Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #15 *Arrest*

[Sillybilly]

ADMIN NOTE:

The following is a repost of Opening Post #2 of every thread for those who either didn't read it or are ignoring it:

ADMIN NOTE:

IMPORTANT

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[Monstradamus]

This is actually really interesting, and you’ve also made me think of something else.

Stay with me here:

The RecipeTin Beef Wellington recipe calls for 700g of mushrooms. Erin stated that she tasted the duxelle after cooking it all down and it tasted bland. So we can safely assume that, according to her story, the duxelle already contained 700g of mushrooms.

What we know about the deathcaps from the pictures on the scale is that she had roughly 500g of hydrated death caps in total. Plus, more mushrooms from an Asian grocer (say 200-500g as an educated guess). That means Erin had a total of 700g-1kg of extra mushrooms comprised of the deathcaps and Asian mushrooms.

I highly doubt that Erin added an extra 700g - 1kg of mushrooms into an already made duxelle. This means… THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MUSHROOMS LEFT OVER.

Where are they?

<modsnip: Sub judice>

She told the jury that she ate the 1kg of mushrooms herself between July 23 and 27.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/erin-patterson-trial-alleged-mushroom-poisoner-to-give-evidence-for-seventh-day/news-story/8de6b240063da071c1f1865a022a3e9c

 

[Two SCents]

I believe she testified that she herself ate 1kg of mushrooms between her earlier shopping trip and the day of the lunch.

I don't think she said when she ate them by did she? Just that she ate them?

 

[Moll]

I was reading this summing up from CNN:

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/06/21/australia/australia-erin-patterson-mushroom-trial-wrap-intl-hnk

It reminded me how 'off' I thought this bit from Mr Mandy was:
'“If you’re pretending to be sick, you’re going to be saying to the medical staff, ‘Hook me up, pump me full of drugs, I am very, very sick. Please,’” Mandy said.'

If you're pretending to be sick, I doubt if you'd do that. They wouldn't pump you full of drugs without testing you, which would reveal the truth. No, what you'd do is try to avoid the medics as far as possible...

 

[Monstradamus]

I don't think she said when she ate them by did she? Just that she ate them?

@Two SCents she scoffed them before the lunch according to EP.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

If we are to believe her testimony, there was a tupperware container. Question is - where was it after the lunch?

There's been a lot of lies told by Erin, some of which she admits to. I think at this stage it's safe to say nothing she says can be trusted as fact.

This is actually really interesting, and you’ve also made me think of something else.

Stay with me here:

The RecipeTin Beef Wellington recipe calls for 700g of mushrooms. Erin stated that she tasted the duxelle after cooking it all down and it tasted bland. So we can safely assume that, according to her story, the duxelle already contained 700g of mushrooms.

What we know about the deathcaps from the pictures on the scale is that she had roughly 500g of hydrated death caps in total. Plus, more mushrooms from an Asian grocer (say 200-500g as an educated guess). That means Erin had a total of 700g-1kg of extra mushrooms comprised of the deathcaps and Asian mushrooms.

I highly doubt that Erin added an extra 700g - 1kg of mushrooms into an already made duxelle. This means… THERE SHOULD HAVE BEEN MUSHROOMS LEFT OVER.

Where are they?

<modsnip: Sub judice>

Erin said mushrooms lose up to 90% of their weight when dehydrated, and the following article says the same:

Understanding Dry Weight Mushroom Yields — Ryza

Maximize your mushroom cultivation with our guide on understanding dry weight yields. Gain insights into techniques for achieving optimal harvests at Ryza.

ryzagrow.com

We don't know if the 500gm of death caps she photographed were all of the ones she used, or if there were more. For arguments sake, let's say she used 500gm of picked death cap mushrooms.

So, based on that, 500gm of mushrooms become 50gm upon dehydrating. 50gm is not a lot, and when they're blitzed to a powder, they would become quite a small amount of dust. I can imagine she may, if guilty, have sprinkled this small amount over the duxelle. Perhaps she failed to factor in the fact she was starting with 500gm, thought they became less potent with dehydrating, or wanted to really make sure they did their job. If she is guilty of course.

As for the dried Asian store mushrooms, were they ever found in the testing done by experts? I thought there were only button mushroom pieces and death cap dust found. I do recall Erin saying she rehydrated some dried mushrooms and added them, but not sure if that actually happened. If so, she may have just added a few to ensure there was a mix found and she could say there were rehydrated mushrooms in it too to lay blame on the purchased dried mushrooms.

MOO

 

[Deleted member 194006]

She told the jury that she ate the 1kg of mushrooms herself between July 23 and 27.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/courts-law/erin-patterson-trial-alleged-mushroom-poisoner-to-give-evidence-for-seventh-day/news-story/8de6b240063da071c1f1865a022a3e9c

I’m referring to the deathcap mushrooms and the Asian mushrooms, not the store bought button mushrooms.

She had 1.5kg+ of button mushrooms and used 700g for the duxelle. Then, she claims she ate the rest.

But she also had approx 500g of deathcaps and let’s say 200g-500g of Asian mushrooms. It’s the entirety of this portion that I’m wondering about. It seems unlikely that she would add an extra 700g-1kg of this deathcap/asian mushroom mix to an already completed duxelle - that seems like way too much. So I’m wondering what happened to the remainder.

I hope this makes sense haha!

Also, this narrative goes by what Erin’s story is. I do strongly agree with others that I think she blitzed the mushrooms into a powder, even though Erin claims she rehydrated the deathcap/asian mushroom mix. I’m just poking holes in her version of events.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

I’m referring to the deathcap mushrooms and the Asian mushrooms, not the store bought button mushrooms.

She had 1.5kg+ of button mushrooms and used 700g for the duxelle. Then, she claims she ate the rest.

But she also had approx 500g of deathcaps and let’s say 200g-500g of Asian mushrooms. It’s the entirety of this portion that I’m wondering about. It seems unlikely that she would add an extra 700g-1kg of this deathcap/asian mushroom mix to an already completed duxelle - that seems like way too much. So I’m wondering what happened to the remainder.

I hope this makes sense haha!

Also, this narrative goes by what Erin’s story is. I do strongly agree with others that I think she blitzed the mushrooms into a powder, even though Erin claims she rehydrated the deathcap/asian mushroom mix. I’m just poking holes in her version of events.

BBM
Don't we know that no actual pieces of death caps were found? They were only detected with further testing, so were likely to be blitzed to dust? That's my belief anyway. As for the Asian store mushrooms, she may have only used a small portion of them, enough to be detected and then she could claim the death caps were in there too - even though they were crushed into tiny pieces/dust.
MOO

 

[Megnut]

If I brought freshly and safely prepared potato salad to an outdoor family reunion where, after some hours in the blazing heat, it veritably bloomed, and my Cousin Vinnie chose to pack up himself an unfortunate to-go dinner, which he then left in his car for two days before bringing it into the house, and then did or didn't put in his refrigerator for a hot minute or two before ultimately deciding he best bin it, but not before choosing to take an apparently irresistible megamouthful of expanding potato salad, I'd still feel terrible when he got sick from the potato salad I made.

Where is EP's remorse? Has she no natural empathy? Is she wholly immune to the suffering of others?

This same person who allowed her lunch guests to pray over her for a cancer she did not have, regardless of intent over DCs, didn't feel even remotely sad about the violent illnesses her guests were experiencing?

Where is the humanity?

That's next level self absorption.

JMO

 

[Moll]

If I brought freshly and safely prepared potato salad to an outdoor family reunion where, after some hours in the blazing heat, it veritably bloomed, and my Cousin Vinnie chose to pack up himself an unfortunate to-go dinner, which he then left in his car for two days before bringing it into the house, and then did or didn't put in his refrigerator for a hot minute or two before ultimately deciding he best bin it, but not before choosing to take an apparently irresistible megamouthful of expanding potato salad, I'd still feel terrible when he got sick from the potato salad I made.

Where is EP's remorse? Has she no natural empathy? Is she wholly immune to the suffering of others?

This same person who allowed her lunch guests to pray over her for a cancer she did not have, regardless of intent over DCs, didn't feel even remotely sad about the violent illnesses her guests were experiencing?

Where is the humanity?

That's next level self absorption.

JMO

Have you forgotten her wonderful 'tearful' speech to reporters?

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Thinking about the "if innocent, she should have disclosed using foraged mushrooms to her guests" argument, if Erin's version of events is to be believed, at the time of the lunch she had no idea she had inadvertently included foraged mushrooms. (I don't believe her version of events.)
As far as I can tell, nobody is suggesting she intended to use non-poisonous foraged mushrooms in the meal - the prosecution says she deliberately added death caps, her defence claims she included dried Asian mushrooms which just happened to have home-dehydrated foraged mushrooms mixed in with them (that Erin had completely forgotten about) that just happened to be death caps.
I suspect that's why they stuck with the Asian mushroom story:

I believe she testified that she herself ate 1kg of mushrooms between her earlier shopping trip and the day of the lunch.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

For someone who possibly rarely foraged, if at all prior to picking the Death caps, Erin certainly went to a lot of trouble. Buying a food dehydrator, drying and storing her dried mushrooms. Stuff that. Why not just eat them fresh once she'd foraged them? Why bother drying them herself when she already had dried mushrooms from the Asian grocer? It doesn't make sense...

 

[Monstradamus]

I’m referring to the deathcap mushrooms and the Asian mushrooms, not the store bought button mushrooms.

She had 1.5kg+ of button mushrooms and used 700g for the duxelle. Then, she claims she ate the rest.

But she also had approx 500g of deathcaps and let’s say 200g-500g of Asian mushrooms. It’s the entirety of this portion that I’m wondering about. It seems unlikely that she would add an extra 700g-1kg of this deathcap/asian mushroom mix to an already completed duxelle - that seems like way too much. So I’m wondering what happened to the remainder.

I hope this makes sense haha!

Also, this narrative goes by what Erin’s story is. I do strongly agree with others that I think she blitzed the mushrooms into a powder, even though Erin claims she rehydrated the deathcap/asian mushroom mix. I’m just poking holes in her version of events.

Perhaps she did a test run earlier in the week? She also had oodles of pastry, much more than required, imo.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

Perhaps she did a test run earlier in the week? She also had oodles of pastry, much more than required, imo.

I think that's what she did. From memory she bought more meat than she needed also.

 

[Salah11]

Have I missed something was it proven she brought mushrooms from a Asian greengrocers?

 

[Megnut]

Question: is there another pungent wild mushroom, EP might have tried, for a taste test? To determine a point for which DCs too might escape flavor attention?

Next question: how is the beef in BW prepared? Marinated? In DC?

JMO

 

[Megnut]

Have you forgotten her wonderful 'tearful' speech to reporters?

Oh, that was definitely playing in my head. But that didn't come until later, she had time to gather her thoughts before that  performance interview.

Masterful cry.

Yet unconvincing.

JMO

 

[Deleted member 194006]

Have I missed something was it proven she brought mushrooms from an Asian greengrocers?

Nah you didn’t, we were just discussing Erin’s version of events.

 

[Kemug]

However, claims that the accused is guilty or innocent of the charges are incongruent with the sub judice principles that apply in the jurisdiction of this particular trial in Victoria.
Basically anything that may prejudice the accused’s right to a fair trial
Any suggestion, opinion, or direct accusation that the accused is either guilty OR innocent
(i.e. the accused cannot be called "the killer"; use "the accused", "the alleged killer", or "the defendant")

And always add MOO!

 

[Kemug]

If you grow your own beans and potatoes, there is zero chance they would contain lethal toxins if you served them to your guests.

If you pick wild mushrooms, you found growing UNDER AN OAK TREE , there is a strong possibility they could be lethal. IMO

I don't want to give any of you any ideas, but would it be possible to serve green potatoes surreptitiously? Maybe covered with lashings of gravy?