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

[TootsieFootsie]

I happen to have dried mushrooms and mushroom powder in my kitchen right now. I just sniffed them. Not musty.

I still wouldn't want to reuse a bag that had contained dried food of any kind.

 

[Inthedetails]

I still wouldn't want to reuse a bag that had contained dried food of any kind.

But would someone (not you) save one that might come in handy later as decoy evidence. We don't know one way or the other, imo.

jmopinion

 

[Inthedetails]

That's because she bought something there it's just she can't recall which store it was.
It is exactly something I would do.

Like coffee shops for me, there are so many. Ones i've wandered into, for the life of me I wouldn't remember the name, weeks later, let alone months. I might not have even noticed the name at all while I was there.
I wouldn't have a chance in hell at remembering it if it was in Chinese.

I would say that a lof of coffee shops are similar as are Asian grocery stores.

It doesn't mean she knows the area well and even if she did, it's not strange or dishonest or against the law to forget where you bought something months later.

Maybe hypnosis could be used to narrow it down.

I'm guessing LE isn't stymied because she can't remember which shop. They can visit every shop that sells dried mushrooms. Investigations aren't restricted by what the suspect says she remembers.

jmo

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Sure, if that was the only reason you were going there. It's yet another thing that we don't know.

Maybe she rarely went there and it was mainly to check up on the house.

 

[RickshawFan]

Are there any links to say how long the dehydrator had been at the dump?

LE must have had a tip it would be there, and there would be video footage?

 

[boomburger]

The vast majority of death cap poisonings in Australia are Asian immigrants who see the mushrooms and think they are similar to straw and field mushrooms they see in their home countries and mistakenly pick and eat them. I wonder if that factored into why she claimed she bought them at an Asian store?

 

[charminglane]

It will be interesting to see if this is a case of poisoning by mushroom--
If EP disposed of the toxic roast somewhere by leaving the home that day, keeping the non-toxic dish for her children and the testing sample.

 

[Salah11]

If she did buy these in a store why have there been no other reports of mushroom’s poisoning in the last 3 months?


I mean is LE really going to believe she was so unlucky that day she was only one who managed to buy the poisoned mushrooms and then she managed to feed these to her unsuspecting guests and her children and her just happened to be fine?


Fate was really smiling down on her it seems!

 

[RickshawFan]

From the article...

She said she told investigators from the department where she had bought the mushrooms – although was unable to identify the specific shop in Melbourne where she bought the dried fungi.

Hmmm.

Other unrelated people would have become ill if she purchased them at a shop.

 

[RickshawFan]

She does.

The statement says that when her four guests were hospitalised, Patterson told the Department of Health where she had purchased the mushrooms, and confirmed that samples recovered from the Asian grocery store in containers with handwritten labels were the same as the type she had purchased months before.

Mushroom cook says she bought fungi from Asian grocer and her children ate the lunch leftovers

Erin Patterson told police she, too, was sick from the beef Wellington lunch that police suspect killed her former in-laws and another relative.

www.watoday.com.au

She was presented containers by LE and she pointed to the ones that resembled the containers she bought? How is that any kind of evidence?

There presumably would be receipts and maybe video (though she conveniently bought them months ago, and video was recycled).

 

[Chimera]

Not sure about Australia and esp. that area, but in my city and state there's not that many Asian grocers only due to the fact that they're smaller and tend to be family-run (not chain stores like Trader Joe's or Kroger's).
So if there's only two stores or even a few more, Erin shouldn't have trouble remembering where the mushrooms were purchased ?

The surviving man will be able to say what was served, etc.
I'm curious if EP sat with them during the meal, and if so, did they ask her why she was eating something different, or was it a usual occurrence -- i.e., some people pre-prepare their meals when losing weight or watching calorie/sugars/carb intake for a condition like diabetes ?
Omo.

 

[RickshawFan]

In at least one article, it seemed that the police were skeptical that she became ill.

it will be a matter of keen interest to investigators as to why Erin presented at hospital when she appeared symptom-free.

All she’d need was colonoscopy prep to mimic the symptoms lol. Getting sent to Melbourne hospital may have been preventative.

 

[boomburger]

Dont be surprised if the pastor, presuming he survives and still has good memory, recounts to police everyone having gravy on their Wellington except for the host.

 

[Chimera]

I'm guessing LE isn't stymied because she can't remember which shop. They can visit every shop that sells dried mushrooms. Investigations aren't restricted by what the suspect says she remembers.

jmo

Guessing here ; smaller grocers would be at a huge risk if they sold lethal mushrooms.
They'd be shut down, for an investigation, and possibly for good ?
My .02 is that they'd be careful to sell mainly pre-packaged fungi from a larger source.

Not sure about them picking locally and even if so --they'd be cautious !
The risks to their livelihood would be enormous if someone became ill or worse from their produce.

Again, the tox tests and the survivors' testimony will be important.
What if it wasn't fungi but something else ?
Omo.

 

[JBowie]

Dont be surprised if the pastor, presuming he survives and still has good memory, recounts to police everyone having gravy on their Wellington except for the host.

We all hope the poor guy survives, and I'm sure he'll have a lot to say to police.

Re gravy, traditionally the mushroom component of Beef Wellington is in a paste layer between the pastry and the meat centre, so it would have to be scraped away, which is what she claimed to have done when her children ate leftovers (allegedly because they don't like mushrooms).

Erin said her children were not present at the time of the meal, stating they had actually gone to the movies.

They ate the leftovers from the lunch the following night.

Erin said her children did not like mushrooms, so she “scraped” them off.

https://www.news.com.au/national/victoria/news/erin-patterson-gives-new-account-of-deadly-meal-that-killed-three-in-suspected-mushroom-poisoning/news-story/f258a1c0bb9756bfa16d58a60e34f058

 

[Eaglette]

Its said: The proof is in the Pudding

In this case the smoking gun is the dehydrator.

Should we have a Poll to collect a consensus as to whether the dehydrator has evidence of Toxin/Poison ?

Also in Australia when you get invited to lunch you normally bring a plate of something delicious.... well "often".
Home made Brandy/Mushroom Patè etc...

My point is this might not be the Beef Wellington.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

My point is this might not be the Beef Wellington.

Yes what else was at the meal.
Often guests do bring something to add to the meal.

It could just as well be in a dessert that someone brought, a bottle of something, or some chocolates.

 

[Salah11]

Yes what else was at the meal.
Often guests do bring something to add to the meal.

It could just as well be in a dessert that someone brought, a bottle of something, or some chocolates.

Why has that then not been mentioned by EP?


She is the one who can’t remember where she brought the mushrooms so that seems highly suspicious. Then add in the fact she has admitted her kids Ate Left overs and she scrapped off the mushrooms. All of this points to Mushrooms not Chocolates IMO

 

[TootsieFootsie]

So what would happen if no mushroom toxin is found in any of the deceased or Mr Wilkinson, or the dehydrator ?

I imagine ER would still be a suspect because she provided the meal.

 

[Inthedetails]

Yes what else was at the meal.
Often guests do bring something to add to the meal.

It could just as well be in a dessert that someone brought, a bottle of something, or some chocolates.

Wish we knew if the guests brought anything. Surely the hostess would have that info.

Mushroom poisoning causes liver failure, which is what the victims seemed to have suffered.

If a food item the guests provided was tainted, you'd have to look for something in them that also caused liver failure, as opposed, for example, stomach issues from food that went bad.

jmo