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

[browneyes]

Oh,  she's finished. But no, he's not done with his direct. I can't imagine what's left for her to say but she's going to say it anyway. I think she thinks she sounds credible which I find incredible.

I hope she brought a cork for cross.

JMO

What’s next…her favorite color?

 

[Detechtive]

Oh,  she's finished. But no, he's not done with his direct. I can't imagine what's left for her to say but she's going to say it anyway. I think she thinks she sounds credible which I find incredible.

I hope she brought a cork for cross.

JMO

I was listening to the ABC podcast today, and the way they frame her testimony sounds like they are taking it on face value that it’s true. Eg they’re not saying “Erin claims she was scared”, they’re saying “Erin was scared”. It’s irritating me.
I hope the cross is relentlessly illuminating.

 

[MsMarple]

IMO - Police have decided better to prove her culpability here first, as this is the only case they have compelling test results to substantiate their claims again her.

IF they get a conviction here, they may then bring back the other charges re Simon - or not

I’ve also wondered if those charges regarding attempted murder of Simon could have been put on hold for now in order to leave the option open for later.

If she’s found not guilty it allows the prosecution another chance at trial. If she’s found guilty it could also be kept in the wings as she appeals the verdict.

As far as we know Simon’s ills were from a completely different type of poison (allegedly) so it would be a whole new investigation. Of course it would depend upon the evidence collected.

 

[MsMarple]

In witness box … ErinErinErin has an answer to everything.
I predict that on cross examination she will have a lot of emotion and memory loss.

Things I would ponder -
1. Why is EP so obsessed with mushrooms…. They have lately become a “superfoood” “packed” with nutrition. But really, no one’s life is going to change from having powdered and chopped mushrooms added to everything. They are simply not that nutritious.
2. Supermarket mushrooms are always available & mostly inexpensive - why dry these?
3. Foraged mushrooms - why did she combine them? Foraged mushrooms are the kind of thing you would label (type, date, location?) - so you would know what you have for your recipe. Especially since you have sliced & dried, they would lose identity.
4. She tasted the duxelles - it was bland, she addded the DC - did she not taste it again? Ingesting the DC hours before the lunch, hours before bulimia-vomiting. It would not be huge amount but she would defo have tried it.
4. Second dose of DC …Then she got a second amount, in her GI tract for … dessert with the group, saying good bye, talking to her returning child, eating an almost whole cake. An hour at least? Vomit a A full clear out?
5. Smugly … the police missed the phones and didn’t switch off so I wiped it …. And so DID NOT Cooperate with the investigation! EP kept the secret til trial?
6. Pooping in the woods … seriously and put the tissue it in a bag and put it in handbag & dispose at petrol station? Poo in a dog poo bag still stinks and every dog owner knows this. she’s driving with diarrhea smell and son never mentions? She also forgot to mention washing her hands at petrol station - because she didn’t.
She was chucking the poisoned Beef Wellington leftovers. And her son did not mention poo in the woods.

IMO
She wanted Simon back. With no in-laws controlling him, or praying … he would be desperate and want his family back. He would have no one … but Erin to take care of him in his grief, (he would see how good she is..)

Yeah, mushroom obsessed Erin throws a bunch of stinky “Chinese” mushrooms into a Tupperware container of foraged mushrooms she picked under an oak tree All haphazard.

How exactly does that fit with her experiments of methodically dehydrating various mushrooms if she can’t track dates and locations? I thought she was science oriented?

 

[Megnut]

I’ve also wondered if those charges regarding attempted murder of Simon could have been put on hold for now in order to leave the option open for later.

If she’s found not guilty it allows the prosecution another chance at trial. If she’s found guilty it could also be kept in the wings as she appeals the verdict.

As far as we know Simon’s ills were from a completely different type of poison (allegedly) so it would be a whole new investigation. Of course it would depend upon the evidence collected.

Which reminds me of....

Erin describing her blind taste tests where she purposefully puts mushroom bits in foor where they don't belong. For what possible reasons does she need to sneak mushrooms into their daughter's diet? And why through brownies? Why not in spaghetti?

It really gets me is when she concludes, of this utterly nonsensical experiment, "we thought it was interesting."

We? Who we?

I wouldn't be happy to learn my mom was doing that. It would ruin brownies forever for me. As well as snap trust. I'd wonder what mystery compound she put in anything she put on front of me.

It's not interesting at all.

It's suspicious.

Makes ME wonder if she'd been putting stuff in other people's food for a very long time, not to kill anyone but so they'd be sick and turn to her for care. Creating an endless supply of codependents. So she could feel needed.

Toxic long before death caps.

JMO

 

[LinasK]

I've written my closing statement, if I were to close... I did briefly post it, but took it down... it was fictional, rather than theory... Damn I'm looking forward to cross and closing.

It was brilliant! Read it before you took it down. I want to nominate you and Katydid as prosecutors.

 

[Cedars]

Makes ME wonder if she'd been putting stuff in other people's food for a very long time, not to kill anyone but so they'd be sick and turn to her for care. Creating an endless supply of codependents. So she could feel needed.

Toxic long before death caps.

JMO

Yes. Or also just for the sense of control it might give her - which is often a motive for murder. Watching someone eat while keeping your little secret about what you put in there...

 

[LinasK]

Maybe it was related to the gastric bypass surgery, it depends how far she was along that journey. The lunch excuse is still unusual. Trying to find a reason to invite them seems desperate but her explanation was believable.

I’ve enjoyed following her testimony and she has cast doubt on some things or provided a reasonable explanation on others if you are on the fence.

If I was on that jury, Iam not sure how comfortable I would be sending someone to jail for 20+ years and the impact on her kids lives. She lied, panicked and appears guilty, but is she?

Disclaimer: I did think she was guilty on first day it hit the press in AU.

Her son was at least 14 at the time, so I wouldn't worry about them growing up without her. Her testimony just solidifies her alleged guilt for me. She's lying about everything, and not admitting that she foraged and put the Death Caps into the meal. Still blaming the "Asian grocer", Simon...

 

[ellyvantelli]

Ok I’ve finally managed to wade through today’s testimony and am now pretty convinced that Erin is tuning in nightly* to Websleuths to check the feed, see what isn’t playing well or what holes still need adjusting/filling to make her complicated story of ‘lying then but not lying now’ watertight.
[I apologise if everyone else has already shouted this many times today, but I haven’t had time to catch up on the feed yet]

Goodness, its like magic, I read a questioning of her actions here tonight and tomorrow Erin explains it all away. Even things that never came up in court cf coffee metamorphosing into herbal tea

*Ok presumably this is pretty unlikely that Erin has direct access, but what about someone with access to her??

Just my own opinion of course

 

[LinasK]

I agree and withholding crucial information is a key issue.

The fact that she’s been on the stand for 2.5 days (?) gives her credit imho, with so much scrutiny. It’s hard to believe anyone could lie for days on end. I know it happens but she isn’t grandiose like Greg Lynn, just an ordinary Mum in a rural town.

No, it just makes her a good liar. Jodi Arias also testified for days on the stand.

 

[Baby baby Jane]

Yeah, mushroom obsessed Erin throws a bunch of stinky “Chinese” mushrooms into a Tupperware container of foraged mushrooms she picked under an oak tree All haphazard.

How exactly does that fit with her experiments of methodically dehydrating various mushrooms if she can’t track dates and locations? I thought she was science oriented?

Your post prompted me to google “buy dried Asian mushrooms”. What’s interesting is that they are all so different looking.

So interesting that ErinErinEtin didn’t describe how they looked - only how they smelled. She should have been able to say: dark brown, cream,orange, yellow almost black or whatever color. Long thin, round, funnel shaped - sliced, or whole.
Did she do this ? Did she describe their appearance?
You would think as a forager and dehydrator - she would describe them by size, color and shape. (Did she, did I miss this?)

 

[browneyes]

Honestly, I don’t care what sad explanations she has. If she would have come clean about the mushrooms, she may have saved lives. Just admit that OMG, I did add forage mushrooms. She’s claiming now it was accidental, but not until she knew her prey had died. Their is no question about her deceit. IMHO

 

[whiskia]

And she was an air traffic controller, an accountant 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?

Perhaps feeding mushrooms to the kids is another lie...

 

[LinasK]

I agree and I’d made that point further up. I don’t think she was a regular entertainer. I see her plate as irrelevant, she probably gave her guests the matching plates and hers was the odd one as she didn’t have 5 matching plates. If you were plotting, why choose the obvious one.

A matching dinner set isn’t a priority for everyone. A guy thing, maybe.

Because to me it was color-coding for herself to know which ones were the poisoned portions. The guests all got the deathly grey colored plates, she got the non-poisoned colorful plate. So she either disposed of the grey plates, or is now arguing that they're really white.

 

[Cedars]

Because to me it was color-coding for herself to know which ones were the poisoned portions. The guests all got the deathly grey colored plates, she got the non-poisoned colorful plate. So she either disposed of the grey plates, or is now arguing that they're really white.

Likely baked and set aside prior to the opening of any tupperwares of mushrooms, just to be sure to not accidently eat the wrong one.

Too bad the oven can't yield forensic evidence of two batches of baking...

 

[Ellery84]

I was listening to the ABC podcast today, and the way they frame her testimony sounds like they are taking it on face value that it’s true. Eg they’re not saying “Erin claims she was scared”, they’re saying “Erin was scared”. It’s irritating me.
I hope the cross is relentlessly illuminating.

That is particularly annoying.

 

[LinasK]

What time does court start today?

 

[Megnut]

Is there a heating element in her pantry? Butler's oven? Toaster over? Hot plate?

Erin supplied two unnecessary details (well, dozens and dozens but these two stand out in this context):

She didn't need help serving, and there were no assigned seats.

I think she was trying to overlay how utterly random the gathering was. When in reality is was VERY structured. Had to be. Matter of life and death.

While the two ladies carried in the only four plates available to carry, and Erin appeared busy with the uncomplicated gravy, she retrieved her room temperature individual BW hot pocket.

Which she was careful to eat some of but not bent on eating much of... odd. Unless she was setting up a narrative. Ate what the guests ate*, just didn't eat as much as they ate, in order to feign a wee touch of the mushroom poisoning, fake symptoms of which she'd manage away with Imodium and bulimia...

No assigned seating? Why would there be????? For five people? Who came in pairs? Whose luncheon plates arrived after seats were voluntarily chosen, so why is Erin even saying that? Unless it's a presplain. To answer before there's a question. Unspoken question: did you manipulate where people sat so some would be poisoned? She right out front of that -- they chose their plates, they chose where they sat so she had nothing to do with that.

It's like a tell within a tell.

JMO

 

[Ellery84]

View attachment 591464


My reaction to Erin digging herself into a larger pit each day she gives testimony

“Let them.”

 

[Jake18]

That is particularly annoying.

The female presenter is genuinely sympathetic to Erin, in my opinion. After the first week she was part of a end-of-week summary and she made a point of how alleged female perpetrators can be unfairly judged for perceived deficiencies or differences in their responses and gave Lindy Chamberlain as an example.