Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #2

[jjenny]

My kids are interested in stuff like that.

Especially if she made snacks for them like dehydrated fruit or fruit leathers and they really liked them, I can see how it might come up.

Why would dehydrating this supposed fruit come up in the hospital? And why would she think she could loose custody of the children because of a dehydrator?

 

[jjenny]

Do you think the children could've heard / overheard the suspected cause of the poisonings?

I just wonder if they were the ones to bring up the dehydrator at the hospital, because they remember her drying mushrooms... could explain her sudden panic to get rid of it, realising the children had seen too much and could inadvertently "tell on her" to the police.

Could also explain the decision to quickly remove the children from her care, too, fearing she was considering them a liability.

The kids are old enough to notice a lot of things. Hopefully police is able to interview them.

 

[kittythehare]

I wouldn't guess EP would gain materially from her in-laws, but she might. IMO there's a large potential for non-material gain. She herself, for instance, threw the words "lose custody" into the mix. I have no idea why she would do that in the context of a dehydrator, but it may be that the whole event was related to

well, if it was linked to anything it's most likely linked to her former husband's comment when he overheard her describing something about the dehydrator to her children in the hospital.

 

[jjenny]

i guess she would only need the dehydrater if the mushrooms were fresh picked and not from the asian supermarket?

I don't think one needs dehydrated mushrooms in beef wellington.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

As far as I can tell this was supposed to have been some sort of an intervention, not a dinner just for the fun of it.

Having watched numerous episodes of the USA TV show called 'Intervention', I'm starting to see how all this may have unfolded...

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

As a parent why wouldn’t you simply paint over it?


It’s just another odd thing to take into account when viewing her imo

She did but she hired someone to paint over it. And they took photos which they kept on their phone for over a year until they came in handy!

 

[MsMarple]

Behind a paywall

The Australian|3 hours ago
The woman who cooked the deadly beef Wellington meal with toxic mushrooms suspected of killing three elderly people has lamented "being painted as an evil witch'' and becoming a prisoner in her own home,

‘I’ve been painted as evil witch’: suspect​

The woman police have named as a suspect in the deaths of three elderly people after cooking an ill-fated beef Wellington lunch says she is angry over ‘being painted as an evil witch’.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/

Yeah well, so much for her being upset over the death of her loved ones, it’s alllll about her. We constantly see similar in cases here where the suspect is mostly concerned with themselves and the victims fall to the bottom of priorities.

If the shoe fits…
JMO

 

[bearbear]

I don't think one needs dehydrated mushrooms in beef wellington.

if her intent was to poison she would though

 

[Stunned]

After seeing the wall, has anyone said anything about the children? Any behavior issues?

 

[Stunned]

Why would dehydrating this supposed fruit come up in the hospital? And why would she think she could loose custody of the children because of a dehydrator?

I’m thinking maybe that wasn’t why she was worried. IMO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

What do you all make of the words "in essence" here? I find them very odd.

"In essence they were button mushrooms from [a supermarket] and some dried mushrooms that I had purchased some time ago," she said.

Where cook bought mushrooms for beef Wellington lunch under spotlight as she provides new statement

Authorities are remaining tight-lipped on the investigation into a suspected mushroom poisoning, after the woman at the centre of the saga gave police a detailed written statement.

www.abc.net.au

It should mean something like "basically", correct? But if you used "basically" in this context, you'd be indicating that the button mushrooms and the dried mushrooms were most of the mushrooms, but not all the mushrooms. So, are we dealing with MORE than 2 types of mushrooms in the Welly mix?

Very odd indeed! I would say it's one of those phrases that disconnects the statement from the truth (forgotten the technical linguistic phrase, I watch the Behaviour Panel on youtube and they talk about these type of things).

They were button mushrooms from a supermarket. Done.

'In essence' is a type of qualifier - it takes them out of reality and into fantasy whilst keeping the core identity of 'mushroom'.

It aligns them with being in the same category but not the actual thing, ie 'in essence my cat is a wild animal'. No, your cat is actually a domesticated pet and wouldn't be able to live in the wild but yes, it *looks* the same as a wild or feral cat.

In essence my jacket is by Chanel. No, it's a knock off from the guys on the market who rip off the patterns and use similar fabrics but yes it does look the same at a glance.

In essence they were button mushrooms from the supermarket. No. You just red flagged all over the place.

People find it really really hard to barefaced lie. They will often add phrases to hesitate, to take a bit of time, to psychologically swerve it themselves.

In essence, she's an innocent woman.

 

[jjenny]

One of the ways to preserve mushrooms is to dehydrate them. If she is a mushroom forager, she could have been using the dehydrator to dehydrate the mushrooms she foraged and then store them. That could have been done months ago-somebody mentioned that death cup is not in season now? Maybe that's why she was concerned about a dehydrator.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

That's what I'm thinking too.

The children not being there that day feels like it could be linked too. IMO

I imagine if this was a religious and family community discussion / intervention about her suitability to remain or return to the marriage and was possibly going to involve some uncomfortable debate about where the children would live, then the children would have been sent off packing to the cinema for the afternoon with a friend or guardian, maybe even a sleepover.

I wonder if the visitors that day were going to confront some awkward truths?

 

[RickshawFan]

This article says that the children ate the leftovers the following night. Which would be the same day she presented to hospital…

So did EP present to the hospital on that morning, afternoon or night?

It’s starting to sound more likely that the children ate the leftovers after EP had already started feeling unwell, possibly IMO even after she had been to hospital.

It will be interesting to know whether EP gave the dish to her children before or after she became aware that it had possibly caused her guests (and maybe herself) to become unwell.

All MOO

This is what I think: everyone had become sick already at the point EP served leftovers to the kids.

 

[Amalgam]

Currently I’m satisfied with the medical assessment that the relatives suffered from mushroom poisoning, specifically death caps and agree with you that symptoms play an important part in a diagnosis.

IMO a key aspect of the differential is the rapid liver failure which all four experienced. Many substances, ranging from arsenic, botulism, prescription meds, dry cleaning chemicals, etc. can cause death but a stand out symptom of death cap poisoning is liver failure within 24 to 48 hours after ingestion.

Death caps are common in the region and the victims displayed symptoms consistent with death cap poisoning so unless the autopsies reveal some unusual cause other than the obvious it seems to be what the doctors suspect.

IMO we’re going to hear a new story from EP at some point. MOO

The contradictions in the mushroom poisoning case

Don and Gail Patterson, Gail's sister Heather and her pastor husband Ian fell sick after eating beef Wellington pie at Erin Patterson's Leongatha home, in Victoria's Gippsland, on July 29.

www.dailymail.co.uk

Mushroom poisoning

Contrary to popular belief, there is no home test that can distinguish between edible and poisonous varieties of wild fungi or mushrooms.

www.betterhealth.vic.gov.au

Well said, I agree completely.

I’ve seen it stated in articles about this poisoning and repeated here that death cap mushrooms are not in season at present and therefore EP must have used the dehydrator to preserve some.

Given EP’s behaviour surrounding the dehydrator, I’m inclined to think she did exactly that, but it is entirely possible for death caps to grow at this time of year.

Their prime season is mid to late autumn, but they will grow after decent rainfall at almost any time of year.

 

[RickshawFan]

Very odd indeed! I would say it's one of those phrases that disconnects the statement from the truth (forgotten the technical linguistic phrase, I watch the Behaviour Panel on youtube and they talk about these type of things).

They were button mushrooms from a supermarket. Done.

'In essence' is a type of qualifier - it takes them out of reality and into fantasy whilst keeping the core identity of 'mushroom'.

It aligns them with being in the same category but not the actual thing, ie 'in essence my cat is a wild animal'. No, your cat is actually a domesticated pet and wouldn't be able to live in the wild but yes, it *looks* the same as a wild or feral cat.

In essence my jacket is by Chanel. No, it's a knock off from the guys on the market who rip off the patterns and use similar fabrics but yes it does look the same at a glance.

In essence they were button mushrooms from the supermarket. No. You just red flagged all over the place.

People find it really really hard to barefaced lie. They will often add phrases to hesitate, to take a bit of time, to psychologically swerve it themselves.

In essence, she's an innocent woman.

Wow, this is brilliant.... IMO

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

Well, there would have been five plates since one of them would be the plate she picked out. She seems to be claiming that the food was on plates and everybody picked a plate with her picking the last one left. But if the poison was in something else like the gravy or sause (beef wellington is usually served with the sauce or gravy as far as I can tell) then maybe the main dish itself was not poisoned. If the main dish wasn't poisoned then the children could have actually eaten the left overs and not get sick. Of course we don't know if anything she claims is accurate. She already admitted she lied to the police about the dehydrator.

I can't imagine how it works to have people round for a meal and put down plates and let people pick one? it doesn't ring true.

You would either put the 'beef wellington' down on a large serving plate and allow people to help themselves -or- you'd plate it up and hand them a plated portion one by one, either from a serving hatch, from a serving trolley or one by one to the table the same as a waiter would.

In the history of time when has anyone left five plated up hot dinners somewhere and said take whichever one you'd like?

 

[ch_13]

I imagine if this was a religious and family community discussion / intervention about her suitability to remain or return to the marriage and was possibly going to involve some uncomfortable debate about where the children would live, then the children would have been sent off packing to the cinema for the afternoon with a friend or guardian, maybe even a sleepover.

I wonder if the visitors that day were going to confront some awkward truths?

This whole situation is bonkers.

But the idea of meeting up to discuss the state of one's marriage with the in-laws and pastor, but without the husband present, may be the single most bizarre aspect of this case.

I wonder if this was just one in a serious of get-togethers and whose idea it was to meet.

 

[k-mac]

Pay-walled article in The Australian:

Leongatha mushroom deaths: ‘I’ve been painted as evil witch’, laments Erin Patterson

Paraphrased:

EP can’t have fiends over to her house to provide support because of media interest at her house, and that of her sister’s.

She denies being the source of the leak of her police statement to the media. Has no idea how it got out.

Owing to complexity and various other individual factors, the toxicology reports on how the three people died may be many weeks or months away.

Ian Wilkinson, while still very ill, may not require a liver transplant to survive the poisoning.

EP owns a largely vacant townhouse in Mt Waverley worth in the vicinity of $1 million.

https://www.theaustralian.com.au/nation/leongatha-mushroom-deaths-ive-been-painted-as-evil-witch-laments-erin-patterson/news-story/f78d1753babaa37acffe2189d53155a9

MSN

By emerging accounts from residents in the largely Christian rural town of Leongatha, Ms Patterson was a harmless - though distant and somewhat odd - person who liked to cook, was a good mother and, as a neighbour described to The Australian, was naive and 'into unicorns'.

Interesting she uses the term witch.

Setting her defence up now for future trial. IMO.

She is bold in her cunning....

MOO

 

[jjenny]

This whole situation is bonkers.

But the idea of meeting up to discuss the state of one's marriage with the in-laws and pastor, but without the husband present, may be the single most bizarre aspect of this case.

I wonder if this was just one in a serious of get-togethers and whose idea it was to meet.

Husband was supposed to have been there but decided to not show up.