Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #14 *Arrest*

[Puzzles]

Innocent or guilty of purposefully killing three adults, this Patterson woman has effectively killed the lives of her children by the forever torment and grief bestowed upon them by the choices she has made throughout this entire tempest in a toilet bowl.

My heart aches for them.

 

[Jess D]

I do think people maybe use their dislike of Erin and suspicion of what she has done, to cloud their opinions on things that are actually not that bad.

If I had innocently caused the deaths of 3 people, and I was an international news story I would inevitably be getting bombarded with messages from friends and relatives. I can imagine thinking that it would be a good idea to address questions to everyone all at once, in the hope that it would allay their fears and stop rumours being spread.

I wouldn't call it an AMA (although I'm not sure it has been claimed that it actually was) because that gives the impression of levity in what is a very serious situation.

Not everything she does is going to be psychotic or narcissistic.

I do think people maybe use their dislike of Erin and suspicion of what she has done, to cloud their opinions on things that are actually not that bad.

On things that are actually not all that bad?

You can't be serious?

 

[MaxDecimus13]

I do think people maybe use their dislike of Erin and suspicion of what she has done, to cloud their opinions on things that are actually not that bad.

On things that are actually not all that bad?

You can't be serious?

Don't misread what I said. I'm distinctly not talking about the deaths of the people, lying to police or the lying about cancer etc.

 

[Jess D]

How do you know when a narcissist is losing an argument? She'll start crying, that she was only doing right by/for the children.

Genuine? No. Deflection.


  JMO

I wonder if she produced any tears? Cough.

 

[Jess D]

Don't misread what I said. I'm distinctly not talking about the deaths of the people, lying to police or the lying about cancer etc.

What are you talking about?

 

[CityKid]

Interesting. You couldn't do this research in the UK or, I believe, Australia, because jurors are prohibited from discussing their deliberations or reasoning even after the trial - it would be a criminal offence to do so.

Rules may vary so I can only speak to NY. This generally requires the permission of the judge. I was only asked to do this once, and I've been on four juries. This one was a buy-and-bust drugs case. It was a verdict one side was not expecting; that side wanted to ask us what information presented swayed us.

 

[MsMarple]

It’s hard to resolve Erin’s calm and composed demeanor on the stand with the alleged panicked, devastated and overwhelmed reaction that her defense presented as a way to explain her lies and cold blooded behavior.

Was she play acting in order to deflect her lack of empathy for her dying relatives? And why did she admit to tipping the dehydrator only after she knew she was caught? Is that why she refused to come clean about foraging for mushrooms even as her guests were suffering unimaginable agony?

Was there intent? The jury will decide. But as a person her behavior is reprehensible. I pity her poor children and their father Simon. Erin’s not a good person. JMO

 

[TootsieFootsie]

My opinion is that if EP is not guilty, should she just have said she did it, just to spare her children from any upset in their lives.

I don't think so.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

I've not followed the thread closely today, but I've not seen much about the final lie Erin was caught up in and tbh it's probably one of the worst.

She claimed today that there was a crack in Phone A that was causing her phone not to work properly so she stopped using it at some point in early August. The prosecution demonstrated 5 pages of phone calls showing that she used the phone extensively up until she switched the sim card when the police were there.

Outside of the cancer lie and her attempt to claim it was about a gastric band, this is probably the second worst lie that is definite. Of course there are many other possible/probably lies, but for ones where she has been categorically caught out this is bad.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

It’s hard to resolve Erin’s calm and composed demeanor on the stand with the alleged panicked, devastated and overwhelmed reaction that her defense presented as a way to explain her lies and cold blooded behavior.

Was she play acting in order to deflect her lack of empathy for her dying relatives? And why did she admit to tipping the dehydrator only after she knew she was caught? Is that why she refused to come clean about foraging for mushrooms even as her guests were suffering unimaginable agony?

Was there intent? The jury will decide. But as a person her behavior is reprehensible. I pity her poor children and their father Simon. Erin’s not a good person. JMO

One thing I will say is that regardless of whether she is found to be guilty or not guilty, and whether she is even innocent or not, she has been exposed in a number of ways.

Even if she was innocent, she has been found out to have lied to a number of people close to her she was having appointments and that she has cancer. That is something that is so out of the ordinary but it has almost been lost in the craziness of this trial.

 

[dalsglen]

I wonder what true crime fan Erin would think about the woman that's just been on the stand. Disparaging I bet!

 

[Neet_Mc]

I think this could be added to the below

100%
I’m convinced she stopped and disposed of evidence. Either in at the petrol station or at Tyabb (although my interpretation has been they never arrived at Tyabb - turned around when received the call and came home). That disposed evidence likey to have included remaining contaminated beef wellingtons, remaining mushrooms (still think the DC powdered mushrooms material was flushed in sink) and quite possibly phone A

 

[Neet_Mc]

This is so implausible to me. Explosive diarrhoea necessitating a stop on the side of the road, but cream pants are intact and, when faced with an actual toilet, doesn’t have further diarrhoea, doesn’t need to clean up a bit more and doesn’t wash her hands

Yet Simon is the unhygenic one she is concerned about!?

 

[Neet_Mc]

I kept wondering why Erin’s lawyers aren’t pulling her into line after her horrible performance during the cross-examination over the last few days. I found out that, under Victorian law, her lawyer is actually NOT allowed to talk to her while she is being cross-examined/under oath. So everything we are seeing (the hostility, semantic arguments, passive-aggressiveness) - it’s all based on her own beliefs and thoughts about what she needs to do/say to get herself out of 3 murder charges. I think if anything, this just shows how skewed her perception and thinking is. IMO.

Her personality suggests to me she wouldn’t listen to them anyway!

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

She allegedly poisoned him more than once. I don't understand why he kept eating food she had prepared after the first incident.

Good question, although I think when someone is open, honest, straightforward, there's a cognitive gap or some sort of denial when dealing with covert and extremely dishonest deceptive manipulators.


In this regard, it's tempting to lean into victim blaming 'why would you be so stupid as to do x y z...?' when in fact that victim has been long term groomed and observed by the perpetrator to the point where they have wrongfully gained complete trust and also are so duplicitous that the victim can't believe they'd ever be so demonic.

JMO MOO

 

[Montrealaise]

Good question, although I think when someone is open, honest, straightforward, there's a cognitive gap or some sort of denial when dealing with covert and extremely dishonest deceptive manipulators.


In this regard, it's tempting to lean into victim blaming 'why would you be so stupid as to do x y z...?' when in fact that victim has been long term groomed and observed by the perpetrator to the point where they have wrongfully gained complete trust and also are so duplicitous that the victim can't believe they'd ever be so demonic.

JMO MOO

This reminds me of those thrillers where someone marries a person they think is absolutely wonderful and perfect, and brushes off the recurring mysterious "accidents" they keep having as just bad luck, unaware that they're murder attempts by their spouse.

 

[Lisa4]

My opinion is that if EP is not guilty, should she just have said she did it,

Any innocent person in these circumstances would, knowing otherwise they could not live with themselves for the rest of their lives.

 

[Detechtive]

I wonder if this will be investigated after the trial?

Because the legal teams figured those charges would potentially interfere with the current proceedings. It's very odd..!


In 2022, Simon suffered a mystery illness and nearly died after being served a meal by Patterson, from whom he had split ‘amicably’ several years earlier.

In a Facebook post seen by The Herald Sun, he wrote: ‘I collapsed at home, then was in an induced coma for 16 days through which I had three emergency operations, mainly on my small intestine, plus an additional planned operation.

‘My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice, as I was not expected to live.’

Ms Patterson's ex-partner Simon Patterson has now claimed through a family source that his former wife also tried to poison him when the couple were together.

"Simon suspected he had been poisoned by Erin," a source told The Herald Sun.

That source also suggested the attempted poisoning was through nightshade plants, which includes vegetables such as tomatoes, capsicums and eggplants.


Nightshade plants contain a small amount of poisonous alkaloids and may be fatal to humans if congested in high concentrations.


It comes after the publication reported one day earlier that Mr Patterson had almost died more than one year ago from a mysterious stomach illness.

A source close to the family said that Simon believed he had ingested the poison through nightshade plants — a family of herbs, shrubs and trees that include tomatoes, eggplants, potatoes and peppers.

“Simon suspected he had been poisoned by Erin,” the source told the Herald Sun. “There were times he had felt … a bit off and it often coincided when he spent time with her.”



Eating nightshade plants containing poisonous alkaloids can be fatal.


Simon’s medical records are expected to be examined by detectives.

Fresh twist in mushroom lunch deaths as woman's ex speaks out

The former husband of the woman who cooked a lunch with deadly mushrooms which killed three people has claimed his once lover tried to poison him.

www.skynews.com.au

'Mushroom killer’ accused of poisoning guests ‘ate from different plate’

Erin Patterson has been accused of killing her ex-husband's family by cooking a beef wellington with poisonous mushrooms.

metro.co.uk

I know that with bowel surgeries the surgeons take biopsy samples which they store for 10 years, I believe? If there was poisoning I would suspect there would be some evidence of it, even now. IMO

 

[Detechtive]

My opinion is that if EP is not guilty, should she just have said she did it, just to spare her children from any upset in their lives.

I don't think so.

Or maybe she could have cooperated with police, not tampered with and or dispose of evidence, not tried to disrupt the treatment of her 'beloved family' by being actually helpful and cooperative with treating doctors and the health department, not tried to manipulate the world by releasing a statement directly to the media which was full of lies, not implied her children are liars through her testimony, and spared her children a world of pain that way. She chose otherwise, which is why she is here whether she is guilty or not. IMO

 

[Scooby-Doo]

I know that with bowel surgeries the surgeons take biopsy samples which they store for 10 years, I believe? If there was poisoning I would suspect there would be some evidence of it, even now. IMO

And everything would have been documented.

And he was going to be possibly be the 5th one, perhaps dead at the lunch

His invitation was there