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 problem. Sarcasm is a terrible form of communication for a public forum.
I should probably have gone with the excoriating rant in my head.
I wholeheartedly agree with you about how harmful all this speculation is.

I can see her cooking a separate meal for the children but why cook a fancy gravy for the beef wellington which is already a very rich tasting dish, why not just use some gravy browning powder to make the gravy, especially if it’s something she doesn’t eat.

Gravy, so far, has been an online speculation only. I suggested it on this thread earlier on as an explanation for how she could eat the same meal and not be, in short, dead.

I find it impossible that she ate the same Wellington, and her children ate the leftovers the next day (with the mushrooms scraped off as they don't like mushrooms, as she now claims), and that she prepared the meal also using these "Asian grocery mushrooms", without her being significantly poisoned through touch alone, and the children showing symptoms of poisoning.

Apparently you can touch death cap mushrooms with no harm it’s eating them that’s the problem.

It's a bit odd her children went to the movies when their grandparents and great aunt/uncle were round for lunch. It doesn't sound like they were round every week so surely they would want to see the children. Teenage children become less interested in grandparents but if they were mine (and the lunch was innocent) I would have insisted they were there.

I guess it's possible they were sent to the movies so the adults could discuss the divorce/reconciliation without them there.

I know this is one of the less suspicious things about this case, but it's one I have seen mentioned yet.

It will also be interesting if the hospital(s) found any evidence of her having been mildly poisoned, apart from her self reported symptoms.

Also... I would have thought the children would still have been poisoned even if they scraped the mushrooms off.

This story is fascinating, even though it seems wrong to say that when 3 people have died. It does appear that she's guilty... but there is also a possibility she didn't do it...

I wonder if she's claiming she bought the mushrooms in the Asian shop fresh and dried them herself, which would explain poison on the dehydrator. If she bought dried mushrooms there is no explanation for dumping the dehydrator.

"If you find wild mushrooms at home, be sure not to touch them with bare hands. Remove them using gloves or tools and place them in a plastic bag in your rubbish bin."

Death Cap mushrooms (act.gov.au)

Also... I would have thought the children would still have been poisoned even if they scraped the mushrooms off.

Yes it would be almost impossible to get rid of every tiny piece of mushroom, so if the children ate the leftovers then you would expect them to have shown some symptoms.

I've never made a Beef Wellington, but they were featured on a recent Top Chef season I watched, and the mushroom duxelle would ooze mushroom juices into the beef and vice versa from what I saw of them. It just doesn't add up.

I was trying to give her the benefit of the doubt but her story in the latest update just requires too much of a leap of faith.

Even if she landed at the hospital with symptoms that doesn’t prove anything. Some people are excellent at acting sick and let’s face it she’s not the healthiest looking specimen to start with is she?

I also question her buying mushrooms for a beef Wellington in an Asian grocery. It just doesn’t sit right with the rest of the story. Then again I’m no gourmet cook myself so maybe I shouldn’t comment 😁

Sorry ignore me. I've just seen that she said they were already dried so if there is poison on the dehydrator it's a smoking gun.

The hospital put out a press release saying a fifth person presented for a short period at Leongatha hospital and was discharged, so it’s another inconsistency.

It’s very odd she’s saying she was transferred to another hospital by ambulance, indicating she was so Ill it was required, was on a drip, and they gave her liver protecting medication, when they didn’t even know at that stage what was, and directly contradicting the hospital statement.

She looks like she has a healthy appetite, she’s not skinny!

Her story has a lot of inconsistencies in it and I'm finding it hard to believe any of what she says.

If the children ate the food the next day and it was the food that made the adults sick and killed most of them then even with the mushrooms scraped off they would surely have got very sick too?

Also I find it hard to believe she was also so unwell but equally she was home shortly after?

Am also very confused as to why she dumped the dehydrator if she brought dried mushrooms?

Her story is making less sense the more she adds to it.

Me too. And the answer to, ‘why were you googling poisons / crossbows / body decomposition times??’ will always be: ‘I was on this thread on Mumsnet…’.

I think she's been online, reading all the speculation about her with growing horror, and has borrowed heavily from various theories touted about ways she could be in fact innocent on various forums like WS, etc etc. That might be what she was doing when she "disappeared" for the day in Melbourne, on a public library computer, eg. And/or she's gone and got herself another mobile to keep up with what the police and press and public are saying, and has realised her fake crying interview did not go down well with most.

I think her latest statement was, to put it mildly, Ill advised.I assume she’s went against legal advise to do it, as she says she wished she’d ignored the advice to not answer the (police?) questions in the first place.

this new statement I think does her a lot of harm. It stretches any form of plausibility.

it’s highly unlikely anyone can scrape dried death cap mushrooms from inside a cooked beef Wellington and not get seriously ill, like she is saying her kids ate it and were fine.

it’s also questionable why her statement of her being on a drip and transferred to another hospital contradicts the hospitals statement. But accept the hospital may have failed to give full details of how Ill she was and her transfer. The police will know obviously.

it’s highly unlikely anyone would rush to dump their dehydrator in a further away tip than normal, and then lie about it, if the dried mushrooms had not been in it and bought from an asian shop.

it’s nearly impossible for her to have been the only person to have bought said mushrooms from the shop and only her guests to get ill , no other person impacted.

she should have listened to her lawyers. She should never have sent that statement.

as the saying goes, better to be thought a fool, rather than open your mouth and prove it.

she should have listened to her lawyers. She should never have sent that statement.

I agree.

Yes, I mean she's probably deflecting. Not you!

Have the funerals taken place of those who died?

For the sake or argument, it's conceivable she bought them in an Asian shop months ago and can't remember which one... if I do have time to wander places, I often pop in to new shops and buy things thick might be useful one day.

BUT if that is the case then they were dried she wouldn't have needed the dehydrator?!?

I agree with pp who made the Swiss cheese comparison.

• buy things I THINK

Of course it is. What’s not conceivable is no one else did. Not one other person bought them as no one else has died from death cap mushroom poisoning from dried mushrooms bought at an Asian shop in Melbourne.

"no one else has died from death cap mushroom poisoning from dried mushrooms bought at an Asian shop in Melbourne."

Bingo!

So many damning details..

Admits to lying about dehydrator (probably knowing the police will find her fingerprints or other evidence it was hers).

Having symptoms but so mild and unverifiable, such as stomachache and diarrhea.

But this but really stood out for me: "Patterson served the meal and allowed the guests to choose their own plates."
If it was a bowl of salad, buffet style food, etc Fine, but individual plates with Wellington? Surely you wouldn't dump them in the middle of the table for people to choose from the same. You would be bringing a plate or 2 at a time, placing in front of each guest.

I guess you could leave them on a kitchen island and say grab which portion you want?

Weird but people are.