Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #10 *Arrest*

[MsMarple]

1m ago

Erin sent photos of Asian grocery stores​

By Melissa Brown​

Ms Atkinson says she sent Erin some photos of a storefront and from inside a store taken by a council officer.

She asked Erin if they were familar.

She reads a text where Erin says the store wasn't familar and answered some questions about what the mushrooms looked like.

"They weren't whole like those shitake mushies in the photos, they were sliced. And yes the packaging was about half the size of that," Ms Atkinson said Erin wrote.

 

[katydid23]

1m ago

Erin questioned about the lunch​

By Melissa Brown​

Ms Atkinson says Erin told her she'd never made beef Wellingtons before but had wanted to make something "fancy" for her guests.

She says Erin told her she wasn't sure which store she'd bought the mushrooms from, saying "she'd driven around a lot" during the April school holidays when her children were at holiday activities.

Ms Atkinson says she asked Erin whether they'd been frozen and was told they hadn't been, but had been purchased dried and they'd been stored in a Tupperware container.

She says Erin described the alleged packaging the mushrooms had been bought in, but said that she didn't have the packaging any longer.

She says she bought them for a pasta meal but when she opened them she thought they had smelt funny. She says Erin said she didn't use them all so stored the rest.

So many little 'fake' details created. So they were bought for a pasta meal, but they 'smelled funny' ? And she didn't toss them?

So she uses them anyway, saves the rest. And no one got sick that time? So those weren't the culprits?

When asked whether that meant she'd used some, Ms Atkinson said it sounded that way.

 

[MsMarple]

1m ago

Erin says she shopped at Glen Waverley​

By Melissa Brown​

She says on August 3 she spoke to Erin about how she cooked the beef Wellingtons, including using a mushroom paste to cover the steaks.

Ms Atkinson says Erin said she used up all the paste and only cooked the lunch in one batch.

She says Erin described the mushrooms as sliced and of a similar colour to the button mushrooms she bought at Woolworths.

Ms Atkinson says Erin tried to narrow down where she may have gone in Oakleigh, Clayton and Glen Waverley, nominating areas of the suburbs where she'd likely visit.

Ms Atkinson says this is the first time Erin had mentioned Glen Waverley, that all previous discussions were about Mount Waverley.

 

[MsMarple]

1m ago

Pastry questioned before court adjourned for the day​

By Melissa Brown​

Ms Atkinson says she contacted Erin again to ask what type of pastry she'd used.

She says Erin responded that she used a combination of Pampas puffed pastry - leftovers in her freezer and a new package purchased from Woolworths.

She then followed up with a text saying she also used filo pastry.

Justice Beale then interrupted the questioning and said court would break for the day. The jury has now been shown out.

 

[katydid23]

I don't know why but I thought he had foraged for mushrooms with her previously.

Woops, my bad!

There was a statement like that previously, but I don't remember who said it.

 

[katydid23]

1m ago

Erin gives more details about the lunch to the health department​

By Melissa Brown​

Ms Atkinson says Erin claimed she needed a kilogram of mushrooms for the lunch recipe so she re-hydrated the dried mushrooms and added them to ones she bought from Woolworths.

Ms Atkinson says everyone had been served their meals individually.

The questioning turns to the children.

Ms Atkinson says Erin said the children were not there but that they'd eaten leftovers the next day.

But she says Erin said she scraped the mushrooms off because the children didn't like them.

If she had really served them meat that had been cooked with mushrooms, scraping them off would not have helped. They'd have been seriously ill or dead if that truly happened.

 

[tmar]

EP is continually changing facts, when questioned.
Perhaps she didn't think she would be questioned, and had not thought of answers beforehand.

You would think, if she was telling the truth, her story wouldn't be changing: she is not remembering, what she had previously stated, while trying to cover lies.

 

[MsMarple]

There was a statement like that previously, but I don't remember who said it.

As far as I remember it was only the unnamed family friend who said the Patterson family went foraging together every year. It was in a Daily Mail article, not testimony.

Maybe someone testified about it but I don’t recall anything. It’s a mystery.

As for today’s testimony it really shows how hard it is to keep track of lies vs telling the truth.

 

[Shortfusepsb]

If she had really served them meat that had been cooked with mushrooms, scraping them off would not have helped. They'd have been seriously ill or dead if that truly happened.

As would making the duxelles in one batch for all the lunches. Absolutely impossible to make it all in one batch, but only the guests portions contain the toxins.

 

[mamamama9873]

She says Erin told her the mushrooms had not been used in any previous meal because they "smelt funny" and she thought they'd overpower the pasta type dish she was making.

Making an elaborate and special dish like Beef Wellington with lots of effort and expenses involved, only to then hide “funny smelling mushrooms” in it

Another oddity that could possibly be explained and believable on its own but as part of the picture, it points to a clear motive behind in. MOO

 

[Deleted member 363451]

As far as I remember it was only the unnamed family friend who said the Patterson family went foraging together every year. It was in a Daily Mail article, not testimony.

Maybe someone testified about it but I don’t recall anything. It’s a mystery.

As for today’s testimony it really shows how hard it is to keep track of lies vs telling the truth.

I posted about it just before.

 

[MsMarple]

I posted about it just before.

Yes, thanks! My response was a bit clumsy, I should have referred to your post.

 

[MrJ]

If you’re going to lie you’d better have a good cover story and most importantly stick to it. The fact the accused changed her story multiple times as evidenced by today’s testimony makes me believe this is the true ‘panic’. And not the one her defence is saying IMO. Not asserting either guilt or innocence JMO

 

[Eloise]

"A close friend of the Patterson family told Daily Mail Australia she was known for going wild mushroom foraging around Victoria’s Gippsland region along with her ex-partner Simon and other relatives and was “very good” at it."

'Knew what to pick': Source's bombshell claim about mushroom cook

A new development in the case of the deadly mushroom poisoning that claimed three lives in Victoria has exposed the woman who cooked the lunch as an experience forager.

www.skynews.com.au

this is what we were all wondering about earlier because this hasn't been brought up in the trial and the DM is the only place I think that ever reported this (skynews is just repeating it)

 

[Yh5r]

1m ago

Ms Atkinson asks Simon if Erin foraged​

By Melissa Brown​

Ms Atkinson says she asked Simon Patterson whether Erin may have picked the mushrooms she'd used in the lunch herself and he said it wasn't something he'd ever known her to do.

Ms Atkinson says she later spoke to Erin. She says Erin told her she had started feeling sick around midnight after the lunch and then started having "explosive diarrhoea".

She says Erin said she started to feel better by Sunday afternoon so had a bowl of cereal but then felt worse.

She says Erin said she got her children ready for school on Monday and went to the hospital after dropping them off.

And more lies. The next day while she had "explosive diarrhoea", she took a 3 hour round trip to her son's flying lessons, bought coffee and unhealthy food (although all of it could have been for her son/ children) and spent a whole 9 seconds in the toilet.

The net is closing IMO.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

1m ago

Health department told of mushroom lunch​

By Melissa Brown​

Ms Atkinson says Dr McDermott told her there may be six people ill from a family event on July 29.

She says the number of cases was then clarified to five.

But she says Dr McDermott thought there might also have been two children who attended the event but he was unsure whether they consumed the lunch.

She says he told her they had all consumed mushrooms and he believed some of the mushrooms had been bought from an Asian grocery store in Oakleigh or Mt Waverley in April and stored frozen until they were used in July.

She says Dr McDermott told her four of the people were very unwell.

I wonder where the figure of 6 people came from? A coincidental mistake? There were 5 at the lunch, 6 diners was the intention, and if you include the children eating the leftovers that's 7, or 8 if you're including Simon who cancelled.

 

[Scuffy35]

this is what we were all wondering about earlier because this hasn't been brought up in the trial and the DM is the only place I think that ever reported this (skynews is just repeating it)

Yes, I think I posted it earlier as well (Post #76), plus another friend (or possibly the same friend) that said she had a collection or library of mushroom books.

 

[Old Soul]

If you’re going to lie you’d better have a good cover story and most importantly stick to it. The fact the accused changed her story multiple times as evidenced by today’s testimony makes me believe this is the true ‘panic’. And not the one her defence is saying IMO. Not asserting either guilt or innocence JMO

Yes, it appears the Health Officer, Sally Ann Atkinson, was already starting to notice some inconsistencies in EP’s answers to her questions about the mushrooms.

It would have been very frustrating that EP was not answering or returning calls and taking up to 24 hours to reply to text messages when Ms Atkinson believed potentially deadly mushrooms might have been on grocery store shelves in Victoria.

There is more detail about communications between EP and Ms Atkinson in the Daily Mail article.

Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates

Follow Daily Mail Australia's live coverage of accused mushroom chef Erin Patterson's murder trial here.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Ms Atkinson texted Patterson at 3.50pm on August 1.
'Hi Erin, Sally from the Department of Health here,' the message started.
Ms Atkinson asked in the text for specific information including other ingredients and what drinks were served.
'I need to know what drinks were served, I need to know what shallots were used.'
Ms Atkinson also told Patterson that she needed 'more precise information about the packaging' and 'any roads you were parked on or (were) near those stores' and other landmarks.
'Just things to think about when I need to speak to you again,' Ms Atkinson ended her message.
Patterson responded at 4.08pm on August 2:
'Hi Sally I will try to get that information all to you as soon as possible,' she wrote.
'I’m just dealing with trying to manage and look after the kids in hospital here and a bit snowed under trying to manage that.
'I’ll get this info to you as soon as I can but I've just been in a couple of meetings with people at the hospital when you’ve been trying to call.'
Ms Atkinson texted Patterson back barely a minute later and asked about the kids
'Yeah they're fine thank you,' Patterson responded at 4.11pm.
'Very glad to hear that,' Ms Atkinson immediately replied.

BBM: I thought August 2nd was dehydrator dumping and phone factory reset day. Children were checked out in hospital on July 31st and EP was discharged from hospital on August 1st at 1pm.

 

[JBowie]

this is what we were all wondering about earlier because this hasn't been brought up in the trial and the DM is the only place I think that ever reported this (skynews is just repeating it)

Well, either she did forage or she didn't (my strong feeling given her keen interest in mushrooms is that she did) and it surprises me that SP would not be aware of this.

I would have expected the prosecution to make this point, unless maybe they cannot locate a reliable witness.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

So many lies from her and changes in her story

“She said that Don and Gail had been like the parents she hadn’t had; her parents had died quite some time ago,” she told the jury.

“She cared and loved them very much


But then she says ...

‘ em’: Erin’s expletive rants about in-laws shown to court​

Messages allegedly sent from an account linked to Erin Patterson described her estranged husband, Simon, as a “deadbeat” dad and his parents as “a lost cause”, with one post declaring “I’m sick of this ” and “ em”, a court has heard.

Both things can be true: that he's a deadbeat and that she's allegedly a murderer.

Simon only paid $40 in child support a month. He claimed half her inheritance, half the money his siblings borrowed, was paid to him, and he stopped paying school fees

Her in-laws weren't supporting her

All this would have been a state of suppressed anger that's building up inside of her


The real catch is that neither she nor her kids died or even got sick, yet they supposedly all ate the same meal.

Under false pretences, she lured her in-laws to her house under a false cancer diagnosis

But for someone who is into true crime, you’d think that she’d do a way better job of covering her tracks.

The more that's coming out makes it highly unlikely, in my view this was an accident

‘Sick of this’: Erin Patterson told friends she wanted ‘nothing to do’ with in-laws, mushroom lunch trial hears

Victorian supreme court shown Facebook messages in which murder accused vents frustration at estranged husband’s parents

www.theguardian.com

https://www.heraldsun.com.au/truecrimeaustralia/police-courts-victoria/facebook-messages-about-estranged-husband-and-his-family-from-erin-erinerin-aired-in-court/news-story/c673ef0a3fdc76f448151f21c896e44b

Details of mushroom cook’s relationship with in-laws revealed

New details have been revealed in court on accused murderer Erin Patterson’s relationship with her former in-laws, who she allegedly served a poisonous lunch.

thenightly.com.au