Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #8 *Arrest*

[TootsieFootsie]

She most likely took him to his flying lesson because that's what Mum's do.
Not wanting to disappoint your child.

 

[MsMarple]

She was playing it down', son says of mother's illness​

By Tim Callanan​

Erin's son says his mother was "a bit quieter" than usual that morning which he thinks was because she was sick.

He confirms the drive to his flying lesson was about an hour and ten minutes and he thinks they left home around midday.

He is asked to talk about what happened in the time between when he first saw her that morning and when they left. He says she told him she vomited a few times overnight.

"She was playing it down, that's what it sounded like," he says.

He says she told him she didn't want to go to church in case "she spread it to people" but was happy to drive him to his flying lesson because there would not be many people there.

Erin's son says he was in the computer room most of the morning but did not notice his mother going to the bathroom in that period. He says she told him she hoped they could make it to Tyabb before she needed to go to the toilet.

He confirms they did not stop and she did not go to the toilet.

 

[MsMarple]

Key Event
2m ago

Son says Erin did not use toilet during car trip​

By Tim Callanan​

The interview turns to the cancellation of Erin's son's flying lesson and he confirms his instructor called his mother when they were about ten minutes away from Tyabb.

He says they turned around and drove back, stopping to get some dims sims and a hot dog while his mother got a coffee. He's not sure who ate what. They stopped for about ten minutes.

He says there was no toilet where they stopped and his mother did not use a toilet. He remembers his mother "racing for the front door" when they got home and then using the toilet.

Erin's son then explains they had a meal and watched TV that evening.

 

[Scooby-Doo]

That’s an interesting thought. And to add, did Erin dehydrate anything else after the death caps? Was it a one off just for those foraged mushrooms? And if so… why? Did she know she couldn’t contaminate other foods if she used the dehydrator? JMO

It sounds like she has deliberately bought the dehydrator for the mushrooms. I think all this was premeditated, her continued lies aren't helping her trial.

Lying to police that she never owned a dehydrator,

• She lied to the police about getting rid of the dehydrator
• She lied to officers about foraging for mushrooms
• She lied about having cancer

Patterson, 50, faces three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the lunch she served at her house in Leongatha on 29 July 2023. She has pleaded not guilty to murdering or attempting to murder the relatives of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson


April 18

A user on iNaturalist, a website for tracking plants and fungi, finds death cap mushrooms in the Loch area and posts about them online.

April 28

The prosecution says Erin's mobile phone data suggests she travels to Loch before returning to Korumburra.

Two and a half hours later, Erin allegedly purchases a Sunbeam food lab electronic dehydrator from a Leongatha store.

March to May

Erin allegedly starts posting about dehydrating mushrooms in a true crime Facebook group, detailing how she put powdered mushrooms into different foods.

May 21

An iNaturalist user posts a photo and location of death cap mushrooms in Outtrim.

May 22

The prosecution says Erin's mobile phone data suggests she travels to Loch and Outtrim.

The timeline prosecutors alleged in the mushroom murder trial

Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth. Here's what we know about the case, based on material put to the jury.

www.abc.net.au

 

[MsMarple]

Key Event
3m ago

Leftover meat 'some of the best' Erin's son had eaten​

By Tim Callanan​

Erin's son is now describing the leftovers that they ate for dinner which he says was "some of the best meat" he's eaten. He says it was eye fillet.

"It was a block, and I cut it up into cubes and ate it," he says.

He says the meat did not have anything on it. He explains his mother told him it was leftovers and there was no gravy with it.

He talks more about the conversation with his mother about the leftovers and he thought he had seen the meat before when his mother was preparing the lunch the day before.

He says he saw meat in a frypan the morning before but he didn't see her preparing anything else. He says there was no leftover salad from the lunch.

The police officer asked if the meat they ate for dinner the day after the lunch had already been cooked and was being reheated or whether it was cooked that evening.

He thinks it was meat that was already cooked and was reheated but he didn't see how the meal was prepared.

He says Erin made dinner for herself that night but didn't eat any of it.

 

[MsMarple]

Key Event
2m ago

Erin was 'feeling dizzy and clammy'​

By Tim Callanan​

He says his mother said after dinner on Sunday that she was feeling dizzy and had diarrhea. He confirms his mother told him she knew "Gail and Don were unwell".

He says his mother woke him up around 6.30am Monday and he came downstairs for breakfast. Erin drove the children to the bus stop.

He explains he was told at the school around midday that his mother was unwell and he and his sister were taken to the hospital to see her. She was "tired", he says and they spoke about his day at school and how she was feeling that day.

"She said she was feeling clammy and dizzy," he says.

He says she told him that morning before school that she had been to the toilet a few times during the night. He explains he saw Erin having a coffee downstairs that morning.

Erin's son says a toxicologist came into the hospital room while he was there with his mother and he had to leave the room.

The interview is jumping back and forth chronologically while the police officer clarifies some details.

 

[MsMarple]

Ey Event
1m ago

Erin took photo of mushrooms 'because they looked nice', son says​

By Tim Callanan​

The interviewing police officer asks Erin's son about what he recalls about clearing away plates from the lunch.

"They were white plates about 15 centimetres in diameter," he says.

He says they were plates his mother would serve dinner on. They were just plain white plates, all the same, he says.

"Was there anything left on those plates?" he is asked. He says no.

Erin's son is asked if he likes mushrooms and he says he doesn't really like "how squishy and mushy" they are. He says he's never been foraging for mushrooms with his parents.

He remembers his mother once taking a photo of mushrooms when they were on a walk "because they looked nice" and it was "a very fond memory in his head".

This was around July or August, 2020 he says. He's not aware of his parents ever picking mushrooms

 

[iamshadow21]

Ey Event
1m ago

Erin took photo of mushrooms 'because they looked nice', son says​

By Tim Callanan​

The interviewing police officer asks Erin's son about what he recalls about clearing away plates from the lunch.

"They were white plates about 15 centimetres in diameter," he says.

He says they were plates his mother would serve dinner on. They were just plain white plates, all the same, he says.

"Was there anything left on those plates?" he is asked. He says no.

Erin's son is asked if he likes mushrooms and he says he doesn't really like "how squishy and mushy" they are. He says he's never been foraging for mushrooms with his parents.

He remembers his mother once taking a photo of mushrooms when they were on a walk "because they looked nice" and it was "a very fond memory in his head".

This was around July or August, 2020 he says. He's not aware of his parents ever picking mushrooms

The children's accounts of the crockery shows that the grey plates and the orange plate weren't the usual ones. Were they bought specially for the lunch?

MOO

 

[MsMarple]

Key Event
1m ago

The trial is adjourned until Tuesday​

By Tim Callanan​

That's the end of court proceedings today.

The jury has left the court room and Monday is a rest day, so the trial will resume on Tuesday.

We'll resume our live blog of the trial when it resumes.
Key Event
2m ago

Police interview with Erin's son ends​

By Tim Callanan​

Erin's son is asked if he knows if his mother has a dehydrator and he says no.

He says he, his sister and his mother stayed in a house in Mount Waverley during the Easter school holidays for three to five days but he can't remember any outings with his mother.

He says he didn't go shopping with her mother but helped carry groceries in from the car.

The interview jumps to Erin's son's school arrangements and he explains he changed schools recently because there weren't enough teachers at his previous school.

He says the move was his mother's decision and he agreed to move.

The police officer asks if there's anything important that he'd like to say and Erin's son says no and agrees that everything he's spoken about is what happened.

The police interview ends and the court breaks for the day.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

The son actually said that the plates from the lunch were white.

 

[MsMarple]

The son actually said that the plates from the lunch were white.

But the relatives said they were served on grey dishes with the exception of Erin who used a colorful dish. Puzzling.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Thanks @MsMarple for doing the updates for us .

 

[Doesitmakesense]

But the relatives said they were served on grey dishes with the exception of Erin who used a colorful dish. Puzzling.

Possibly the main meal dishes were already cleared and the white dishes were from dessert

 

[Detechtive]

A salad? Whaaat why was she making a salad in the morning right before a large luncheon party where there will be no salad

She did make beans and potato. Easy enough for a 15 year old to think that was salad perhaps.

She most likely took him to his flying lesson because that's what Mum's do.
Not wanting to disappoint your child.

She was too sick to attend church but took him to a flying lesson 1 hour and 10 minutes away. This is suspicious not a dutiful mother, in my opinion.

The children's accounts of the crockery shows that the grey plates and the orange plate weren't the usual ones. Were they bought specially for the lunch?

MOO

I was already thinking that my children would describe grey plates as white, so I wasn’t shocked to see this descriptor.

 

[Megnut]

Wouldn't that be something? If the toxin was in the salad....

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Some mushrooms and lichen can be quite striking.
It's no wonder people like to take pictures of them

I have some bright orange lichen or a type of mushroom growing on a small dead branch of my bottlebrush.
I was going to get rid of it, but it just looks so beautiful so I've left it for now.

Don't worry I have no plans to host a lunch or dinner.

 

[Detechtive]

That’s an interesting thought. And to add, did Erin dehydrate anything else after the death caps? Was it a one off just for those foraged mushrooms? And if so… why? Did she know she couldn’t contaminate other foods if she used the dehydrator? JMO

You can’t contaminate other foods by simply dehydrating other things after the death caps.

To be poisoned by death caps you need to eat at least 7gms of them. Spores or residue in the dehydrator from death caps would most definitely not contaminate any other foods in there. Some of the mushroom dna would have been stuck to the walls, but not contaminating any other foods cooked afterwards.

Also, you use baking sheets in the dehydrators. Even if you reused the same baking sheets for death cups and subsequent non death cap mushrooms, there wouldn’t be contamination to a degree to even make anyone sick let alone dead.

If you licked a death cap you wouldn’t get sick. You need to consume quite a lot (minimum 7grams) to get sick from them, and given how light mushrooms are, that’s a LOT of mushroom. Residue would not under any circumstances contaminate other foods.

Similarly, washing the poisoned plates in a dishwasher would completely eradicate any contamination from death caps and even if it didn’t, consuming anything else off the same plate would not contaminate it enough for sickness.

 

[Megnut]

You can’t contaminate other foods by simply dehydrating other things after the death caps.

To be poisoned by death caps you need to eat at least 7gms of them. Spores or residue in the dehydrator from death caps would most definitely not contaminate any other foods in there. Some of the mushroom dna would have been stuck to the walls, but not contaminating any other foods cooked afterwards.

Also, you use baking sheets in the dehydrators. Even if you reused the same baking sheets for death cups and subsequent non death cap mushrooms, there wouldn’t be contamination to a degree to even make anyone sick let alone dead.

If you licked a death cap you wouldn’t get sick. You need to consume quite a lot (minimum 7grams) to get sick from them, and given how light mushrooms are, that’s a LOT of mushroom. Residue would not under any circumstances contaminate other foods.

Similarly, washing the poisoned plates in a dishwasher would completely eradicate any contamination from death caps.

Good information!

Still, I ain't licking no Death Cap.

 

[Detechtive]

Good information!

Still, I ain't licking no Death Cap.

Even if you had a little bite of one, you probably wouldn’t become ill. Most mature death caps are around 40 grams
You would need to eat 1/8th of a mature death cap to get sick, but you probably wouldn’t die. People who eat 7grams of a death cap only die in 10-30% of cases without medical intervention.

 

[Megnut]

Even if you had a little bite of one, you probably wouldn’t become ill. Most mature death caps are around 40 grams
You would need to eat 1/8th of a mature death cap to get sick, but you probably wouldn’t die. People who eat 7grams of a death cap only die in 10-30% of cases without medical intervention.

I'm worried about your search history.