Page 12 | The mushroom poisoning in Vic.... I am gripped

Dustyblue · 2023-08-09T03:58:28+00:00

This has been all over the news. I live one town over from Leongatha and believe me, it's the talk of the towns. We have loads of mushrooms around our place but wouldn't dream of eating them. About 90% of foraged mushrooms in Australia are poisonous. Then again, you do get groups of people who think they know what they're doing, and perhaps they do. Meanwhile this is suss-as. [[https://www.abc.net.au/news/2023-08-09/poisonous-mushroom-deaths-victoria-leongatha-explainer/102703430 Three people died from suspected mushroom poisoning after sharing a meal. Here's what we know - ABC News]]

velvetandsatin · 09/08/2023 15:11

They're separated and she wants to keep the house, the articles said. Freeing up a bit of money might help that.

missingthemark · 09/08/2023 15:13

Crocodile tears on that video. Guilty as hell.

Fraaahnces · 09/08/2023 15:27

Also a Victorian, and wouldn’t dream of picking my own mushrooms. I hope she’s innocent. The Freudian slip with the name was a bit dodgy, though. I have to say that it’s not unusual for kids to avoid mushrooms. All three of mine hated them until their late teens. (Perhaps a survival instinct?) There is no way I could get my son to try one even now and he’s almost 17. He gags at the sight of them and he likes virtually everything else. (Except Brussels sprouts - and nobody likes those bastards.)

Janieforever · 09/08/2023 15:29

A bit agog at the contortions folks are doing to try to say it can’t be her, some even going on to suggest her ex planted the mushrooms so he could get her to unknowingly kill his family. I mean like really? Wonder why the police aren’t considering that 😂

amd as said earlier. You don’t die immediately from eating them, it’s not an episode of Agatha Christie. It takes up to two weeks. The issue here is they all ate so much they got Ill the next day after eating at hers.

So the police Are investigating as 3 people have died, from what they think is death cap mushroom poisoning and they all ate mushrooms at her house and fell ill the next day. Only her and her two children didn’t eat them. The fourth person is in critical condition also from what the doctors think is suspected eating death cap mushrooms.

the two children have been taken into care.

could she have picked them by mistake, which would have been a strong defence, now not likely as she’s now saying she bought them at the grocers, and denying any foraging. And the police are clearly looking at the dehydrater.

she is not divorced, separated, her ex doesn’t live with her, and she wished to keep the family home post divorce, but that was looking unlikely. If they all died, inc the dad, who only pulled out just before the lunch, her kids would have inherited everything.

so could it be innocent, sure, it could be the dastardly grocer, but it’s not looking good, really is it.

velvetandsatin · 09/08/2023 15:32

As death cap mushrooms are in season in April, they could only have been foraged for then and either frozen or dehydrated by her.

As she has said she bought the mushrooms at the local grocer, they could not have been in the mushrooms she purchased then, as they are out of season.

velvetandsatin · 09/08/2023 15:32

*Autumn, rather. But that includes April!

Original poster

Dustyblue · 09/08/2023 15:43

Peak mushroom season here in Sth Gippland is June, not April. We get all sorts of fungus in early to mid-winter.

That's a minor point though... I truly think we'll find out about this soon enough. The fact that all the dinner guests were rushed from the tiny local hospitals to the Austin in Melb (where the Poison Info Service is located, also has infectious disease wards) shows how fast the various authorities have dealt with it.

Her poor kids though, ugh.

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reesewithoutaspoon · 09/08/2023 15:47

I very much doubt she bought death caps with her groceries, they don't look like cultivated mushrooms and would stand out in a punnet, they are much bigger and have a sickly olive colour on the cap with white gills, not pink/brown like field mushrooms.
Also totally the wrong season for them. They are a late summer/autumn mushroom (currently sprouting in the Uk due to cooler temps and loads of rain) and they would have popped in March/April/May in Australia so would have had to be preserved in some way, either freezing or dehydrating.

DigbyTheDigger · 09/08/2023 15:50

If she had foraged them, would she still be done for manslaughter? Presumably you wouldn't get off scot free after killing three people, even if you were entirely without intent?

Paix · 09/08/2023 15:53

Reminds me of Kathy Bates in Misery. This one can’t act though!

Original poster

Dustyblue · 09/08/2023 15:55

Oh jeez don't make me laugh!

A friend said today "I know the local Baptists. They're so polite, they wouldn't be able to say I can't eat this, it tastes like poison".

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MrsRobinsonsHandprints · 09/08/2023 15:56

Janieforever · 09/08/2023 15:29

A bit agog at the contortions folks are doing to try to say it can’t be her, some even going on to suggest her ex planted the mushrooms so he could get her to unknowingly kill his family. I mean like really? Wonder why the police aren’t considering that 😂

amd as said earlier. You don’t die immediately from eating them, it’s not an episode of Agatha Christie. It takes up to two weeks. The issue here is they all ate so much they got Ill the next day after eating at hers.

So the police Are investigating as 3 people have died, from what they think is death cap mushroom poisoning and they all ate mushrooms at her house and fell ill the next day. Only her and her two children didn’t eat them. The fourth person is in critical condition also from what the doctors think is suspected eating death cap mushrooms.

the two children have been taken into care.

could she have picked them by mistake, which would have been a strong defence, now not likely as she’s now saying she bought them at the grocers, and denying any foraging. And the police are clearly looking at the dehydrater.

she is not divorced, separated, her ex doesn’t live with her, and she wished to keep the family home post divorce, but that was looking unlikely. If they all died, inc the dad, who only pulled out just before the lunch, her kids would have inherited everything.

so could it be innocent, sure, it could be the dastardly grocer, but it’s not looking good, really is it.

I don't see why it is much more unreasonable to suggest her husband or the grocer when people have decided she is guilty because she isn't crying properly.

It might be her, but I wouldn't judge that on her body language or actions. Stress makes people do weird things

reesewithoutaspoon · 09/08/2023 16:02

If she had genuinely foraged them believing them to be edible, why didn't she eat any?
They can't have been fresh ones (wrong season) , so assuming they were frozen or dehydrated, why didn't her kids or her get sick?
That implies that they were only put in specific dishes. Why would she do that? , if it was a powder, you would have to deliberately isolate your food and your children's. So that implies you knew that you didn't want to eat that powder, even though it was probably undetectable flavour-wise.

Janieforever · 09/08/2023 16:07

MrsRobinsonsHandprints · 09/08/2023 15:56

I don't see why it is much more unreasonable to suggest her husband or the grocer when people have decided she is guilty because she isn't crying properly.

It might be her, but I wouldn't judge that on her body language or actions. Stress makes people do weird things

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I think it’s not just the crying. It’s all of it.

Janieforever · 09/08/2023 16:08

reesewithoutaspoon · 09/08/2023 15:47

I very much doubt she bought death caps with her groceries, they don't look like cultivated mushrooms and would stand out in a punnet, they are much bigger and have a sickly olive colour on the cap with white gills, not pink/brown like field mushrooms.
Also totally the wrong season for them. They are a late summer/autumn mushroom (currently sprouting in the Uk due to cooler temps and loads of rain) and they would have popped in March/April/May in Australia so would have had to be preserved in some way, either freezing or dehydrating.

Exactly so saying she bought them at the grocers is odd.

EleanorLucyG · 09/08/2023 16:11

JenWillsiam · 09/08/2023 14:05

I’m not joking.

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No just attempting to derail a thread with your own particular pet branch of activism. It's everywhere on MN at the moment and is so tedious. You're not raising awareness or whatever it is you hope to achieve, all you're doing is annoying people so they turn away from your cause.

I don't see how she could have not done it, whether accidentally or deliberately. The alternative would have been one of the others adding it to the meal in a murder/suicide and that's such a strange thing to do in that setting. If someone else added the ingredient to the meal just because they wanted to and all out in the open, she surely would have mentioned this? How could it be possible for these people to have ingested the mushroom if she didn't give it to them? I wonder how her children are coping, their world has been turned upside down.

Original poster

Dustyblue · 09/08/2023 16:11

Yes, very odd to buy them at a shop... she's put her foot in there. Doubling down on the lies perhaps.

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ChestnutGrove · 09/08/2023 16:21

Saw this on the ITV news site in the UK. I can imagine this being turned into a 3 part drama in future!

Nissy123 · 09/08/2023 16:26

Talista · 09/08/2023 14:02

You don't get poisoned just from handling poisonous mushrooms - you have to ingest them.

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I know but surely if she dehydrated and powdered there would be traces around and on her hands etc....

FallingStar21 · 09/08/2023 16:27

Dustyblue · 09/08/2023 16:11

Yes, very odd to buy them at a shop... she's put her foot in there. Doubling down on the lies perhaps.

That's what I was thinking. It will likely come out as an "inconsistency" and another piece of evidence against her. These poor people, having gone to lunch and to see their grandchildren/grand nieces or nephews, only to die a horrible death. I hope the victim fighting for his life pulls through though.

FallingStar21 · 09/08/2023 16:30

Not to do with the crime itself, but wondering -
Why are the children placed in care, and not with their dad?

Fraaahnces · 09/08/2023 16:36

Maybe there’s suspicion there too. Maybe she left him for a reason. Why were HIS parents at her place if she was so bad?

LookingForPurpose · 09/08/2023 16:38

This really is fascinating, I grow my own mushrooms and dehydrate them to. I had never considered mushrooms as a way to kill prior but it would be very easy I guess. I dehydrate my mushrooms and then blitz them into a powder to add to stock and sauces to ramp up the umami. It's a very fine grey powder that pretty much dissolved and doesn't really have a strong taste. I've no idea what this species tastes like but if half a cap can kill you I'll then over dehydrated add blitzed the amount of dust would be tiny. Like it would fill a small pill capsule. Mushrooms are 90% water so when dried out there really isn't much left.

Fraaahnces · 09/08/2023 16:38

What if one of the kids hurled a mushroom into whatever she was cooking and didn’t admit it? Kids do weird things.

alwaysonadiet1 · 09/08/2023 16:39

But why did the ex pull out of the lunch at the last minute? He knew something.