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

[Charlot123]

well to be fair....
I am very disturbed by the wall.
And I came to that conclusion all BY MYSELF.

And I dont believe for a second it has anything to do with the children.

Is it fair to judge independent thinking folk who are offended by the wall as mob mentality at its worst???

We don’t know anything about the source of the wall. A man who was hired to whitewash it saw it and made a photo. We don’t know if the wall, indeed, was scary, or maybe the man was superstitious. Later when the story popped out, EP said she allowed the children to paint on it.

Personally, since I haven’t seen the wall, I can’t judge how scary it is. I also don’t know who made it, and in what period of time. If kids - there are two pairs of grandparents, we don’t even know who is mentioned in the handwritings, tbh. In my opinion, the handwriting is not childish at all, and the drawings/writings are too well-planned, spatially. Surely, there are graphologists to study the creation and compare handwritings. For all I know, it might have been a totally different person, neither EP nor children who drew on the wall. Erin is an unverified source of information. She made a statement about the dehydrator and then admitted to lying. The story about buying amanita phalloides in an Asian grocery store was not confirmed. I would take her statement about “kids drawing it” very skeptically as of today.

 

[LadyL]

He died very sick and almost died about a year ago. Spend time in a hospital. Intestinal problems. So maybe this is the exact way she felt about the divorce.

? Simon's not dead.

 

[Charlot123]

I’m still open to it being an accident.

I think if in fact she was an experienced regular forager, in my mind that makes an accidental poisoning more likely rather than less. They probably often had dehydrated mushrooms in the house and cooked with them often.

I can’t explain why she is still alive. Maybe she really did get sick but her portion had a much lower dose of the poison by chance, and the medicine had she claims was given really was and that saved her. Her behaviour and lies are odd but maybe she panicked realising her error and has handled the situation truly terribly. You can be awkward and a compulsive liar and also not a murderer.

I am leaning towards it being deliberate rather than an accident but there is so much unknown still.

If it was an accident, I can’t imagine what Erin would be grappling with.

I have already posted about it. I come from the country where mushroom foraging is almost a national sport, and in all cases of mushroom poisoning I heard about, the victims were very experienced foragers. It can’t be otherwise. As a novice, I know three edible mushrooms, champignons, chanterelles and Boletus edulis. Whether milk mushrooms or honey agarics are edible or not, I have no clue, so I shall never gather them. Plus, professional foragers hunt for mushrooms often, so the statistical probability of running into a poisonous mushroom is higher.

The only thing that is concerning is that Erin didn’t blame the foraged mushrooms. She definitely blamed dry mushroom powder that she bought in an unknown Asian store. Her version was never supported.

 

[DeDee]

I'm gone five days and there's almost a thousand posts to read. But, that's

If deadly mushrooms were served at the luncheon a few ideas were developed.

Theory 1: These victims did not wish for their loved one to remain with Erin. Hence, she set about a plan of revenge in order to get rid of that problem. No more influencing her husband from them. It backfired when her X became suspicious that his own recent illness was caused by her poisoning him when his family members died. Revenge is a common motive in murders.

Theory 2: Theory 1 is not true at all. Erin is loved by those in her life. There was no ill intent. She is innocent of foreknowledge of any poisonous mushrooms placed in the Beef Wellington. One of the guests may have requested this delectable recipe Erin is known for creating so well. With regrets, the dehydrator was indeed tossed in a moment of panic.

Bias from life's exp. -- The expression Erin had in public when she squinted her eyes tightly, as if to try to press a tear out, she raised her hands to touch her eyes then looked at her hands when she removed them, as if asking herself: Did these hands try to kill 3,4,5 people? Or, as if asking herself: Are my hands wet from tears? Don't we know if we're shedding tears? Looking at her hands made me feel uneasy.

I am eager for the tox reports. If ill intent can be proven, if guilty of these poisonings, she'd be considered a Mass Murderer had the one lone survivor died. Thankfully, he's in critical but stable condition, afaik, and pray he survives.

Just my humble musings

 

[RickshawFan]

I have already posted about it. I come from the country where mushroom foraging is almost a national sport, and in all cases of mushroom poisoning I heard about, the victims were very experienced foragers. It can’t be otherwise. As a novice, I know three edible mushrooms, champignons, chanterelles and Boletus edulis. Whether milk mushrooms or honey agarics are edible or not, I have no clue, so I shall never gather them. Plus, professional foragers hunt for mushrooms often, so the statistical probability of running into a poisonous mushroom is higher.

The only thing that is concerning is that Erin didn’t blame the foraged mushrooms. She definitely blamed dry mushroom powder that she bought in an unknown Asian store. Her version was never supported.

Cf. The two campers…

B.C. campers rescued by helicopter after eating poisonous mushrooms

Two people camping on B.C.'s Sunshine Coast had to be rescued by helicopter after accidentally eating poisonous mushrooms, according to search and rescue volunteers.

bc.ctvnews.ca

Doesn’t sound like these were experienced foragers in the following article. Personally, I’ve never heard of an experienced forager making this mistake. And you don’t hear about it among commercial operators foraging in PNW woods.

Wild 'death cap' mushrooms poison 14 people in Northern California

Wild “death cap” mushrooms severely sickened 14 people — three of whom need liver transplants — after they ate fungus picked from the Northern California mountains, medical officials said.

www.latimes.com

 

[LadyL]

It's not surprising that she hasn't said anything negative about the deceased.

If she did she'd be thought of as guilty for sure, even if she's innocent.

and I presume she suspects that ...

 

[gitana1]

So why have the children been removed ?

Department of Child Protection don't do this on a whim. I'm stumped.

There is way more to this complex case than meets the eye.

They’ve been removed? The plot thickens.

 

[jepop]

We don't know anything more from this article on who Simons 'friend' is.

It is still an unsubstantiated statement by an unnamed source.

EP stated on record all the people who died were nothing but kind and lovely to her.

smh
facts matter

I'm repeating what the outlets said. I'm not claiming it as fact. I was replying to a post that asked where/if Simon's friend had been reported. The fact is only that the source was reported as being Simon's friend. Probably a combo of me not being super clear and you having misunderstood. Easy to do.

 

[Charlot123]

Be nice to have a dollar for every article written including 'family friend', 'unnamed associate' 'source close to the family'..........

Doesn't make it fact unless the person owns the statement. Even then doesn't make it necessarily true.

This has been victim bashing without any facts, implying the murdered people where confrontational and judgemental and its just not reasonable. IMO.

JMO. Leongatha is 5+K people. Korumburra is about 3K. That Baptist church is the oldest one in Korumburra, its parish, no doubt, being tightly knit. Such places are usually described as “sleepy”. Imagine their slow existence being disrupted by the drama that Agatha Christie could envy.

Such a situation provides fertile ground for gossip.
Add to it TV stations and journalists, and you get the perfect mix that we see.

 

[jepop]

JMO. Leongatha is 5+K people. Korumburra is about 3K. That Baptist church is the oldest one in Korumburra, its parish, no doubt, being tightly knit. Such places are usually described as “sleepy”. Imagine their slow existence being disrupted by the drama that Agatha Christie could envy.

Such a situation provides fertile ground for gossip.
Add to it TV stations and journalists, and you get the perfect mix that we see.

Right, plenty of gossip, I'd imagine/speculate.

Imo if the sources exist as actual people (which I'm going to assume they do for now), the point I was making a ways back was that LE would be interested at some point in the investigation in interviewing "simon's friend" "a friend" and/or the "family friend" (as reported by Msm - though we don't know if the sources are as represented in the media) to verify the information or when building context and background for the case. Moo

 

[jepop]

Be nice to have a dollar for every article written including 'family friend', 'unnamed associate' 'source close to the family'..........

Doesn't make it fact unless the person owns the statement. Even then doesn't make it necessarily true.

This has been victim bashing without any facts, implying the murdered people where confrontational and judgemental and its just not reasonable. IMO.

Always best not to take msm using unamed sources at face value for sure. Posters,including me, have speculated scenarios if the various reported info was true and that is permitted on here and what many of us have been doing -taking reported information from various unverified sources. As long as it's clear that this an opinion and speculated. We all do it.Moo

Much, most even that has been reported is open to interpretation Imo, and can't be considered as factual. Moo. I do tend to take statements from police at face value unless proven otherwise though.

 

[k-mac]

I'm repeating what the outlets said. I'm not claiming it as fact. I was replying to a post that asked where/if Simon's friend had been reported. The fact is only that the source was reported as being Simon's friend. Probably a combo of me not being super clear and you having misunderstood. Easy to do.

No misunderstanding here.

Providing the link to the source, is still an unsubstantiated article.

We still ...do not know 'who' Simon's friend is and what his credentials are.

An unverified source he is.
The information 'the friend' provided in the article linked is floating around as fact.

Not engaging further in this topic.

Just felt it necessary to remind people the 'simons friend' info led to not so nice things being said about the deceased that I don't think were correct or fair to be said here.

moo

 

[Ellery84]

No misunderstanding here.

Providing the link to the source, is still an unsubstantiated article.

We still ...do not know 'who' Simon's friend is and what his credentials are.

An unverified source he is.
The information 'the friend' provided in the article linked is floating around as fact.

Let’s face it, we don’t have access to any primary documents apart from Erin’s statement that was “leaked” to the media before it arrived with Vic Police.

I think we can take the quote from the “source” as their opinion, not really as an fact.

Imo
It’s a journalist and editor’s job to check and verify their sources and the information provided by those sources, but do they? I don’t know.

We don’t have to believe everything that is written in the press, it’s our choice and it’s always good to use some restraint and common sense.

Moo

 

[k-mac]

Let’s face it, we don’t have access to any primary documents apart from Erin’s statement that was “leaked” to the media before it arrived with Vic Police.

I think we can take the quote from the “source” as their opinion, not really as an fact.

Imo
It’s a journalist and editor’s job to check and verify their sources and the information provided by those sources, but do they? I don’t know.

We don’t have to believe everything that is written in the press, it’s our choice and it’s always good to use some restraint and common sense.

Moo

I added to this post Ellery84
your too quick!!

 

[jepop]

No misunderstanding here.

Providing the link to the source, is still an unsubstantiated article.

We still ...do not know 'who' Simon's friend is and what his credentials are.

An unverified source he is.
The information 'the friend' provided in the article linked is floating around as fact.

RBBM: Oh well,that's a general statement. I may have misunderstood the intent of you initial post.

It's also not verified that any thing said by EP is fact either so when citing her words that all was fine with her relatives that is also speculation. To repeat, imo,we are all speculating here to a greater or lesser extent.

I'm moving on from this now.

 

[JBowie]

“Erin Patterson had a collection of books about mushrooms which she kept at her home where her fatal beef wellington lunch took place, Daily Mail Australia has been told.

A friend claimed the shelves of her family home at Leongatha included books about delicious yet potentially deadly fungi.

Daily Mail Australia on Wednesday reported Ms Patterson, 48, was an 'experienced forager' who - like many families in the area - picked mushrooms when they were in season”.



Story by Wayne Flower, Melbourne Correspondent and Candace Sutton For Daily Mail •



MSN

Ms Patterson is now represented by a prominent Melbourne criminal barrister.

... and I think she's going to need him/her.

 

[k-mac]

RBBM: Oh well,that's a general statement. I may have misunderstood the intent of you initial post.

It's also not verified that any thing said by EP is fact either so when citing her words that all was fine with her relatives that is also speculation. To repeat, imo,we are all speculating here to a greater or lesser extent.

I'm moving on from this now.

You were too quick replying to this post jepop!
lol I agree
please read my edited post

 

[jepop]

Let’s face it, we don’t have access to any primary documents apart from Erin’s statement that was “leaked” to the media before it arrived with Vic Police.

I think we can take the quote from the “source” as their opinion, not really as an fact.

Imo
It’s a journalist and editor’s job to check and verify their sources and the information provided by those sources, but do they? I don’t know.

We don’t have to believe everything that is written in the press, it’s our choice and it’s always good to use some restraint and common sense.

Moo

I think Ep's leaked statement is not an official police statement but one she made with her lawyer and sent to the police. I think that happening is verified (!) by police who were quoted very recently in MSm.. I do believe the reports that addressed that matter. Moo. All just to say that in a nut shell there's little official info out there at the moment cos investigation ongoing. Moo

 

[jjleroche]

Yes, quite.

Let’s think about the lunch and the day in question… Imagine having to deal with such an enclave of relatives of your ex partner all at once, and to dine with them alone in your own home without a support person - and without even your teenage children at home to support you or provide what might have been a welcome distraction from the conversations and a buffer between the exes relatives and Erin.

Added to this, your ex hasn’t even bothered to turn up, so you’re potentially feeling very alone indeed and maybe even “set upon”…

What a potential “pressure cooker” situation!

I guess for me, if you don’t mind indulging me for a moment, fellow-Sleuthers…I have a bit of social anxiety and I don’t like conflict… If I was the host, I would have probably wanted to just hide under the table until they all left. But then, I wouldn’t have invited them in the first place.

So, why did she invite them?

All imo and speculation.

BBM
IBM

Maybe she didn't necessarily invite them, per se. It was, IIRC, EP who initiated the separation, and proceeded to develop an independent life. Statistically, at some stage, the majority of couples proceed to divorce.
I think it's entirely possible that EP had expressed such a wish.
It's entirely possible IMO that between SP and his parents, it was concluded that a discussion needed to occur with EP

? Simon's not dead.

Oops! Apologies to all. I appear to have posted my reply before I had completed it, so I'll start again.:

Maybe she didn't necessarily invite them, per se. It was, IIRC, EP who initiated the separation, and proceeded to develop an independent life. Statistically, at some stage, the majority of couples proceed to divorce.

I think it's entirely possible that EP had expressed such a wish. If so, given the strong influence of their church in their lives, SP and his parents may have become very concerned about the prospect of the children having divorced parents, and concluded that a discussion needed to occur with EP.
Maybe the location was suggested by SP and/or his parents, and EP felt that it would be churlish to refuse.

Re the children, I'm acquainted with several "tweenage" children who, if they were informed that their father and grandparents were going to visit (and hence there would be important matters discussed), would likely roll their eyes and say something like "can we go to the flicks instead."

Yes, quite.

Let’s think about the lunch and the day in question… Imagine having to deal with such an enclave of relatives of your ex partner all at once, and to dine with them alone in your own home without a support person - and without even your teenage children at home to support you or provide what might have been a welcome distraction from the conversations and a buffer between the exes relatives and Erin.

Added to this, your ex hasn’t even bothered to turn up, so you’re potentially feeling very alone indeed and maybe even “set upon”…

What a potential “pressure cooker” situation!

I guess for me, if you don’t mind indulging me for a moment, fellow-Sleuthers…I have a bit of social anxiety and I don’t like conflict… If I was the host, I would have probably wanted to just hide under the table until they all left. But then, I wouldn’t have invited them in the first place.

So, why did she invite them?

All imo and speculation.

BBM
IBM

Oops! Apologies to all. I appear to have posted my reply before I had completed it, so I'll start again.:

Maybe she didn't necessarily invite them, per se. It was, IIRC, EP who initiated the separation, and proceeded to develop an independent life. Statistically, at some stage, the majority of couples proceed to divorce.

I think it's entirely possible that EP had expressed such a wish. If so, given the strong influence of their church in their lives, SP and his parents may have become very concerned about the prospect of the children having divorced parents, and concluded that a discussion needed to occur with EP.
Maybe the location was suggested by SP and/or his parents, and EP felt that it would be churlish to refuse.

Re the children, I'm acquainted with several "tweenage" children who, if they were informed that their father and grandparents were going to visit (and hence there would be important matters discussed), would likely roll their eyes and say something like "can we go to the flicks instead Mum?"

 

[Shadow@light]

Not elaborated on. Are you thinking new partner?

Thar is a point jepop.