The mushroom poisoning in Vic.... I am gripped

[Dustyblue]

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.

Three people died from suspected mushroom poisoning after sharing a meal. Here's what we know - ABC News

No.

I ate half a pack of chestnut mushrooms, well within best before date from Tesco in an omelette last year. Was so sick I blacked out and 111 sent an ambulance crew to check me out in the middle of the night. Took weeks for my digestion to get back to normal. Guess I should move from Tesco to Sainsbury.

Ooft, based on that alone she's guilty. 😮

In the UK more likely to have been the eggs

Who revealed about the mushrooms? Those affected are either dead or critically ill.

I suppose they were asked what they had to eat or something.
All very dodgy.

That woman does not appear to be "well" in herself anyway. But maybe cunning enough at the same time.

With due respect to the victims, the ex and herself might just get back together and live happily ever after with the inheritance. A chilling joint plan maybe.

That’s horrible@SoggyDoggyWalks. My DSis is allergic to Quorn I believe that is derived from mushrooms. She was ill as you describe. My DM didn’t believe it was the Quorn that had made my sister ill. She served it to her again! My DM finally believed my sister when she was terribly ill again🤢.

I’m in the UK but saw this in the news and I’m intrigued too. I’d like to know more details about the dish she cooked too, maybe they were all veggies and she did a mushroom dish for them and meat for herself and children? It would be a very stupid thing to do given poisoning is easily traced and the finger of suspicion would fall straight to her

To those saying 'who on earth would forage mushrooms?' - it's really quite safe if you know what you are doing and stick to what you know. Death caps are pretty distinctive and a foul olivegreen colour. They really don't look appetising!
As for the horse whisperer case, the mushrooms he ate look absolutely nothing like ceps - just nowhere close. Everyone can make mistakes but in that particular case it's hard to conclude anything other than that they were all exceptionally, exceptionally foolish.

It seems an insane thing to do on purpose, they would obviously trace the poisoning back to the meal.

7 news are saying she’s been reinterviewed by the police and this latest interview she “no commented” the whole way through.

Theory: the mushrooms were picked, dehydrated, and used to make her husband sick last year. Decided to bung in the rest of it for this meal to teach them a lesson, not realising it was powerful enough to kill. Has panicked and tried to dispose of the dehydrator, and lied about buying them from the grocer.

Also I don’t think foraging really isn’t as much of a thing in Australia as it is in the UK. You may have a garden patch but there’s nothing really wild and edible that people would want to eat. No one I know would have picked mushrooms, as they are much much more likely to be poisonous than not.

It really isn’t always that easy to spot inedible fungi. I consider myself a fairly experienced forager, but very nearly poisoned DH and myself a few weeks ago with some lovely white wild mushrooms with the edible pale coloured gills.
it was only when i was pan frying them and they started going yellow and smelling unpleasant that i googled that and discovered they were yellow stainers and indeed toxic. I did bin the entire dinner at that point, but the photo shows how good they looked.

That is totally normal. Any solicitor would advise her not to comment.

People need to remember Lindy Chamberlain. Everyone 'knew' she was guilty from her body language and demeanour. Except she wasn't.

you just can't imagine what those parents went through can you. imagine your baby is killed and then being imprisoned. just unbearable

How did they discover it?

Its a cost/benefit thing.

Benefit: slightly tastier mushrooms. Save £3 from grocery budget.

Cost: could die a painful death

= Not worth it.

Maybe if the benefit was 'its the most wonderful thing you will taste in your life!' then maybe. But for mushrooms. No thanks.

If we're sleuthing, then maybe the husband made HIMSELF ill a year ago, to lay the groundwork for this.

There's a greengrocer near me who sells all sorts of foraged mushrooms. I'd buy them as they're foraged by professionals and no one has ever reported a problem with them. No way would I try foraging them myself.

As for this case - does anyone know whether the dehydrator they found at the tip definitely belonged to the suspect?

Read about this today, it's a tragedy.

I agree @Dustyblue you don't cook a meal for people and not eat with them or eat something else.

Very odd behaviour on camera, why didn't she say where she got the mushrooms or indeed there weren't mushrooms in the meal.

For me, what stood out to me was her saying her husband’s mother was “like the mother I never had”. Then seconds later she said her mum died four years earlier, implying that she was saddened by her mother’s death.

“Mother I never had” sounds like an exaggerated pity play to me. “She was like a mother to me after my own mum died” would seem like a more authentic or natural way of speaking about both relationships.

Obviously not evidence you could use to secure a conviction but detectives 100 percent use behaviour as a cue for potential guilt or evidence.

Is it possible she dehydrated the mushrooms ground them up and sprinkled/mixed them in with the food so they didnt know they were in there? I don't know much about dehydrating.

Quorum is derived from a fungi, but it's not a mushroom.
Quorn had to remove references to mushroom on their labelling iirr.

Or he realised how poisonous they are after accidentally poisoning himself and worked out his plan....

I doubt the woman could be arrested and charged based on body language/demeanour alone. There have been cases such as Lindy Chamberlain etc., so I am sure the attitude of the suspect will just be one aspect of this case.

Hard EVIDENCE will be required I think, that she had motive and opportunity, and that her actions (if true) were premeditated.

Not sure what the outcome will be.

I do wonder if this is one of those cases where the police ‘let’ her do that interview to see if she would reveal anything.
it seems really I’ll advised otherwise