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

[Detechtive]

I thought this at the time, but after EP’s testimony it catches her in another lie. Visually, the leftovers only contained chopped button mushrooms, but in testimony EP says that she rehydrated the mushrooms from the so-called Asian market and chopped them up and put them in as well. Because the ones from the supermarket are “bland”.

It’s that’s the case - why weren’t these additional chopped up mushroom types detected visually?

In her testimony during cross yesterday, she said she ran some water over the dried asian mushrooms to take away the crispiness before putting them in with an egg flip, I believe? Did she say she chopped them up again during this testimony or was it during her defence testimony?

 

[MsMarple]

Part of Erin’s defence is that her justification for looking up death caps on the internet including the iNaturalist site was to find out if they grew in South Gippsland as she was concerned that her dog might eat some.

“She says at “one point” she wanted to find out if death cap mushrooms grew in South Gippsland. She says she found out they did not.”
(I recall from another article that she added the word “effectively” to the end her sentence to give herself some wriggle room if challenged by the prosecution, IMO ).

Erin Patterson trial day 28 – as it happened

This blog has now closed

www.theguardian.com

Out of curiosity I entered “do death cap mushrooms grow in South Gippsland” on my browser and limited the search parameters to 2020-June 2023.
Unsurprisingly, the internet tells me that they do including readily found warnings on Facebook and Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria.

I also found an article in the Sentinel Times (the local newspaper from Erin’s region) from April 20, 2023, warning about poisonous mushrooms:

Poisonous mushrooms warning issued for Victoria - South Gippsland Sentinel Times

VICTORIANS are being warned of the dangers of consuming wild mushrooms, as wet and cooler weather provides the ideal growing conditions for certain types of mushrooms. Two particular wild mushroom species – Death Cap mushrooms and Yellow staining...

www.sgst.com.au

And another from the Gippsland Primary Health Network, April 13, 2022:

Poisonous mushrooms growing in Victoria - Health alert 13 April 2022 - Gippsland Primary Health Network

Status: Active Date issued: 13 April 2022 Issued by: Dr Angie Bone, Deputy Chief Health Officer (Environment) Issued to: Health professionals and Victorian community Key messages Poisonous mushrooms including Death Cap mushrooms and Yellow-staining mushrooms are currently growing around...

gphn.org.au

I tend to believe that Erin was a regular user of iNaturalist but managed to wipe her 2023 activity on the site during her many phone/device factory resets which is a real shame

Thanks for doing the research! It’s frustrating that technically the jurors aren’t allowed to do similar research while in trial. They’re not privy to much of what we here have learned over the last couple years. I get why that rule is in place and why we have to depend upon the prosecution to bring in evidence to help give the jury the full picture. Not to say that anyone here knows better.

 

[katydid23]

Have just noticed something extremely odd in the video interview of Erin standing by the driver's door of the red car in her carport, and being asked "can you tell us about the lunch?"

EP is wiping away 'tears' saying: Ian and heather
have passed away, and Gail ... Don is still in hospital.

Clearly, she had the names wrong as Ian had not passed away, as we know. At the end of the video she repeats the mistake!

Any one else notice this?

YES. I found it rather shocking. She even said something like " I hope Don can hang on because my children love their grandfather so much' ---or something along those lines.

My theory for why she didn't really know what was going on is I think---my speculation only---but I think that Simon was already putting things together. Heather had told him her suspicions about the plates, and all 4 guests were severely ill, which must have triggered his memories of his own recent mystery illness.

So I think that Simon had connected the dots so he was not telling EP very much, he was more likely asking her questions----how are the kids, how is she? etc etc

 

[katydid23]

I think its fair that the curiosity and suspicion around the plates started with Heather's comment to Simon.

Was Heather really suspicious or was it simply a remark that has manifested into something bigger? I can definitely imagine someone that is awfully sick trying to think of reasons, no doubt about that.
I'm not sure that Heather would be wondering if the food poisoning was either "accidental" or "intentional" though.
JMO

If it was accidental poisoning then why would a different coloured plate be suspicious or significant?

I think Heather might have been suspicious about potentially it being intentional because of Simon's long mysterious illness the prior year.

 

[SouthAussie]

I think she's only just warming her up! I expect Erin to lose it. IMO

I imagine that her defence team are having a good chat with her this weekend. "You can't let Dr Rogers get you upset. It is making you deviate from what we have discussed."

 

[Detechtive]

Thanks for doing the research! It’s frustrating that technically the jurors aren’t allowed to do similar research while in trial. They’re not privy to much of what we here have learned over the last couple years. I get why that rule is in place and why we have to depend upon the prosecution to bring in evidence to help give the jury the full picture. Not to say that anyone here knows better.

I think they are given a lot more information though, with exhibits they can look at back and forth, and they get the benefit of body language, etc.

If you exclude everything we have learned over the last couple of years until the trial, I still think she looks very guilty, IMO.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

It's probably innocent until proven guilty.

There are some people who can't comprehend how someone would do this and iy is difficult to comprehend. They themselves wouldn't do it, so they automatically think that the accused is innocent. They need to remember that anyone who murders someone, especially (alleged) planned, premeditated murders like these, is wired differently to most of us. The have no empathy, remorse or shame. Their brain matter is different to ours.

 

[Detechtive]

I imagine that her defence team are having a good chat with her this weekend. "You can't let Dr Rogers get you upset. It is making you deviate from what we have discussed."

Yes definitely.

I think she is probably not deviating much, though. Her answers contain a lot of "I don't remember" and denials. I think that was probably the strategy.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

I think the dog might have been vegetarian. So didn't eat the beef.

Dogs (and cats) are not meant to have a vegetarian diet.

 

[Detechtive]

Has there been any testimony that she is hearing impaired? Or was she just trying to assert herself over the court proceedings?

Insert herself over the proceedings, for sure, IMO.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

IMO she told how it happened.

She bought short cut ingredients.

She skipped 50% of the ingredients and 75% of the effort.

While making the duxelle, she taste tested it until she was satisfied. And made her individual BW.

Then, just like she said, she added from her Pandora's magic mushroom box. No more worries about how it tasted.

Cooked hers up good, set it aside.

Continued on, making up the rest.

JMO

Why did she buy more mushrooms and pastry than she needed for the recipe I wonder?

 

[Megnut]

THIS is what gets me most of all. Even under cross examination, she's deviating from her own defence testimony. Ah just like the deviations she made from the RecipeTinEats book beef Wellington recipe. At this point I think we should all call her falsehoods deviations.

Liars lie even when they don't need to... so you can never know when they're lying or not.

So ultimately you can't trust anything they say, even when they tell an actual truth.

JMO

 

[Deleted member 363451]

IMO she told how it happened.

She bought short cut ingredients.

She skipped 50% of the ingredients and 75% of the effort.

While making the duxelle, she taste tested it until she was satisfied. And made her individual BW.

Then, just like she said, she added from her Pandora's magic mushroom box. No more worries about how it tasted.

Cooked hers up good, set it aside.

Continued on, making up the rest.

JMO

Why would she need to have weighed the dried (Death Cap) mushrooms other than having a nefarious reason to use them?

 

[Detechtive]

Someone pointed out to me that the Woolworths Eye Fillets only come in 2 packs. There were 5 purchased, she purchased 10 individual steaks, not the 5 I thought prior.

Erin
Don
Gail
Heather
Ian
Simon

2 for the kids. 2 in the freezer or to practise?

https://www.woolworths.com.au/shop/productdetails/675315?googleshop=true&store_code=woolworths_supermarkets_2900&utm_source=google&utm_medium=cpc&utm_campaign=WW-0001&cq_net=g&cq_src=GOOGLE&cq_cmp=Woolies_8458_BAU_StandShop_FB_EE_WW-0001&cq_med=71700000116311386&cq_plac=&cq_term=PRODUCT_GROUP&ds_adt=pla&cq_plt=gp&cq_gclid=CjwKCAjwo4rCBhAbEiwAxhJlCdtq2q22S6R03wwLc0hnDibvxK2cUcF9cQzelO8LQChuwnNpHrPbDxoCdkAQAvD_BwE&ds_de=c&ds_pc=local&ds_cr=682886499540&ds_tid=aud-2351329457999:pla-880380417289&ds_locphys=9068903&ds_pid=675315&cmpid=smsm:ds:GOOGLE:Woolies_8458_BAU_StandShop_FB_EE_WW-0001:PRODUCT_GROUP&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=20823334702&gbraid=0AAAAACoj6t4PsVz0gQK6F7z0k6PDJ5XSY&gclid=CjwKCAjwo4rCBhAbEiwAxhJlCdtq2q22S6R03wwLc0hnDibvxK2cUcF9cQzelO8LQChuwnNpHrPbDxoCdkAQAvD_BwE&gclsrc=aw.ds

 

[Megnut]

Why did she buy more mushrooms and pastry than she needed for the recipe I wonder?

Trial run.

Maybe she wanted to see if her individual halfwells would work, without being soggy.

Maybe she had a full double batch and hadn't decided just exactly which to serve whom or whether she would go through with it. So she had backups.

It's peculiar.

What all did she have in that pantry?????

JMO

 

[SouthAussie]

If it was accidental poisoning then why would a different coloured plate be suspicious or significant?

I think Heather might have been suspicious about potentially it being intentional because of Simon's long mysterious illness the prior year.

That is what I was wondering. If Simon had raised his concerns with his mother about his near-death experience and how he fell so ill after being with Erin. We will never know what the sisters (Gail and Heather) privately spoke about - because they are both dead.

We can invent some other reason why Heather might have mentioned different coloured plates, but in reality (to me) it would be an unusual thing to mention to a nephew if we were just chatting about the lunch. I think our chat would be more focused on how to help Erin following her ovarian cancer announcement, not the colour of the plates.

imo

 

[katydid23]

It looks too me like she was holding out for 48 hours.

Pushing off the health department... so there'd be no trace of the toxin....

It looks like someone expected guests not to discuss the luncheon.....

JMO

YES. I think she assumed that she could stall long enough for the toxins to be untraceable by testing. And she'd be in the clear.

 

[LinasK]

I think the dog might have been vegetarian. So didn't eat the beef.

My dog thinks she's an ominivore. She'll eat Asparagus and Broccoli. Loves Bananas, Mangoes, Apples too!

 

[Deleted member 363451]

That is what I was wondering. If Simon had raised his concerns with his mother about his near-death experience and how he fell so ill after being with Erin. We will never know what the sisters (Gail and Heather) privately spoke about - because they are both dead.

We can invent some other reason why Heather might have mentioned different coloured plates, but in reality (to me) it would be an unusual thing to mention to a nephew if we were just chatting about the lunch. I think our chat would be more focused on how to help Erin following her ovarian cancer announcement, not the colour of the plates.

imo

Yes, possibly Simon and his mother started to put two and two together. I am wondering if Simon suspected that Erin was responsible for his mystery illnesses in the past after eating her meals, or did he come to that conclusion after she killed his parents and aunt? Even though it was taken off the table, let's not forget that Erin was originally charged also with attempting to murder Simon on not one, but three occasions. Anyone who thinks that this is just a coincidence is very naive. Erin is a serial offender IMO. This wasn't her first rodeo...

Man whose parents were killed after lunch with his ex ‘suspects’ she had tried to poison him

Simon Patterson had previously suffered a mystery gut illness last spring after eating food his ex-wife served, and was in an induced coma for 16 days, a report said.

nypost.com

 

[Deleted member 363451]

The ex-husband of the Australian woman suspected of serving poison mushrooms to four of his relatives was also supposed to be at the deadly lunch — and believes his ex had previously tried to poison him as well, a report said Thursday.

He had even been in an induced coma for 16 days after suffering a mystery gut illness last spring after eating food Erin served, the report said.

“Simon suspected he had been poisoned by Erin,” a source close to him told the paper.

“There were times he had felt … a bit off and it coincided when he spent time with her.”

Man whose parents were killed after lunch with his ex ‘suspects’ she had tried to poison him

Simon Patterson had previously suffered a mystery gut illness last spring after eating food his ex-wife served, and was in an induced coma for 16 days, a report said.

nypost.com