this thought would ever cross my mind as a parent, if I had bought the mushrooms from a shop. I think this part of the statement could however be revealing of an issue she was already concerned about.

JMO

Exactly. But it's something you'd be worried about if you knew you were guilty of deliberately poisoning people.

 

[SMK777]

[...]

"1. Erin admitted to originally lying to police and 'panicked' by dumping the food dehydrator at a nearby tip, amid fears she would lose custody of her children."

Shock twist after mushroom poisoning as woman who cooked meal speaks

The woman who prepared a mushroom meal, which is thought to have caused the deaths of three individuals, says she purchased the mushrooms from both a supermarket and an Asian grocery store and was hospitalised herself after eating the meal.

www.dailymail.co.uk

I don't think this thought would ever cross my mind as a parent, if I had bought the mushrooms from a shop. I think this part of the statement could however be revealing of an issue she was already concerned about.

JMO

I would agree.
If it was a terrible accident from tainted shop mushrooms, there would be no consciousness of guilt and no fear of losing your children.
No need to lie to police if you didn’t do anything wrong.

 

[SMK777]

Exactly. But it's something you'd be worried about if you knew you were guilty of deliberately poisoning people.

Absolutely.
I think it’s obvious to law enforcement.

 

[MsMarple]

Seems like retro-fitting the story, imo.

Why indeed would you lose custody if a store sold you poisonous mushrooms? Makes no sense. (FWIW, I don't believe the store story at this point anyway.)

jmo

Yes, it seems like a lot of alibi building IMO. She has an answer for everything:

The mushrooms must have been poisonous but I bought them months ago and don’t remember where.

My kids ate the Wellington but they don’t like mushrooms so I scraped them off.

I ate some too and got sick but only a little.

I threw out the dehydrator because I panicked when my ex husband asked if I used it to poison his relatives.

I lied to police about it because I was afraid I’d lose my children.

I told LE “no comment” initially because I got bad legal advice.

I’m finally talking because people are accusing me of wrongdoing.

Answers for everything. We’ve heard much about EP’s anxiety and panic but not so much about her efforts to assist LE in finding out what killed the people she claims to love.

The Department of Health would likely respond to potentially tainted mushrooms in Asian markets by seizing all supplies from Mt. Waverly shops. There would be notices in the news to warn anyone purchasing dried mushrooms from those shops in the last several months not to use them and to contact the department.

That hasn’t happened as far as I know and no one else has died from mushroom poisoning. Something is very wrong with EP’s story IMO.

Edited to add link.

Victorian woman at centre of suspected mushroom poisoning says she also went to hospital after eating meal

Erin Patterson tells police she bought the fungi from a supermarket chain and an Asian grocery store

www.theguardian.com

 

[Tbone144]

Relatives of the victims are disputing her statement.

Is she counting on him not making it to refute her testimony? Something about putting down the shovel already (if she’s really making it up).

 

[jepop]

Did she get the button mushrooms from Melbourne?
Because the Asian grocer ones she claims she bought in Melbourne at least 3 months ago, so I doubt she got them with this specific meal in mind.

My understanding is she has said she got the dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne several months ago and the button mushrooms fresh from a local store - I'm thinking she means the button mushrooms were bought recently/the day before or whenever but were bought with the wellington lunch in mind. She is saying that she also used the dried mushrooms when she cooked the lunch. Moo

 

[jepop]

Not sure about Australia and esp. that area, but in my city and state there's not that many Asian grocers only due to the fact that they're smaller and tend to be family-run (not chain stores like Trader Joe's or Kroger's).
So if there's only two stores or even a few more, Erin shouldn't have trouble remembering where the mushrooms were purchased ?

The surviving man will be able to say what was served, etc.
I'm curious if EP sat with them during the meal, and if so, did they ask her why she was eating something different, or was it a usual occurrence -- i.e., some people pre-prepare their meals when losing weight or watching calorie/sugars/carb intake for a condition like diabetes ?
Omo.

RBBM:EP hasn't claimed to have eaten something different. In her statement, she says that she ate a portion of the Beef Wellington. Plenty of links to her statement are posted up thread. Moo

EBM: spelling

 

[SMK777]

The Department of Health would likely respond to potentially tainted mushrooms in Asian markets by seizing all supplies from Mt. Waverly shops. There would be notices in the news to warn anyone purchasing dried mushrooms from those shops in the last several months not to use them and to contact the department.

That hasn’t happened as far as I know and no one else has died from mushroom poisoning. Something is very wrong with EP’s story IMO.

It’s extremely telling, yes.

 

[kittythehare]

Really. So unless her divorce was finalized in 2019 and her husband stands to get nothing from the divorce, here is your motive. They all say she's obsessed with him, but a woman who pays cash and invests wisely is more likely obsessed by the money.

Mushroom cook says she bought fungi from Asian grocer and her children ate the lunch leftovers

Erin Patterson told police she, too, was sick from the beef Wellington lunch that police suspect killed her former in-laws and another relative.

www.watoday.com.au

 

[kittythehare]

Has the toxicology returned on the victims or was any intermediate testing carried out prior to samples being submitted for full tox screening?