Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #13 *Arrest*

[L_B]

To simply shrug your shoulders and say 'well, they're getting the treatment they need' breaches a duty of care EP should have demonstrated to her guests.

THIS! The fact she used the excuse of "context" when being asked if she had foraged (sorry "mushrooming" which she claimed was not familiar with using this terminology for foraging) and she said she thought it applied to the very specific situation of the meal, goes to show the either a gross lack of comprehension, or a deliberate diabolical decision to not let the health authorities know she had ever picked mushrooms.

 

[Rumination1]

Now starting to think her intent was make them ill, and conceited enough to think the case would be attributed elsewhere than her eg the pub that served mushrooms or another unsuspecting host

She threw in too much powder and the panicked she would be charged w murder n lied lied and lied some more

Did she want one of those four to die… very possibly but she stuffed up and dosed them all.

 

[katydid23]

Hmmm the Lindy Chamberlain case comes to my mind.

Lindy Chamberlain-Creighton - Wikipedia

en.wikipedia.org

Alice Lynne "Lindy" Chamberlain-Creighton (née Murchison, born 4 March 1948) is a New Zealand–born Australian woman who was falsely convicted in one of Australia's most publicised and notorious murder trials and miscarriages of justice. Accused of killing her nine-week-old daughter, Azaria, while camping at Uluru (known then as Ayers Rock) in 1980, she maintained that she saw a dingo leave the tent where Azaria was sleeping. The prosecution case was circumstantial and depended upon forensic evidence that was eventually found to be deeply flawed.

I think Lindy and Erin have about ZERO things in common. IMO

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Interesting theory, but the sole survivor mentioned that the plates were taken to the table by the women. If it was that targeted, Erin would have served them individually herself. IMO

Disagree. She could have plated up each meal and placed them on the bench, and as she's plating up her own, she told the guests to help themselves. There would be a few ways to do this without drawing attention to the fact she kept her meal separate. I think it's pretty common for the host to serve themselves last.

I agree. I think she was banking on that 48 hours. Ironically using the mushrooms in the beef wellington was her undoing though I think, firstly because her victims sought medical attention so quickly (within 48 hours) and secondly because the doctors were smart enough to work out mushrooms = possible death caps. If she had just sprinkled the powder in some muffins for example () the doctors may never have suspected death caps. All MOO.

Agreed. If she did actually dry and crush mushrooms that she put into brownies undetected, then she could have put the powder into anything. Why would you choose a mushroom heavy item, which would set alarm bells ringing? Serve individual chicken and vegetable pot pies, blend it into the mashed potato, stir through a sauce you served over vegies, just keep mushrooms out of the meal. I'm not sure how quickly you die if you consume death caps and don't seek medical help, but maybe Erin, if guilty, hoped that nobody would even go to hospital, they'd just think they had gastro and camp by the toilet until it passed, or sadly, they passed. Even if they did present to hospital, they would make no mention at all of mushrooms, they'd say they ate chicken pot pies, mashed potato, green beans and gravy - nothing to look at here. IMO, you could say this leads to her innocence - nobody could be that stupid to make mushrooms the star of a death cap mushroom laced meal. I still believe she is guilty though.

IMO she was 100% confident that deathcaps would never come up as a valid possibility, and she was probably nearly right but for Don eating 1.5 Wellingtons, which got the whole ball rolling. See below.

Why DCs "wouldn't" have been thought of:

1. Guests would just think it was gastro and wouldn't attend a hospital.

• Wilkinson couple had indeed put it down to bad gastro and were sleeping it off.
• Patterson couple - Don ate 1.5 wellingtons (EP didn't foresee).
• He was so very ill that it started the whole ball rolling: they called ambulance and Simon. It was Simon who insisted Wilkinsons attend hospital.
• When the Wilkinsons arrived, that ramped the situation up even more.

2. Season appeared over for deathcaps

• Last sighting pre-dinner on iNaturalist was 9 Jun.
• Lunch 7 weeks later at end July.
• EDIT to add: even the chief toxicologist held back from ordering the correct treatment, as he wasnt convinced it was deathcaps.

Who knows how it would have unfolded if Don hadn't eaten extra and become so terribly ill so early? The others were sleeping it off, believing it to be bad gastro...

The fact that death cap season was over possibly led Erin to believe that they'd never be considered a possible cause of illness or death. Saying that the dried mushroom she allegedly bought (which we know to be a lie) were from some time ago, presents the possibility that they were foraged, dried, packaged and sold by some poor asian person in their store and could have contained death caps.

IMO, a fair bit of thought went into the act and the time leading up to it, but clearly nowhere near enough thought to all the possible outcomes post the act. MOO of course.

 

[Sarahlou]

I think Lindy and Erin have about ZERO things in common. IMO

One is a family annihilator and the other is Lindy. IMO.

 

[Lisa4]

I think Lindy and Erin have about ZERO things in common. IMO

The more I think about this the more I realise how UNALIKE they are...!

 

[katydid23]

Exactly . She wanted Simon n His siblings to get the money so she would t have to share hers

And his siblings owed her a lot of money, depending how much they had repaid. So if she wanted the remaining balance of that money, this was a good solution, in her mind, allegedly.

 

[Lisa4]

Can I please say, I really would prefer if some posters would kindly take the time to explain for others here why they think what what they think? It's a free world and I'm genuinely interested in other points of view, especially when they differ from mine. As I am sure is the same with most here!

 

[Scuffy35]

But I think we can see what she was thinking post-lunch. She seemed solely focused on self-preservation, IMO.

It puzzles me though that she would admit to the hospital staff that there were leftovers and she told a police officer where he could retrieve it (in her bin). I assume she knew it was contaminated with DC toxins. Why would she reveal this?

 

[HoneyBunOne]

Can I please say, I really would prefer if some posters would kindly take the time to explain for others here why they think what what they think? It's a free world and I'm genuinely interested in other points of view, especially when they differ from mine. As I am sure is the same with most here!

For me, I believe she's guilty, given what we know. I think this due to the fact there are far too many lies and too much evidence that points to deliberate. Each thing on it's own can be explained away, but when the lies build and build on top of each other, it just becomes too far fetched to think that this poor woman had so much bad luck happen to her. I think the odds of her being innocent are about the same as winning the grand prize in the lotto ten times.

 

[iamshadow21]

Can I please say, I really would prefer if some posters would kindly take the time to explain for others here why they think what what they think? It's a free world and I'm genuinely interested in other points of view, especially when they differ from mine. As I am sure is the same with most here!

I'm reserving stating my opinions until after sub judice is lifted, so, you'll just have to wait! Sorry! I know that's probably frustrating.

 

[Lisa4]

It puzzles me though that she would admit to the hospital staff that there were leftovers and she told a police officer where he could retrieve it (in her bin). I assume she knew it was contaminated with DC toxins. Why would she reveal this?

Police were already at her house. They would have found it anyway, so my guess is she chose to be/appear helpful and tell them. IMO

 

[Lisa4]

I'm reserving stating my opinions until after sub judice is lifted, so, you'll just have to wait! Sorry! I know that's probably frustrating.

So some here possibly going a little too far? Genuine question!

 

[iamshadow21]

So some here possibly going a little too far? Genuine question!

I couldn't possibly comment, I'm not a moderator or a lawyer. I just know that I tend to be conservative with my comments on Australian and UK cases, because I respect sub judice and I'd rather err on the side of caution. Your mileage may vary!

 

[Scuffy35]

Note, even the chief toxicologist wasn't sure. They only started the deathcap treatment when liver test results had worsened so quickly. And it only saved Ian

Do you know what date and time that was?

I am wondering if this is before or after the point in time Erin was referring to in her testimony where she stated:

"I had been told that ... people were getting treatment for possible death cap mushroom poisoning. So that was already happening."

 

[MrJ]

I think it's rather insulting to compare EP and Lindy Chamberlain. It was known that dingoes were at that particular site, and Indigenous trackers had tried to mention this but they were at best ignored and at worst disregarded. Lindy didn't lie, didn't make excuses. Obviously now there's a lot more digital evidence out these days. But these cases are not the same. Lindy also never tried to obfuscate or prevent information from being shared that would have been crucial to the case. IMO

 

[katydid23]

It puzzles me though that she would admit to the hospital staff that there were leftovers and she told a police officer where he could retrieve it (in her bin). I assume she knew it was contaminated with DC toxins. Why would she reveal this?

I think she was forced to by that time. For some reason she never disposed of it beforehand.

And I think her Plan B was also to admit 'accidental tragedy' ----OOPS, I must have picked the wrong mushrooms by mistake.

 

[mamamama9873]

It puzzles me though that she would admit to the hospital staff that there were leftovers and she told a police officer where he could retrieve it (in her bin). I assume she knew it was contaminated with DC toxins. Why would she reveal this?

She must have been quite confident that they couldn’t detect the DC toxins (as they were powdered). Which by visual inspection they couldn’t. As someone posted earlier on, mushroom toxin detection in food is a very recent medical advancement so Erin likely didn’t count on this.

 

[Scuffy35]

I think she was forced to by that time.

How would she be forced to though? Would't it be better for her self preservation if she continued with the deceit for longer?

No one would have known there were leftovers still in the house except for her.

How would the prosecution explain this so as to not create some doubt in the jury's mind of her guilt?

 

[Deleted member 363451]

YES^^^^----I think that's what she expected. That's what happened with Simon's recent mystery illness.

I think she put too much Death Cap powder into the meals. If she had backed off a little, it probably would have gone more the way you described. They'd be very sick like with bad stomach bug, feel weak and stay home, start feeling a little better, but then their liver would shut down. That's how Death Caps sometimes work. But I think the fine powder as a loading mechanism was very lethal.

The powdered Death Cap toxins went immediately into the blood stream and the digestive tract and then onto the liver, very quickly. She overamped the poisons, imo.

Yes, we cannot possibly try to 'figure out' what she was thinking. It was not a normal, rational thought process.

One thing she did tell the truth about---she did get panicky because she thought they were suspecting her. So she clumsily tipped the dehydrator and then lied about it repeatedly.


I think she was engrossed by vengeance. Starting with her resentment and anger towards her own mother and thus became estranged from her family. She tried to join a new family, who were loving and accepting of her--at first, because she pretended to be like them and have the same beliefs and philosophies. She shared some of her wealth with her new family, helped with their family business and with the church tasks. But secretly she began to think they were not as smart as her, not as educated or sophisticated as she was.

And her arrogance and resentment grew. Eventually she was consumed by that darkness, imo.

She must have expected the final outcome though, as she weighed the mushrooms and she was one for doing her research...