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

[Warshawski]

They were her sycophants. It was honestly like a cult, where Erin was the supreme leader.

I raised the question as to her being ‘cult leader’ like. .. so many behavioural traits in common imo.
Extremely dangerous on so many levels.

 

[Detechtive]

I raised the question as to her being ‘cult leader’ like. .. so many behavioural traits in common imo.
Extremely dangerous on so many levels.

I think with people like her, it is even more dangerous because it is so passive-agressive. At least, say, Charles Manson, you knew he was a cult leader and he abused women and it was quite typical of how a cult leader operates in a commune.

With Erin, it was slow indoctrination. Slow weaving of stories to manipulate everything. A total mind F* for lack of a better word, IMO

 

[MaxDecimus13]

Agree @Detechtive; EP taking the stand sealed her fate, if she hadn't, who knows what the outcome would have been?!

This is what I don't like. Much of this stuff is relevant circumstantially to indicate what she is like.

For instance, the defence can make the point that she was generous and gifted loans to family members (not that relevant to the case) etc but the prosecution cannot show that she's the sort of person who creates multiple fake online accounts and lies about having cats that eat poisonous mushrooms?

The most extreme example of this was during the closing arguments where the defence rested heavily on the fact that she'd never done anything like this before and had a perfect record. I don't see how it isn't relevant that her ex-husband didn't attend precisely because he thought she'd tried to poison him.

 

[Detechtive]

This is what I don't like. Much of this stuff is relevant circumstantially to indicate what she is like.

For instance, the defence can make the point that she was generous and gifted loans to family members (not that relevant to the case) etc but the prosecution cannot show that she's the sort of person who creates multiple fake online accounts and lies about having cats that eat poisonous mushrooms?

The most extreme example of this was during the closing arguments where the defence rested heavily on the fact that she'd never done anything like this before and had a perfect record. I don't see how it isn't relevant that her ex-husband didn't attend precisely because he thought she'd tried to poison him.

The prosecution didn't even have enough money to get her full phone history. This is what money and privilege buys in our legal system. It's appalling.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

I get the impression that was her hobby.

Thankfully she wasn't very good at it.

 

[Detechtive]

Thankfully she wasn't very good at it.

I don't think she was a good sleuth but she had a LOT of time. So, that kind of made up for it.

She was wrong about a lot.

But she was a good stalker i think by default of her resources. She sent death threats about my children, even. She is a lunatic. She also upheld 20 or so online personas. Yeah, CRAZY!

Dr Webster was spot on!

 

[MaxDecimus13]

Don't get me wrong, I'm not dissing Simon at all. It must have taken a lot to even have the thought of "What if....." in the first place. To gather evidence and take notes meant he wanted to be sure before coming forward. I just wish that everyone he told took it as seriously as he did. As surreal as it sounds to say "I think my wife is poisoning me", he did it, but didn't get the responses that could have avoided this whole tragedy. Easy to see in hindsight, but not as obvious in real time. Just a horrible series of events that lead to this, at the hands of a, a .... I can't even find the right word for her.

After hearing all of the evidence about the attempted poisonings, I wonder whether Simon himself truly believed it up until the meal that killed his parents.

He obviously had suspicions and had aired them to trusted people, but maybe deep down he hoped he was wrong rather than being absolutely convinced.

The only reason I say this is because of his reaction to the cookies. If he was absolutely sure she'd been trying to kill him and this might be another attempt, wouldn't he have taken them to the police? It would be cast iron proof of his theories.

I'm not for one second victim blaming here, I've made it very clear that I believe actual murder to be such a rare event that I think a lot of people would find it hard to truly believe even if they had suspicions. I've followed many true crime things over the years, but have never experienced somebody I know actually getting murdered. I work in education so when I say people I know I'm talking thousands.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

Plus her online searches for poisons, plus extremely relevant pattern evidence - it's only Simon whose digestive organs (intestines) failed, and who experienced poisoning symptoms such as paralysis, after eating 'family' meals prepared by Erin, she wasn't sick, and they all happened during a period of physical separation but at exceptional times when he was invited to be with Erin. His food was separated by tupperware, or in a wrap, or had a level of spice tailored to his taste, which is the same MO as preparing individual Wellingtons.

Absolutely.

I think the first example was a meal he claimed to have given to the children as well though. I'm sure she found a way and was maybe experimenting with poisoning efforts at this stage.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

I don't understand why she hated him so much.

If she's the sort of person who builds hatred over online forum comments, I'm sure it didn't take very much.

 

[Detechtive]

After hearing all of the evidence about the attempted poisonings, I wonder whether Simon himself truly believed it up until the meal that killed his parents.

He obviously had suspicions and had aired them to trusted people, but maybe deep down he hoped he was wrong rather than being absolutely convinced.

The only reason I say this is because of his reaction to the cookies. If he was absolutely sure she'd been trying to kill him and this might be another attempt, wouldn't he have taken them to the police? It would be cast iron proof of his theories.

I'm not for one second victim blaming here, I've made it very clear that I believe actual murder to be such a rare event that I think a lot of people would find it hard to truly believe even if they had suspicions. I've followed many true crime things over the years, but have never experienced somebody I know actually getting murdered. I work in education so when I say people I know I'm talking thousands.

Those cookies were given to Simon on a road trip to Brisbane. He only became suspicious when Erin continually called checking if he had eaten them. He threw them out due to gut instinct of something wasn't quite right due to her behaviour.

I wish he retained them and took them to the police.

 

[Deleted member 363451]

If she's the sort of person who builds hatred over online forum comments, I'm sure it didn't take very much.

If ever they make a TV series about it they should include her poisoning of Simon.

 

[SilentHill]

She shared the passwords of a couple with Ali Rose.

Oh let me guess,

Login: ErinErinErin
Password: IHateSimon

 

[SilentHill]

She's 11/12 now.

Speaking from experience that is such a prime time in a girls life to have their mother around although I doubt she had any motherly tendencies anyway. I hope she is surrounded by love and affection - same for her brother

 

[Detechtive]

Oh let me guess,

Login: ErinErinErin
Password: IHateSimon

Something like that, probably! Lol!

 

[Susjay]

I think with people like her, it is even more dangerous because it is so passive-agressive. At least, say, Charles Manson, you knew he was a cult leader and he abused women and it was quite typical of how a cult leader operates in a commune.

With Erin, it was slow indoctrination. Slow weaving of stories to manipulate everything. A total mind F* for lack of a better word, IMO

Like a spider luring others to get closer, befriending them and creating as you say - a persona they would feel comfortable with - maybe even drawn towards. Without the online context and its facade, it seems she would never have been able to pull all this off. Seems like she mostly lived her reality, vicariously in this fake place, rather than in the real world; all smoke and mirrors in her head. Sounds really creepy, completely dysfunctional and an environment to completely derail & upend mental health.

 

[JBowie]

Like a spider luring others to get closer,

"Come into my parlour," said the spider to the fly.
"I'll cook you up some lunch: mushrooms in a pie."

 

[Susjay]

This is what I don't like. Much of this stuff is relevant circumstantially to indicate what she is like.

For instance, the defence can make the point that she was generous and gifted loans to family members (not that relevant to the case) etc but the prosecution cannot show that she's the sort of person who creates multiple fake online accounts and lies about having cats that eat poisonous mushrooms?

The most extreme example of this was during the closing arguments where the defence rested heavily on the fact that she'd never done anything like this before and had a perfect record. I don't see how it isn't relevant that her ex-husband didn't attend precisely because he thought she'd tried to poison him.

The testimony about her sad, hard life really backfired. I kept thinking, how much more of this woman’s history do we need to hear? How is it relevant? Hours and hours this poor me narrative - I’ve had such an awful life. It reminded me of Mr Bennet in Pride & Prejudice commenting about the lying cad Mr Wickham and his fictitious sob stories. “With such narratives to hand, who would read novels?”

 

[Susjay]

"Come into my parlour," said the spider to the fly.
"I'll cook you up some lunch: mushrooms in a pie."

Maybe the fox offering to carry the gingerbread man across the river safely…

 

[MaxDecimus13]

I listened to the extra Mushroom Daily podcast today, and was interested to hear some of the detail they went into.

Specifically, they mentioned that the defence had an expert witness basically refuting all of Simon's poison claims and indicating that his symptoms didn't align with having ingested something. I don't think he could say 100% though.

Quite late in the game, the prosecution brought out the rat poison link based on searches but the expert wasn't there to possibly refute.

I suspect this had quite a lot to do with why the charges were dropped. Had the defence pulled apart those claims they might have feared it could have had a knock on effect on the more significant ones. It could've ended up looking like Simon had it in for Erin and was out to get her.

Instead, they let the main case play out and the much clearer evidence from that took her down. Once you realise she did those, then it becomes much more likely that she was simply very cunning with how she poisoned Simon.

 

[MaxDecimus13]

Another thing after hearing Simon's version of how things played out, is that I now think it most probable that she went for the others as a relatively last minute thing born out of frustration at not being able to get to Simon.

I might be wrong, but when you hear them all lined up it is clear she's been trying for some time and failing. The meal seems like a ruse purely to get him there, but when he wouldn't come she decided to punish him by murdering his family.

I doubt we'll ever know for sure, but I'd put this as the most likely scenario for me.