Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #12 *Arrest*

[Deleted member 363451]

I initially read it that she still believes he isn't a decent person, but now I'm really not sure.

In fact it probably reads that he is decent, which is weird considering everything she's claimed about him.

Well she's spent all her time saying on the stand what wonderful people her in-llaws were, yet we've seen her online messages criticising them to her FB buddies.

 

[Kemug]

The rejection angle from the in-laws must have cut a lot deeper considering she said she had a fractious relationship with her own mother. Lots of pent up anger and psychological damage from lack of parental love to then be sidelined fron in-laws due to the tension from separation

I know it's not possible, but I would like to hear her late mother's side of the story.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

That's how I read it, she has twisted the facts to make it seem like a plausible story but has actually made more problems for herself.

There are a couple of key reasons that point to a possible innocence. First a real lack of motive for murder and second her actions after the fact pointing to a panicked cover up rather than a planned murder.

However, in trying to make herself look better, she has inserted more doubt into her story and increased the possibility of guilt.

For instance, I think it's extremely likely that she knew she was including foraged mushrooms in the meal. Not only did she lie about this at the time for whatever reason, she has now concocted an unlikely version where she didn't realise until days later that she might have included them. This is an obvious attempt to account for her initial lies at the time.

This is hard to believe IMO, and simply increases the question of foul play. If she'd simply owned up to having included them and not knowing what they were, it would ironically be better for her.

Having watched the ABC news just before, the thing that really makes her look guilty (apart from disposing of the dehydrator) is that she didn't tell the medical staff that she had also used foraged mushrooms. If this wasn't intentional, why didn't she fess up and try to save her victims?

 

[katydid23]

My thought is that if there was any leftovers from the beef wellington (the kind of leftovers that you might throw in the bin - bits and pieces) any of the dogs I have had in my lifetime would have had it as part of their dinner that night.

I would have thought Erin's dog would have loved it. If it wasn't poisoned.

imo

EXACTLY. Her beautiful Labrador would have loved those beef scraps.

I've had many dogs over the years, and whenever I made a beef casserole or beef dish that would be cooking through out the day, my dogs would be camped out near the kitchen, staring at us intently, hoping for a taste.

I doubt she usually tossed out beef scraps instead of giving them to her lab. IMO

 

[Deleted member 363451]

EXACTLY. Her beautiful Labrador would have loved those beef scraps.

I've had many dogs over the years, and whenever I made a beef casserole or beef dish that would be cooking through out the day, my dogs would be camped out near the kitchen, staring at us intently, hoping for a taste.

I doubt she usually tossed out beef scraps instead of giving them to her lab. IMO

That's a really good point.

 

[katydid23]

I know it's not possible, but I would like to hear her late mother's side of the story.

I wonder if her sister will ever speak about it?

 

[mamamama9873]

EXACTLY. Her beautiful Labrador would have loved those beef scraps.

I've had many dogs over the years, and whenever I made a beef casserole or beef dish that would be cooking through out the day, my dogs would be camped out near the kitchen, staring at us intently, hoping for a taste.

I doubt she usually tossed out beef scraps instead of giving them to her lab. IMO

Yes I also believe that. She does not strike me as a person that would toss out perfectly fine, untouched food (based on her spending habits, gardening and foraging interests) - she’d either keep and eat it herself or at least give it to her dog.

 

[MrJ]

Having watched the ABC news just before, the thing that really makes her look guilty (apart from disposing of the dehydrator) is that she didn't tell the medical staff that she had also used foraged mushrooms. If this wasn't intentional, why didn't she fess up and try to save her victims?

The other thing that stood out to me was the constant 'I' sentences, like 'I was overwhelmed' and 'I was anxious' when she was being asked simple questions about why she lied to police and health workers about the dehydrator, foraged mushrooms, stuff like that. I note that Simon in his evidence stated that Erin didn't inquire into how Don and Gail's health while they were in hospital, clearly dying. This me me me testimony, displayed throughout the three or so days of defence questioning, makes her look like a self-centred, quite vain person. Also the blatant character assassination, as someone said up thread, of Simon, questioning Ian's testimony, implicitly throwing her kids under the bus as possibly having looked at the iNaturalist website. If all of this was one big tragic accident, it beggars belief that she didn't take more urgent action! Makes her appear super suspicious at best and guilty at worst.

 

[katydid23]

When the trial started, this was the key evidence to me and I don't feel it was adequately addressed. I had some key questions about whether the cooked beef would be infused with the toxins, or whether it was possible to only get as ill as Erin did. For me, this was the absolute key factor in determining her guilt. If it was possible, then she was likely just lucky/unlucky, the reality being if she had been one of the 3 who had died we wouldn't know about the case nearly as well.

I think we did hear earlier on, that once death caps were mixed with the meat and cooked together, ALL of the meat would be tainted. The toxins in the death caps would be released with the juices and be absorbed by the beef and the filo dough.

IMO, There is no way that 'some' of the meat would not be poisonous. The only way Erin was not actually poisoned was because she did not have death caps in her individual pastry.

And that is WHY she went to all that extra trouble, time and effort to craft 6 individual BW's. That's the only way she could be certain to avoid the poison and have leftovers for her kids too.

This is why I was surprised she took the stand. Instead of vague notions of guilt that they hadn't proved, we now have Erin's accounts to decide if we find them credible and often we don't. Take explanations like the bulimia, the not realising she'd used foraged mushrooms, the pooing by the side of the road, the admittance that she was making up the cancer to get them to help with childcare etc These have made me less likely to believe her, because she is clearly editing her version to make it look better which raises doubt about the whole thing.

The mad thing is, I still think there's a chance she's innocent but has handled it in such a way that there's a real chance she'll go down.

I just cannot see much of a chance of that. Just too many bad facts, imo.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

Well she's spent all her time saying on the stand what wonderful people her in-llaws were, yet we've seen her online messages criticising them to her FB buddies.

I've never found this particularly convincing, other than to show her as a bit two-faced and as her Christianity being a bit of a fraud.

I love my in-laws to bits, but if I gave you my phone you'd find plenty of frustrations with them. They are also very religious and can drive me potty but I genuinely like them a lot.

 

[JBowie]

There is no way that she would have 'scraped off' any mushrooms IMO.

As I've said before, it's my strong belief that she fed her kids beans and potatoes and steak left over from making the beef wellingtons she cooked for her doomed guests.

IMO, even EP is not stupid enough to think that a toxic mushroom paste can be just scraped off meat before eating it.

 

[303gmf]

Horrible noisy smelly things. I removed the one that was already installed in my house when I bought it.

Interesting, have only lived in one little rental house without one! Put baking soda and orange peels for rare smells

 

[Deleted member 363451]

I've never found this particularly convincing, other than to show her as a bit two-faced and as her Christianity being a bit of a fraud.

I love my in-laws to bits, but if I gave you my phone you'd find plenty of frustrations with them. They are also very religious and can drive me potty but I genuinely like them a lot.

The point that I'm making is that there are 2 sides to this complicated woman.

 

[katydid23]

Unless this is clarified as part of the trial and presented as evidence, the jury cannot assume this and her stating that she vomited might give some jurors reasonable doubt IMO

I am pretty certain that the prosecution is going to set forth some evidence showing that even if she threw up, it would not prevent severe illness if she had been poisoned.

They can call an expert in short rebuttal and I think they will. Or they can recall one of the original witnesses, like a poison expert.

 

[katydid23]

Well she's spent all her time saying on the stand what wonderful people her in-llaws were, yet we've seen her online messages criticising them to her FB buddies.

She says how wonderful they are and yet she was lying to them about her having biopsy appointments and cancer testing and would likely have treatments coming soon, and she let them pray over her to 'help her' heal and know how to tell her kids, etc. It was all lies.

 

[Ellery84]

Yes!
I’ve wondered all along why the bin outside, no one uses a garbage disposal in Australia?
Wildlife doesn’t get into food smelling trash cans?

No they don’t, unless there are wild horses around roaming the streets - as there are in some indigenous communities. Horses will knock the bins down.

 

[katydid23]

No they don’t, unless there are wild horses around roaming the streets - as there are in some indigenous communities. Horses will knock the bins down.

I guess you don't have bear? Black Bears repeatedly knock our cans over. We literally have to strap them down. lol

 

[iamshadow21]

Yes!
I’ve wondered all along why the bin outside, no one uses a garbage disposal in Australia?
Wildlife doesn’t get into food smelling trash cans?

We don't have the kind of wildlife that causes such a menace with bins in other countries.

MOO

 

[MaxDecimus13]

One thing that was raised recently that I thought was an interesting point was about if she had intended to commit the crime, why didn't she dispose of the dehydrator before the meal? It is something that maybe the defence will mention in their closing.

There are a couple of possible other explanations however IMO, that would still be in line with her guilt. The presumption in this explanation, is that she would have known that the death caps were discoverable. Maybe she didn't realise that they would be able to identify death caps specifically in the ill guests.

To add to this, her husband had been in intensive care for 21 days with a mystery illness a short time before. This might have meant that she would have considered that they would not have been able to find it. In this scenario, getting rid of a brand new dehydrator days before a deathly meal might be seen as something that could bring attention to her.

Also don't forget, it wasn't until her husband mentioned it specifically that she got rid of it. She might genuinely of thought that her account for where she got the ingredients would be believed.

If we were being really suspicious, we might claim that the husband's mystery illness was an earlier attempt that she got away with and one that emboldened her.

 

[JBowie]

Yes!
I’ve wondered all along why the bin outside, no one uses a garbage disposal in Australia?
Wildlife doesn’t get into food smelling trash cans?

In Sydney, we have Ibis (aka 'bin chickens') that have led to the re-design of garbage bins in public spaces.

Cockatoos, crows and magpies can get into wheelie bins, if the lids are not closed fully.