GUILTY Australia - 3 dead after eating wild mushrooms, Leongatha, Victoria, Aug 2023 *Arrest* #18

[Tortoise]

Very bazaar. I didn't realise that she had shared the photos. I thought that they were found on one of the devises.

I thought she posted pictures of normal mushrooms in the dehydrator but not the death caps. I'm not 100% sure though.

 

[Observe_dont_Absorb]

To me, the only problem with your bolded statement is that she anticipated they'd die quickly at home, or die prior to any testing or medical intervention being done. To me, that's a HUGE gamble, not one she should have been willing to take, unless her brain could not stray from the one path of almost instant death and no real follow up. It's quite the possibility I guess, as someone with what I like to think is a "normal" brain, I just can't fathom it.

JMO but I don't think she thought they'd die dramatically and swiftly with extreme symptoms so much as very certainly over time, maybe at different paces. If she'd done a lot of research into the effects of DC perhaps she was feeling assured of organ failure but didn't realise the initial symptoms would be so obvious and extreme?

 

[HoneyBunOne]

JMO but I don't think she thought they'd die dramatically and swiftly with extreme symptoms so much as very certainly over time, maybe at different paces. If she'd done a lot of research into the effects of DC perhaps she was feeling assured of organ failure but didn't realise the initial symptoms would be so obvious and extreme?

This made me wonder if she gave everyone varying amounts of death caps, so as to spread their deaths out - in her mind anyway. I've always assumed everyone got equal amounts.

 

[Monstradamus]

This made me wonder if she gave everyone varying amounts of death caps, so as to spread their deaths out - in her mind anyway. I've always assumed everyone got equal amounts.

A little extra sprinkle for the ones she despised the most, perhaps?

 

[JBowie]

Do you have to obtain a yearly RWC (pink slip) in Victoria to renew rego (similar to NSW?)

No.

[In Vic] You'll need a roadworthy certificate when selling a car, re-registering it [after a lapse], or clearing some defect notices.

https://transport.vic.gov.au/Registration-and-licensing/Registration/Roadworthy-certification/Roadworthy-certificate

 

[Kemug]

A little extra sprinkle for the ones she despised the most, perhaps?

And a little less, ie none at all, for the one she loved the most, guess who?

 

[potr]

The fatal lunch was on Saturday, Erin says she became unwell Saturday night, son allegedly woke Sunday with a stomach ache, Sunday morning church was cancelled as a result, Sunday afternoon was spent driving to the flying lesson that was cancelled last minute/pooing by the roadside/stopping multiple times for snacks and a 9 second toilet trip, Sunday night the kids were fed "leftovers" with the mushrooms scraped off, allegedly..

I just want to ask this anyway - would not church have been "cancelled" anyway - given Ian - the pastor was already gravely ill and probably on the way to hospital?

 

[potr]

Great post! I have wondered about the level of psych testing done for the aviation training.

but then you think of Russell Williams the head of the canadian air force in situ,
btk deacon of the church, as was arthur selby lowe, psychopaths can be reasonably good at using institutions associated with reliability and trust in their favour - as a cover - until their dysfunction betrays them....Erin wasn't even as good at this as others - only lasted in air traffic control for 22 months - studied but didn't even finish law or vet medicine... She is not nearly as accomplished or persistent as some of her fellow mass murdering rivals.
i was thinking she was borderline with histrionic and narcissistic tendencies - but reading all the stuff thats come out after the verdict i am firmly convinced she is a psychopath with narcissistic and histrionic traits.

 

[potr]

This is a vague idea of the Holden vehicle that Erin used to take to the tip, a 2018 Holden Wagon…. I imagine she would have been sad to lose it…..


View attachment 602118


View attachment 602119

i think this jumper is very unattractive

 

[potr]

To me, the only problem with your bolded statement is that she anticipated they'd die quickly at home, or die prior to any testing or medical intervention being done. To me, that's a HUGE gamble, not one she should have been willing to take, unless her brain could not stray from the one path of almost instant death and no real follow up. It's quite the possibility I guess, as someone with what I like to think is a "normal" brain, I just can't fathom it.

yes the absolute arrogance - its reckless - thank god!
but bearing that in mind even though gail was at the hospital within 15 hours and heather 18, they obtained no traces of the toxin from either of them!! - from any - ANY secretions at admission even. They did from both Don and Ian. Ian is kind of a miracle specimen I think

 

[potr]

Well, she now gets to eat what is served up to all inmates and my guess is that won't be a weight watchers menu.

If she refuses any form of exercise then she may bloat out even further.

i thought it was already reported that she has lost weight since arrest?

 

[potr]

I believe that was the poster's thoughts about what her planned story was going to be. That the guests brought the gravy, if they didn't survive long enough to talk about it.

she bought at LEAST 5 packets but i thought it was 6 of liquid gravy in the few days before the poison party

 

[LinasK]

She hated Simon's family so much, and yet it seems to me that no-one could have asked for better or more caring inlaws.

I know! The victims come across as sweet, caring people and she comes across as pure evil. And I'm across the world.

 

[potr]

I know! The victims come across as sweet, caring people and she comes across as pure evil. And I'm across the world.

not just sweet - amazing, interesting, lively, curious, open minded and vivacious - I only realised just what amazing interesting individual people they were when i watched the memorial service - really really FINE people. So much worth and life still to live .

 

[Two SCents]

Seeing as though she put them on the true crime group, maybe she was testing the waters to see whether normally suspicious people could spot them.

Like if one poster had said they look like they might be poisonous she could have pretended it was a mistake and aborted the plan.

However, the fact they didn't, made her think that she could probably pass it off as an accident if it came to it.

IIRC she didn't 'put them on the true crime group'.

The photo shared in the group chat with Erin's FB friends was of button mushrooms in the dehydrator. The photos of the mushrooms identified by fungi expert Tom May as death cap mushrooms were found by police investigators on a tablet.

Erin's FB friend Jenny Hay testimony was that Erin never talked about foraging for mushrooms.

Leftovers, a dehydrator and CCTV: The evidence that convicted Erin Patterson

The jury in Erin Patterson's trial sat through weeks of evidence before convicting her of murder. Here's some of the key pieces shown to the jury during the trial.

www.abc.net.au

'One of Patterson's Facebook friends, Daniela Barkley, also gave police screenshots of a chat they were in together.

One of the images shows a message Patterson sent where she told her Facebook friends she'd been blitzing mushrooms so that she could hide them in food to feed her children.

Others showed images of a mushrooms in the dehydrator.'

 

[Two SCents]

There's been much thought about what Erin did in the 90 minutes between leaving and returning to the hospital. I wonder if the email received by Jenny Hay was sent in that 90mins. It would have been good to hear what was said by Erin in that phone conversation.


"On the Monday following the poisonous lunch, Ms Hay says she spoke with Erin Patterson for about 10 minutes over the phone."

"Erin emailed me on the Monday morning, via my work email, and asked for me to call her," she says.

"I don't think she answered, I think she called me back but I ended up speaking with her on the phone."

'How sad she felt': Erin Patterson confided in online friends, court hears — as it happened

Erin Patterson's Facebook friends took to the witness box in her murder trial over a lunch served to her in-laws containing death cap mushrooms. Look back at how the hearing unfolded in our live blog.

www.abc.net.au

 

[jesse]

I thought initially along the lines of the super smart plan, months in the making. Every contingency covered, depending on how things panned out. I've mentioned mushroom gravy brought by a (now deceased) guest in the orange cake container etc.

I now lean towards her being "handed" the plan via reading it in a book. We've seen "The Chalet" mentioned, but I favour Bonnie Garmus' "Lessons in Chemistry". All it really required was the procuring of the death caps and hiding them in a suitable meal. It totally relied on them all dying before too much information could be revealed. Then, as the book said, just play the dumb housewife who has made a terrible mistake.

Some thinking had to go into obtaining the death caps. Even that was poorly done if she was smart. Do the researching at the library, not on her own devices. Don't take her phone with her to incriminating locations. Don't post stuff about dehydrating anything, no-one needed to know that.

The meal itself was well thought out, but it relied upon dead people telling no tales. The individual portions and colored plates were great, until Simon knew about it.

When the plan revolved around playing the dumb housewife in the aftermath, she wasn't well equipped to deal with a situation that called for anything but dumb. Given the cards she was dealt, she played the best hand she could, by retrofitting her story (lies) to the evidence. Thankfully, 12 of her peers saw straight through her bungling.

Guests didn't bring gravy. This is well-trod ground. They brought a cake and Erin claims to have eaten most of it. Ian was present.

And the problem wasn't that Simon found out about it. Don brought his own vomit to the hospital. Gail noted that she'd had a different plate color.

 

[HoneyBunOne]

I just want to ask this anyway - would not church have been "cancelled" anyway - given Ian - the pastor was already gravely ill and probably on the way to hospital?

The church aspect hasn't really been well covered AFAIK. I'm sure Ian would have been responsible and called in sick, and there would likely be another senior member who could step in and lead the service.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

IIRC she didn't 'put them on the true crime group'.

The photo shared in the group chat with Erin's FB friends was of button mushrooms in the dehydrator. The photos of the mushrooms identified by fungi expert Tom May as death cap mushrooms were found by police investigators on a tablet.

Erin's FB friend Jenny Hay testimony was that Erin never talked about foraging for mushrooms.

Leftovers, a dehydrator and CCTV: The evidence that convicted Erin Patterson

The jury in Erin Patterson's trial sat through weeks of evidence before convicting her of murder. Here's some of the key pieces shown to the jury during the trial.

www.abc.net.au

'One of Patterson's Facebook friends, Daniela Barkley, also gave police screenshots of a chat they were in together.

One of the images shows a message Patterson sent where she told her Facebook friends she'd been blitzing mushrooms so that she could hide them in food to feed her children.

Others showed images of a mushrooms in the dehydrator.'




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"Erin's FB friend Jenny Hay testimony was that Erin never talked about foraging for mushrooms."

Erin didn't talk about her foraging, because up until the day she went looking for Death Caps, she wasn't a forager. Even Simon had no knowledge of it...

 

[jesse]

I think she expected 2 potential scenarios.

1) They'd die at home with the cause unknown. Never linked to any event or person in particular. Relied on the DC's being undetectable after 48 hours. Whether she factored in the likelihood of them being detected in an autopsy is unknown (phone A might answer that). The liver would have telltale signs of being damaged by the DC poison.

2) The cause became known and it was linked back to her lunch. Then play the dumb housewife who accidentally foraged the wrong type of mushrooms. A terrible accident.

I think if she had to factor in more than those 2 scenarios, she very likely wouldn't have done it.

I don't think she expected #2. She lied about having foraged mushrooms. If she'd been smarter, that would have been the right angle.