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

[Old Soul]

So I listened to the ABC podcast from yesterday (and tangent, like others I don't like the new reporter on there!) and they said that Erin claimed to have thrown out just the pastry and mushrooms (which ok, if she supposedly scraped it off and the kids ate the meat)... however I thought if this statement was what she said, that is quite interesting, given that the leftovers taken from the bin had meat in it right? It's not adding up!

The police officer found one whole individual serve of BW (Simon’s ?) and one partial BW serve (Erin’s?) in the outdoor bin at Erin’s property.

The senior constable said he found the leftovers at the “very bottom” of a red bin in a Woolworths brown paper bag.
“It was primarily one and a bit beef wellingtons,” the police officer told the court.
The senior constable said the bag was “seeping a bit from the bottom”.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australi...ive-coverage/785ef0beeebcf9c7ca96755b52ae9eee

I am not disputing that Erin might have said something different, her story changes a lot IMO, but I have also noticed that the ABC reporting hasn’t always been reliable in this trial.

 

[Detechtive]

The police officer found one whole individual serve of BW (Simon’s ?) and one partial BW serve (Erin’s?) in the outdoor bin at Erin’s property.

The senior constable said he found the leftovers at the “very bottom” of a red bin in a Woolworths brown paper bag.
“It was primarily one and a bit beef wellingtons,” the police officer told the court.
The senior constable said the bag was “seeping a bit from the bottom”.

https://www.skynews.com.au/australi...ive-coverage/785ef0beeebcf9c7ca96755b52ae9eee

I am not disputing that Erin might have said something different, her story changes a lot IMO, but I have also noticed that the ABC reporting hasn’t always been reliable in this trial.

The ABC podcast is terribly biased, IMO. They don't even preface Erin's with statements like "Erin claims", etc. They take it as though it is absolutely true.

 

[Detechtive]

The senior constable said he found the leftovers at the “very bottom” of a red bin in a Woolworths brown paper bag.
“It was primarily one and a bit beef wellingtons,” the police officer told the court.
The senior constable said the bag was “seeping a bit from the bottom”.

This is interesting. Her bin day is Thursday, if I recall correctly. You'd think by Sunday there would be some other rubbish in the bottom of the bin.

 

[Kemug]

Accidentally served them because she didn’t know they were Death Caps - IMO

(Despite the fact she testified about all the studying she did about mushrooms - to make sure the ones the dog ate wouldn’t make it sick

Plus she threw shade on Dr Tom May, eminent mycologist. She knew better.

 

[Old Soul]

So she is ashamed to tell anyone that she is planning gastric bypass surgery but has no qualms about letting the family believe she is about to begin treatment for what is generally a very serious form of cancer.

If she is going to lie, why choose something so worrying? She could have said gall bladder removal, hernia repair, fibroid removal etc. all would require some recovery and practical support.

The cancer story was to lure them into her trap.IMO

 

[L_B]

Also why in the outside bin conveniently in it's own small paper Woolies bag.. Usually you have a large rubbish bag in a bin inside your house and when full you go put that in the outside bin.

 

[Kemug]

No, I believe she was projecting forward to the future, imagining she would feel ashamed and not wanting to tell anyone.

Ashamed? So how does she feel about killing 3 people I wonder?

 

[iamshadow21]

Also why in the outside bin conveniently in it's own small paper Woolies bag.. Usually you have a large rubbish bag in a bin inside your house and when full you go put that in the outside bin.

When I had my beloved dogs a decade ago, everything went in a plastic grocery bag and went out to the big bin every single day, because there was no way to close off the kitchen and they'd get in any scraps left overnight.

My dogs weren't labradors, but they were rescues and they loved their food.

MOO

 

[Kemug]

Are you saying that you know the children are with their father ?
Or are you agreeing with the comment that he’s the only parent they’ve got now
( if with their father, I really do hope that their son is doing better with the relationship than what EP portrayed)

They may be getting on much better now, without Erin stirring up trouble between them.

 

[SouthAussie]

I thought this was well after the children had eaten the leftovers though. She threw it out as it had made people sick, before she understood why (assuming innocence until proven guilty).

I don't know when she threw the leftovers into the bin. Have they said? I may have missed it.

 

[Detechtive]

Back on the topic of the Eye Fillet purchases. She purchased 5 twin packs. The cost would have been $150 for 10. This was only for the steaks. Not the excessive pastry, mushrooms, etc which would have been an extra $50 minimum, i'd say?!

You can even buy ready made beef wellingtons in Melbourne prepared by chefs for under $15 each serve.

I can't see the price of an eye fillet log anywhere, but I have been told they cost around $80.

Why would you spend so much more and go to the trouble to make individual Beef Wellingtons (and not even follow the proper recipe)?

 

[Kemug]

So Erin is, directly or indirectly, accusing several Crown witnesses of lying. The sole survivor of her deadly lunch, a child protection worker - what possible motive could they have for lying? Erin, on the other hand....

This reminds me of a real know-it-all guy I once knew. He began a sentence with "It's only my opinion, but it's a fact that . . . "!!

 

[Kemug]

She said she needs to be able to lip read when she is listening to people speak, so her staring intently is one of the few things that there is definitely an innocent explanation for in this case.

You believe her?

 

[MaxDecimus13]

It's probably innocent until proven guilty.

Innocent until proven guilty, is what the podcast initially did - presenting the facts in a neutral way.

From the first time I heard this podcaster, I thought there was more than a touch of sympathy for Erin. The first episode she appeared on, I think she mentioned Lindy Chamberlain and I think it's clear that this is the prism she is seeing this case through.

She's trying to be impartial but isn't doing as good a job as the previous presenter. When Erin was on the stand, she was literally accepting her account, saying that makes sense etc.

 

[katydid23]

I thought this was well after the children had eaten the leftovers though. She threw it out as it had made people sick, before she understood why (assuming innocence until proven guilty).

She fed the children the leftovers on Sunday night. The 4 victims had been hospitalised about 20 hours already. And the doctors were already assuming it was something they had eaten together on Saturday.

So EP would have already understood that the symptoms, vomiting and explosive diarrhoea, which was getting worse over time, could indicate some type of food poisoning. In spite of that, EP scraped off the mushroom paste and fed the meat to her children.

It makes no sense, IMO.

 

[JBowie]

You believe her?

IIRC, she complained of not being able to hear the prosecutor?

 

[MaxDecimus13]

The motive is revenge- to get back at her in-laws for not siding with her, and to cause Simon immeasurable grief. The "panic" is because her planning only extended to the murder, not the authorities figuring it out so quickly.

Of course they don't need to prove motive, but it is a factor on weighing up the probability of whether she did.

Had Simon alone died, there would have been no difficulty, because we know spouses murder each other.

The biggest difficulty is the Pastor and his wife. Why try to murder these 2 people as well? The reality is it becomes more improbable (but not impossible) as the reasons become more extreme. We're left with much rarer examples of murder, or significant harm if that is what she intended. The nature of the cover up, adds to this level of doubt.

Prior to taking the stand, I'd have been inclined to at least say that the prosecution hadn't proved it, and probably closer to thinking a tragic accident was more likely.

However, her testimony has allowed a much deeper examination of her as a person. We've discovered that she routinely lies for self-gain and attention, she has inserted more doubt into her story and made some of those less plausible motives appear more plausible.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Honest question:

We know there's anorexia. We know there's bulimia. Is there an actual, recognized eating disorder for people who (need to) control what other people eat?

We know about parents who withhold food from, say, one child or captors who torment with food, but twice now, it's been reported that Erin said she was embarrassed that she control her weight and that she couldn't control what she ate.

So did she take to controlling what other people ate? Mushrooms in her kids brownies, I mean, what the what.

Did she play a role in her daughter's tummy trouble? So she could be the nurse?

Munchausen by duxelle.

JMO

I'm still catching up so don't know if someone's already responded.

Controlling someone else's food wouldn't be an 'eating disorder' per se as it's inflicting control on others, not what one is doing to self. However, the phenomena of 'feeding' (over-feeding another or rendering them dependent on your feeding them / supplying them) is definitely a real thing.

Also if anyone's ever known someone severely anorectic, they're often obsessed with trying to dominate and manipulate other people's food choices, as well as often extremely interested in catering and preparing food for others where they themselves won't eat it. Just my observation, don't know what it's called but it's pretty unwell behaviour and often boundary violating or manipulative and feels off beam.

JMO MOO

 

[kangaroo_Matlock]

First post on this site. I've been to the area of the trial. Korumburra/Leongatha is a nice area. It has a picnic farm the public can go to, and a school camp. It's the place where nothing happens for 20 years.

Having read through much of this thread, I agree with people that her actions and lies are suspicious. If I had been doing a drinking game for every mention of the mysterious "Asian Grocer" I'd be blotto on the floor. She is a mushroom enthusiast. She normally gets her mushrooms from other shops or forages. Surely this one trip to the Asian Grocer she would remember something more than vaguely it was in "Oakleigh". How did it compare to her normal shopping trips for mushrooms? Further away? Closer? You have to conclude surely that there was no Asian Grocer. It was her lie and fantasy.

I can't add a lot to people's excellent posts. Only that I know Dr Tom May and he is an excellent mycologist. Erin Patterson saying she knows more than what he does - that's like knowing more archaeology than Indiana Jones.

 

[katydid23]

I don't know when she threw the leftovers into the bin. Have they said? I may have missed it.

IIRC, when she was at the hospital on Monday, the doctor said they wanted to send LE to her home to pick up any leftovers for testing. Am I remembering correctly?