Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #11 *Arrest*

[Detechtive]

And she was an air traffic controller and a math teacher? I have to believe she is very intelligent, logical and able to understand data and information.

She was feeding wild mushrooms she picked TO HER CHILDREN. How would she not educate herself about how to determine safe from deadly mushrooms?

How could she casually pick some Death Caps underneath some Oak trees when all the warnings about death caps include OAK trees as a red flag?

You're right, she is very intelligent. I know that still boggles peoples minds, because the way she has conducted herself in this alleged murder plot, seems to defy that. It even looks incredibly stupid from the outside.
But she is book smart, supremely logical, and methodical to a fault. The other side of her is histrionic, emotionally and socially immature, emotionally dysregulated, and grandiose. That is why we are seeing such duality, IMO.

 

[Detechtive]

I can't believe the absolute gall of Erin to, after Don mentions somebody he knows having throat cancer, respond with her own fake ovarian cancer spiel. It's just so vile, narcissistic and wrong to make someone else's health battle all about you, prompting her to share something that she knew was a lie. What a slap in the face to actual people going through cancer.

I would suggest that Don responded about his friends cancer journey after Erin's "cancer revelation". Probably empathising. IMO

 

[Jake18]

2m ago13.25 AEST
Mandy asks his client about what occurred next.

Patterson says she was told she needed to be transferred to Melbourne for treatment. She says she had a water bottle, bag and a warm jumper with her at the hospital.

She recalls trying to explain to medical staff why she could not go straight to Melbourne. She says she needed to make preparations for her daughter’s ballet and secure her pets at her house.

Patterson says she could not move her brain away from what she thought “the day was going to look like”.

She compares it to trying to “turn a really, really big ship.”

Patterson says she lived about 10 mins away from Leongatha hospital and told staff she could return quickly.

I think Erin describing how hard it was to “move her brain away” from her initial plan for the day describes her actual cognitive inflexibility/rigidity. Which is why, IMO, she poisoned her relatives because they weren’t doing what they wanted and she couldn’t let it go

 

[MrJ]

I would suggest that Don responded about his friends cancer journey after Erin's "cancer revelation". Probably empathising. IMO

Oh I see. That makes more sense. Still wrong of her to do that.

 

[SouthAussie]

Erin said she "reluctantly" helped nurse Simon back to health.

Thanks. Yes, I am sure he stayed at her house for a bit, while recovering. imo
I can't find the exact previous post at the moment, though I have searched on a few keywords. But I did find some other links about her participation after Simon's previous alleged poisoning incidents.


“I was in intensive care for 21 days, after which I was in the general ward for a week, and now I’m at a rehab place since last Saturday.”
In the social media post he mentioned Ms Patterson and his children were on their way to visit him.

Mushroom chef’s ex-husband reaches out to locals after nearly dying from mystery illness last year


Simon himself spent 21 days in intensive care after collapsing from the mystery stomach illness at his home in May 2022.
Throughout his stay in hospital, Erin kept his worried friends updated about his condition on social media.

Mushroom chef's Facebook messages leak

 

[MrJ]

Here we go.

Just now
We return from the break

By Joseph Dunstan

We're back, picking up at the Monday after the Saturday lunch, when Erin Patterson left Leongatha Hospital to attend to some home tasks.

She'd been told by doctors that she needed to go to Melbourne for tests but wanted to look after her pets first.

 

[LinasK]

Thanks. Yes, I am sure he stayed at her house for a bit, while recovering. imo
I can't find the exact previous post at the moment, though I have searched on a few keywords. But I did find some other links about her participation after Simon's previous alleged poisoning incidents.


“I was in intensive care for 21 days, after which I was in the general ward for a week, and now I’m at a rehab place since last Saturday.”
In the social media post he mentioned Ms Patterson and his children were on their way to visit him.

Mushroom chef’s ex-husband reaches out to locals after nearly dying from mystery illness last year


Simon himself spent 21 days in intensive care after collapsing from the mystery stomach illness at his home in May 2022.
Throughout his stay in hospital, Erin kept his worried friends updated about his condition on social media.

Mushroom chef's Facebook messages leak

Oh wow- so Munchausen's by Proxy IMO. This is just like Lacey Spears who was convicted of poisoning her son with salt and kept up with progress with online friends.

 

[Detechtive]

1:13 PM
Jun 04, 2025

Death caps exposure comments left cook 'puzzled'​

Erin says she couldn’t understand how death caps could be in the meal.
“I remember feeling very puzzled,” she says.
She says she was told she needed a specific type of medication and needed to be sent to Melbourne via ambulance.
“I felt really anxious and stressed and confused,” Erin says when asked how she about that.
“I felt really overwhelmed.”
Erin says she tried to explain that her kids were at school and that she needed to go home to organise a few things at first.
Asked what those things were, Erin says her daughter had a ballet rehearsal that afternoon so she wanted to pack her belongings for that.
She also wanted to put her lambs into a shelter to protect them from foxes.
“I remember (the hospital) wanting to know how long I would be,” she says.
“I think there was some kind of parameter about … ‘can you be back in 20 minutes, or half an hour’,” she says.

@MrJ I'll do the Herald updates if you want to do ABC?

 

[MrJ]

@MrJ I'll do the Herald updates if you want to do ABC?

Sounds good!

 

[MrJ]

Key Event
1m ago
Erin informs police where leftovers can be found

By Joseph Dunstan

Upon returning to the hospital, Erin says she had a brief chat with a doctor, before she was taken into the urgent care area and set up in a bed with a curtain.

Erin says she was speaking with the doctor when the children came up and he asked her if they'd eaten the meal.

She told him she'd served her children the leftovers, but she had "removed the pastry and mushrooms and fed them the meat and the potato and beans".

Mr Mandy asks her about a conversation with police, but Erin can't remember much except that she spoke to them at one point.

"I told [police] that the leftovers they were after, I had put them in the bin but couldn't remember if it was only into the kitchen bin, or they'd made it all the way out to the outside red bin," she says.

Erin says she gave them the gate code to get into the property and told them she could give them a key to get in or they could look for open windows.

 

[juliajjj]

But she is book smart, supremely logical, and methodical to a fault. The other side of her is histrionic, emotionally and socially immature, emotionally dysregulated, and grandiose. That is why we are seeing such duality, IMO.

Chef's kiss.

 

[Detechtive]

She told him she'd served her children the leftovers, but she had "removed the pastry and mushrooms and fed them the meat and the potato and beans".​

Ugh, simple math makes this impossible.. She cooked 6 Beef wellington "pies/pasties" by her own testimony.
4.5 were eaten on the day, 1.5 were found in the bin. Where did the other two magically come from? I hope the jurors are mathing.

 

[MrJ]

You silly woman!

Key Event
1m ago
Erin tells police mushrooms came from Asian grocer

By Joseph Dunstan

Erin says she tried to convey to police that she wasn't sure about the origins of the mushrooms, but that the origins were Woolworths and the Asian grocer.

She tells the court that it is "what I thought" at the time.

 

[L_B]

Didn't they find at least half a BW in the trash?
If she did "scrape" things off the leftovers to serve to the kids, one would imagine you have disassembled the BW to use all the meat.
So whose half BW is this, I assume hers if she says she only ate a bit?

 

[MsMarple]

3m ago05.26 BST
Mandy takes Patterson to when she left Leongatha hospital and went home.

Patterson agrees she told medical staff she would return in 20-30 minutes and that her medical records indicate she returned after about an hour and a half.

She recalls some of what she did:

“I lay down for a little bit. I went to the toilet a couple of times.”

Patterson says she did not leave the house during this time.

She says she brought a phone charger, a toothbrush and toothpaste to hospital and staff had told her she needed to be transferred to Melbourne.

Recalling the urgent care area, Patterson says she got into the bed in the cubicle and waited to be assessed.

She says the topic of her children and whether they had eaten the beef wellington came up in the conversation with Webster

“I would have told him not on the Saturday but on the Sunday they had the leftovers,” she says.

 

[Detechtive]

Didn't they find at least half a BW in the trash?
If she did "scrape" things off the leftovers to serve to the kids, one would imagine you have disassembled the BW to use all the meat.
So whose half BW is this, I assume hers if she says she only ate a bit?

They found one and a half in the trash.

 

[Detechtive]

'Check the bin': Erin told police where to find leftovers​

The trial has resumed after the lunch break.

After leaving the hospital to go home, Erin says she fed the animals, brought the dog in and organised her daughter’s ballet items.
“I lay down for a little bit, went to the toilet a couple of times,” she says.
The court heard hospital records showed Erin returned at 9.48am.
She says she would have packed a phone charger, toothbrush, toothpaste and other items because she knew she was being transferred to Melbourne.
Erin says she was brought into the urgent care centre and she was set up in a room with her own bed.
“I got into the bed and waited for them to come and assess me,” she says.
She recalls telling Dr Webster that her children had eaten the leftovers on Sunday night.
“I told him that I had removed the pastry and mushrooms and fed them the meat and the potato and beans,” she says.
Erin says she spoke to police on the phone at some point, telling them the leftovers were in either the kitchen bin or outside bin.
“They wanted the gate code to get into the property, so I gave them that and then said … check the outside bin or the inside bin,” she says.

 

[katydid23]

Just now
Erin chooses beef Wellington for lunch

By Joseph Dunstan

Erin says she went through "quite a long process" on what to cook, and while a shepherd's pie had been a hit in the past, that didn't seem "special enough" for this lunch.

"I remembered on really important occasions my mum would make beef Wellington when I was a kid and I thought ... I'll give it a go," she says.

Erin says she'd never made the dish before and confirms the recipe was from her RecipeTin Eats cookbook.

BBM. Ugh this gives me the creeps.

I just watched the video of the recipe EP said she used.

ALL of the mushrooms are chopped up, mixed together and then simmered in garlic and butter over medium heat. THERE IS NO WAY SHE COULD HAVE ESCAPED THE TOXINS IF SHE ATE HALF HER SERVING AS SHE CLAIMS.

ALL of the mushrooms are simmering together so everything will have toxins infused within them.

And she could not have scraped off the mushrooms and fed the leftover meat to her kids, without them being severely ill as well. The mushroom duxelles was spread on top of the meat and baked together, so the toxins would have infiltrated the meat.

 

[MrJ]

1m ago
Erin wanted to pick her children up personally

By Joseph Dunstan

Erin says she remembers wanting to go and get her children from school, which she says is "kind of absurd" upon reflection.

"But at the time, I was their mother and they're my children and I wanted to be responsible for them," she says.

At some stage over that morning, Erin says she had a chat with one of the doctors and asked "what was going on".

"Why do people think that it's death cap mushrooms? What is the situation of everybody? And she said that she couldn't tell me that because of privacy concerns, apart from the fact that none of them were her patients anyway," Erin says.

 

[Jake18]

You're right, she is very intelligent. I know that still boggles peoples minds, because the way she has conducted herself in this alleged murder plot, seems to defy that. It even looks incredibly stupid from the outside.
But she is book smart, supremely logical, and methodical to a fault. The other side of her is histrionic, emotionally and socially immature, emotionally dysregulated, and grandiose. That is why we are seeing such duality, IMO.

And this is why I think cross examination will go poorly. When questioned at the hospital, for example, she tried to just leave and had to be talked down/soothed by the hospital staff, although she still left. The prosecution will not be trying to settle her down!

Simon must have had the patience of a saint. I hope he is in a new relationship