Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 #9 *Arrest*

[Kemug]

I find it amazing that some people are still defending her, to be frank. She's been arrested on 3 charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder.

I think some of those defenders may be just trying really hard to be fair.

 

[Kemug]

Erin Patterson has since admitted that she did indeed forage for the poisonous mushrooms, and it was panic that made her lie and say that she bought them from a Chinese grocer. She also lied about not owning a food hydrator. Her lawyer said that it was a 'terrible accident' that she picked the poisonous mushrooms. This is what the defence will put in their final summary and if the jury is dumb enough, they'll swallow it...

"Admitted" is often used when it should really be "claimed", IMO.

 

[Jess D]

I think some of those defenders may be just trying really hard to be fair.

I'll reserve my sympathy for Erin Patterson's victims thank you, who must of died a horrific and cruel death whilst their organs melted away. I also feel sorry for her husband & other family members, including Erin's own children, who lost their loved ones in a way that should never have happened.

 

[Jess D]

"Admitted" is often used when it should really be "claimed", IMO.

She originally 'claimed' that she bought the mushroons from a Chinese grocer and Woolworths. She has since 'admitted' that these were lies and that she herself foraged for the poisonous mushrooms. Admitted was used in the right context in my original post.

 

[Eloise]

She originally 'claimed' that she bought the mushroons from a Chinese grocer and Woolworths. She has since 'admitted' that these were lies and that she herself foraged for the poisonous mushrooms. Admitted was used in the right context in my original post.

ngl the attempt to throw Asian grocers under the bus really rubbed me the wrong way. Any sympathy I'd have ever felt for her dissipated in that moment. Reminds me, in a way, of Sherri Papini throwing Hispanic people under the bus. In that its a white woman of privilege, blaming - with a confirmed lie - people of colour for something they did. You simply instantly lose my empathy in that moment, sorry.

 

[Jess D]

ngl the attempt to throw Asian grocers under the bus really rubbed me the wrong way. Any sympathy I'd have ever felt for her dissipated in that moment. Reminds me, in a way, of Sherri Papini throwing Hispanic people under the bus. In that its a white woman of privilege, blaming - with a confirmed lie - people of colour for something they did. You simply instantly lose my empathy in that moment, sorry.

Well mushroom sales went right down at Woolworths and other major supermarkets after Erin's untruths and no doubt sales were affected at the Chinese grocery stores as well...

 

[JLZ]

She originally 'claimed' that she bought the mushroons from a Chinese grocer and Woolworths. She has since 'admitted' that these were lies and that she herself foraged for the poisonous mushrooms. Admitted was used in the right context in my original post.

I wondered if she used powdered foraged mushrooms and also fresh mushrooms from Woolworths. It sounded to me like Ian could see mushrooms inside the pastry; and I think Erin spoke of scraping off mushrooms from the children's food, not mushroom-containing paste. I don't see why I should believe that she used only foraged mushrooms just because it's her latest version.

 

[Eloise]

I'm sure there were legit mushrooms in there as well. I figured there would have been tbh

 

[Detechtive]

Right! How did Erin know the food poisoning wasn’t caused by the meat?

Did she know the mushrooms were poisonous?

This is what people don't plan on when committing crimes. That you can deduce guilt by what they didn't do or what they excluded.

For example, she fed her kids leftover mash and beans, and steak (which, is pretty clear was not Beef Wellington. Like you said earlier Ellery, it was likely just steak from the eye fillet), but no pastry, no mushroom duxelle. No fancy Beef wellington for the kids.

That shows consciousness of what she knew was poisonous, IMO. And to me, it makes it even worse that she told the children it was leftovers from the previous day - in effect, gaslighting them to lie for her.

And here we have another lie. No "mushrooms" were "Scraped" off their "leftovers" IMO.

 

[Shortfusepsb]

I am looking forward to the prosecution presenting the factual and forensic evidence... Contents of the thumb drive and other electronics.

Of particular interest should be the recovered log file preserved data within partitions, and data remnants in the reset phone. If interrogated by specialist software and specialist investigators, these are likely to also be presented, as factory reset/remote reset are not effective at removing all data, although predictability of data integrity varies.
- Assessing data remnants in modern smartphones after factory reset. [Blankesteijn, Fukami, Geradts 2023], [Schwamm and Rowe (2014)] and others.

What other factual evidence have the investigators uncovered, yet to be presented? So far, its been a witness parade, nothing more.

 

[Jess D]

I wondered if she used powdered foraged mushrooms and also fresh mushrooms from Woolworths. It sounded to me like Ian could see mushrooms inside the pastry; and I think Erin spoke of scraping off mushrooms from the children's food, not mushroom-containing paste. I don't see why I should believe that she used only foraged mushrooms just because it's her latest version.

She may well have used both fresh & the poisonous mushrooms that she foraged and dried in her dehydrator.

 

[Jess D]

This is what people don't plan on when committing crimes. That you can deduce guilt by what they didn't do or what they excluded.

For example, she fed her kids leftover mash and beans, and steak (which, is pretty clear was not Beef Wellington. Like you said earlier Ellery, it was likely just steak from the eye fillet), but no pastry, no mushroom duxelle. No fancy Beef wellington for the kids.

That shows consciousness of what she knew was poisonous, IMO. And to me, it makes it even worse that she told the children it was leftovers from the previous day - in effect, gaslighting them to lie for her.

And here we have another lie. No "mushrooms" were "Scraped" off their "leftovers" IMO.

This is what people don't plan on when committing crimes. That you can deduce guilt by what they didn't do or what they excluded.

For example, she fed her kids leftover mash and beans, and steak (which, is pretty clear was not Beef Wellington. Like you said earlier Ellery, it was likely just steak from the eye fillet), but no pastry, no mushroom duxelle. No fancy Beef wellington for the kids.

That shows consciousness of what she knew was poisonous, IMO. And to me, it makes it even worse that she told the children it was leftovers from the previous day - in effect, gaslighting them to lie for her.

And here we have another lie. No "mushrooms" were "Scraped" off their "leftovers" IMO.

I don't believe that she scraped any mushrooms off their plates either, but I'm intrigued to know if she said this after the others were in ICU, but before she was told that the doctors suspected they had consumed poisonous mushrooms?

 

[Jess D]

I am looking forward to the prosecution presenting the factual and forensic evidence... Contents of the thumb drive and other electronics.

Of particular interest should be the recovered log file preserved data within partitions, and data remnants in the reset phone. If interrogated by specialist software and specialist investigators, these are likely to also be presented, as factory reset/remote reset are not effective at removing all data, although predictability of data integrity varies.
- Assessing data remnants in modern smartphones after factory reset. [Blankesteijn, Fukami, Geradts 2023], [Schwamm and Rowe (2014)] and others.

What other factual evidence have the investigators uncovered, yet to be presented? So far, its been a witness parade, nothing more.

Changing topic slightly, does anyone else think it was a bit strange that Erin, Simon and Simon's family were communicating via the highly encrypted Signal app? I wonder if this was instigated by Erin?

 

[JBowie]

Changing topic slightly, does anyone else think it was a bit strange that Erin, Simon and Simon's family were communicating via the highly encrypted Signal app? I wonder if this was instigated by Erin?

I find it odd, too, and my guess is it would have been EP's idea. Signal is not only encrypted but able to time out and delete messages automatically if desired.

Police say that EP used two phones. I have to wonder about the usage of the phone that has not been located.

 

[Detechtive]

dbm.

 

[katydid23]

Does anyone think the defence might suggest that Erin collected the poisonous mushrooms intentionally with a view to poisoning herself?--mainly because she believed she had ovarian cancer.

No, I doubt they try that as a defense.

Perhaps she intended to do it at that very meal, but despite her care with the plates, the batches got confused.

I don't see how that's possible. There were 5 servings---4 of them deadly. Only one was safe.

So how could she have 'accidentally' poisoned everyone else but herself?

Her diarrhoea was not faked, but it was mild to moderate, did not last very long, and was caused by whatever real condition she had which she had mistaken for cancer.

So someone has mild to moderate diarrhoea for one day and they decide it must be cancer so they plan to eat death cap mushrooms?

 

[Detechtive]

dbm

 

[Eloise]

Changing topic slightly, does anyone else think it was a bit strange that Erin, Simon and Simon's family were communicating via the highly encrypted Signal app? I wonder if this was instigated by Erin?

I mean... I use signal for group chats with family members too. If you're variously on Android and iOS, its better than any in-built messaging service for group chats. And the main alternative is whatsapp, and some people prefer not to use Meta products. I certainly don't use it because I'm trying to hide anything lol

 

[Kemug]

I mean... I use signal for group chats with family members too. If you're variously on Android and iOS, its better than any in-built messaging service for group chats. And the main alternative is whatsapp, and some people prefer not to use Meta products. I certainly don't use it because I'm trying to hide anything lol

Well, if it's good enough for the US government!

 

[katydid23]

Did Erin say why she scraped the mushroom paste off the pies for her kids? Was it because they didn't like mushrooms or because she 'thought' it was the likely source of the poisonings? How did she know it was the mushroom and not the beef? Gotcha!

She said her daughter didn't like mushrooms. But I noticed that in the daughter's video interview, she said she eats mushrooms sometimes. So IDK