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

[LadyL]

"Patterson has told police she purchased a package of mushrooms from an Asian grocery store in Mount Waverley at least three months before the lunch. The package of mushrooms she bought was hand-labelled, she said.

For the meal, the rehydrated mushrooms were mixed with other mushrooms purchased from a supermarket and cooked into the beef Wellington dish."

So why did she need to use a dehydrator, when the mushrooms were rehydrated?

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

why did she need to throw the dehydrator out if she didn't use it?

 

[Ellery84]

If traces of poisonous mushrooms come up in it..it sure will be.

The good news here is police have it and the test will be done to yay or nay it.

IMO that is all they are waiting for now...tests on that kitchen dehydrator.

That will free or fry her.

I quite appreciate your cooking analogy. I agree, that food dehydrator will be a key piece of evidence either way. IMHO

 

[DeDee]

Erin speaking has revealed that her children did not attend the luncheon as they went to a movie. Her children later ate some BW but scraped the mushrooms off.

She bought and kept mushrooms for 3 months, then rehydrated them with the dehydrating machine?

She fell ill 2 days after the luncheon, and was treated by the hospital with meds that protected her liver.

Case closed. She didn't forage for poisonous mushrooms. She used mushrooms purchased at an Asian market months prior. She got ill, too. She is very sorry her loved ones fell ill and died.

JMO

 

[Ellery84]

Yes funny that, hmmmm...@tootsie

Imagine if she’s innocent and she’s had her children taken away anyway… that would be totally devastating.

Although on the other hand: It seems like authorities have to some extent “woken up” since 2014 and are putting the safety of children above the “charm” and “vibe” of these persons of interest in serious crimes…
All imho

 

[kittythehare]

why did she need to throw the dehydrator out if she didn't use it?

Possibly because she was so taken aback at his attack on her almost immediately..

Woman who cooked suspected poisoned meal details where she bought mushrooms

The woman who cooked a meal that is believed to have contained poisonous mushrooms and led to the deaths of three people gives a lengthy written statement to police detailing her account of what happened, and revealing she was hospitalised after the incident.

www.abc.net.au

 

[jepop]

not at all sure the hostility continued after they divorced in 2021?
She may well have disposed of it because it was simply malfunctioning or she had decided to buy a new one or a better one.

I'm not seeing evidence for a case against her from what I have read so far.

I suppose it's possible but doesn't her statement include her husband chiding her and accusing her of poisoning her in laws at some point that week in the hospital? And then she says - as a result of that - she went and dumped the dehydrator? Moo

 

[JLZ]

Yes funny that, hmmmm...

You think he goaded her into a panicked disposal?

 

[k-mac]

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

The statement says that when her four guests were hospitalised, Patterson told the Department of Health where she had purchased the mushrooms, and confirmed that samples recovered from the Asian grocery store in containers with handwritten labels were the same as the type she had purchased months before.

So LE went and got a sample from the accused Asian store and showed them to Erin and she 'confirmed"..yeah yeah yeah...they are the same as the ones I bought months ago.


Interesting nobody else has died from mushroom poisoning from this store???
Hand labelled batches would assume easy cross contamination.

Good old look there..not here.

 

[kittythehare]

I suppose it's possible but doesn't her statemnet include her husband chiding her and accusing her of poisoning her in laws at some point that week in the hospital? And then she says - as a result of that - she went and dumped the deydrator? Moo

I could see that happening if the attack on her was totally without provocation and she was entirely innocent and shocked..

she might well have..
also possible she did it to stop anybody else placing poison in it in an attempt to blame her.

Woman who cooked suspected poisoned meal details where she bought mushrooms

The woman who cooked a meal that is believed to have contained poisonous mushrooms and led to the deaths of three people gives a lengthy written statement to police detailing her account of what happened, and revealing she was hospitalised after the incident.

www.abc.net.au

 

[Jess M.]

I find it strange she would buy fresh mushrooms for the dish, and also remember to pull out months old dehydrated mushrooms to add to it.I wonder how they were stored.

Edit: if dehydrated ones are supposedly best, and she was a good cook, and she wanted to impress her guests with her meal, you’d think she would go and purchase enough new dehydrated mushrooms so she didn’t have to substitute with button.

For me it’s one or the other. You go and buy enough dehydrated mushrooms, or you would use all fresh button mushrooms.

I agree. You wouldn't need to use both. I smell BS.

 

[k-mac]

I quite appreciate your cooking analogy. I agree, that food dehydrator will be a key piece of evidence either way. IMHO

lol food not kitchen oops!

 

[Jess M.]

not at all sure the hostility continued after they divorced in 2021?
She may well have disposed of it because it was simply malfunctioning or she had decided to buy a new one or a better one.

I'm not seeing evidence for a case against her from what I have read so far.

So after 3 people dying after attending her lunch and a 4th one critical in hospital, she thought to travel miles to the local tip the following day to dispose of a malfunctioning dehydrator? Please...

 

[LadyL]

maybe the ones she didn't use in the dish were dehydrated.
no other reason to use a dehydrator to cook the meal, she rehydrated the Asian food store mushrooms.

unless the dehydrator was multifunction and also worked as a hydrator.
Is that a possibility?

I'm not seeing guilt here.
I think it's normal that she be investigated as she cooked the food..
But what was her motive?
There isn't one, is there?

Dumping dehydrator could just have been normal dumping because it was broken or whatever.

She was independently wealthy, had quite a property portfolio in her own name.. didn't need money and no evidence she would have benefited from the estates of the dead, is there?

she dumped it after her husband asked her if that's what she used to poison them - she didn't mention anything about it being broken - she said she panicked - so it wasn't 'normal dumping'

as far as motive - I'm sticking with Munchausens with maybe a side order of revenge and possibly greed too since her children are likely in their grandparent's wills and that would benefit her, even if only to save on college funds - she could also have been planning in the back of her mind how to finally get rid of the husband after his parents were gone in which case her children would inherit even more - if I were him, I'd be checking that my car brakes haven't been tampered with etc.

JMO

ETA: she could also have a master plan to get rid of the children too in which case all the money comes to her

 

[TootsieFootsie]

If anything happens and I have to produce a grocery receipt I can go to my receipt box and it will be there.

Plus I didn't mention that I have had food poisoning a couple of times in my life.

Once was from a french restaurant when we were on a trip. I ate prawns.

We tried to head home but I just got so bad I needed to lie down and have a toilet near.

We checked into a Motel. The toilet was blocked up LOL. I don't remember all the details because I felt like hell.

We didn't hear in the news about anyone else getting sick and didn't do anything about it.

My then husband was pretty angry at me because I was "delaying" us returning home.

Three days of feeling like I was going to die, on top of being yelled at

He kept saying he didn't feel at all sorry for me because I brought it on myself by ordering the prawns.


The other time was after having breakast at a backpackers. It was just bacon, eggs and toast. I think it was likely traces from the crockery or utensils.
Didn't hear of anyone else getting sick.

Maybe some people can eat what everyone else eats and not be affected ?

 

[Jess M.]

He sounds charming.

Well, he nearly died last year from a mysterious gastric illness and allegedly always got sick after he had been with her...

 

[Jess M.]

Plus I didn't mention that I have had food poisoning a couple of times in my life.

Once was from a french restaurant when we were on a trip. I ate prawns.

We tried to head home but I just got so bad I needed to lie down and have a toilet near.

We checked into a Motel. The toilet was blocked up LOL. I don't remember all the details because I felt like hell.

We didn't hear in the news about anyone else getting sick and didn't do anything about it.

The other time was after having breakast at a backpackers. It was just bacon, eggs and toast. I think it was likely traces from the crockery or utensils.
Didn't hear of anyone else getting sick.

Maybe some people can eat what everyone else eats and not be affected ?

Not if they have eaten toxic mushrooms...

 

[Ellery84]

Plus I didn't mention that I have had food poisoning a couple of times in my life.

Once was from a french restaurant when we were on a trip. I ate prawns.

We tried to head home but I just got so bad I needed to lie down and have a toilet near.

We checked into a Motel. The toilet was blocked up LOL. I don't remember all the details because I felt like hell.

We didn't hear in the news about anyone else getting sick and didn't do anything about it.

The other time was after having breakast at a backpackers. It was just bacon, eggs and toast. I think it was likely traces from the crockery or utensils.
Didn't hear of anyone else getting sick.

Maybe some people can eat what everyone else eats and not be affected ?

There will be a public health department of the major universities in Melbourne. They’re probably already knee deep into this.

IMO the advice of epidemiologists and Public Health doctors advice will be paramount in this case.

 

[jepop]

I'm a receipt keeper.

If anything happens and I have to produce a grocery receipt I can go to my receipt box and it will be there.

Every couple of years I go through and throw out the grocery ones.
I always ask for a receipt in the stores.

Anyway I know that most people throw them out and I used to til there was a big case in the news and some food item was recalled. I still had the product but had thrown the receipt away.

Since then I keep them for quite awhile.

As long as she paid by card, her purchases can be verified no problem. And I think police will be able to access her bank records to check that out - as she is a POI/suspect and cooked the meal. They'll need to do that as part of the verification process.Moo

 

[Jess M.]

she dumped it after her husband asked her if that's what she used to poison them - she didn't mention anything about it being broken - she said she panicked - so it wasn't 'normal dumping'

as far as motive - I'm sticking with Munchausens with maybe a side order of revenge and possibly greed too since her children are likely in their grandparent's wills and that would benefit her, even if only to save on college funds - she could also have been planning in the back of her mind how to finally get rid of the husband after his parents were gone in which case her children would inherit even more - if I were him, I'd be checking that my car brakes haven't been tampered with etc.

JMO

Funny how she cared for her husband for 3 weeks after he got sick last year, reluctantly she states. So why did she want to reconcile with him then? Lot's not adding up here...

 

[Jess M.]

I wonder if her lawyer's name rhymes with Sally?