Australian police seek answers after 3 die from eating mushroom meal

UPI ^ | AUG. 9, 2023 / 2:08 PM | By Patrick Hilsman

[Red Badger]

Aug. 9 (UPI) -- Australian police are seeking answers in connection to the poisoning of three people who died after eating wild mushrooms at a dinner served in Leongatha, Australia.

The three deceased victims, who fell ill after eating on July 29, have been identified as Gail Patterson, her husband, Don Patterson, and her sister Heather Wilkinson.

Heather Wilkinson's husband, the Rev. Ian Wilkinson, also was poisoned and is awaiting a liver transplant.

The victims became ill after eating dinner at the home of Erin Patterson, Gail and Don Patterson's former daughter-in-law.

Erin Patterson and her two children did not suffer serious illness after the meal.

Law enforcement is looking at how a dehydrator, which they have in their possession, may be related to the case, according to 9News.

In 2022, Simon Patterson, Erin Patterson's ex-husband, said he nearly died from stomach issues.

When asked if Erin Patterson was a suspect in the current case, Homicide Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said, "She is because she cooked those mushrooms."

Thomas also acknowledged that the deaths could be "very innocent" and that "we just don't know."

Erin Patterson has said she "didn't do anything," and that her "own children have lost their grandmother."

[EEGator]

Something I will never die from.

[Tijeras_Slim]

The Beguiled is not a cooking show.

[Red Badger]

Even so-called mushroom ‘experts’ have made mistakes that cost them dearly.................

[xp38]

Wild mushrooms are one of those things one had better be dead certain about in terms of toxicity.

[PGR88]

Reminds me of Monty Python “Meaning of Life” - it was the Salmon Mousse...

[Red Badger]

LOL!.........................

[HYPOCRACY]

Looks to me like the host new exactly how toxic they were. Australia is a toxic place. The Aussies didn’t think having most of the deadly poisonous animals on Earth was enough, so they imported poisonous cane toads.

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Even so-called mushroom ‘experts’ have made mistakes that cost them dearly...............

I keep on hearing that and have yet to find a single case.

The one I did find the "mushroom expert" was no such thing.

Perhaps you will have better luck.

[null and void]

Wait. I din’t have the salmon mousse!

[Red Badger]

That’s just it, if you die, you’re no longer an ‘expert’.................😜

[EEGator]

I have eaten zero mushrooms in my life. I will die having eaten zero mushrooms.

[Ezekiel]

If she’s gillty, it’s because she doesn’t have good morels.

[Red Badger]

It seems that a lot of mushroom poisonings come from people who are not familiar with the local species because they are new to the area, immigrants from other countries.

They pick wild mushrooms that are similar in size and shape to the ones where they are from and soon get ill and die...............

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Like being an electrician you have to have done more then read an article in order to be an “expert”. :)

Someone was giving me a lecture on how you could confuse a death cap mushroom with a morel. I could not help but laugh. Aside from the fact they are both mushrooms they do not have a lot in common.

[dfwgator]

Looks to me like the host new exactly how toxic they were. Australia is a toxic place. The Aussies didn’t think having most of the deadly poisonous animals on Earth was enough, so they imported poisonous cane toads.

[Red Badger]

[Harmless Teddy Bear]

Now that does happen.

It is like picking any plant. Just because it looks something like what you used half way around the world does not mean it is the same here.

And there is the problem of pesticides as well.

[Red Badger]

A moldy oldie!...................

[Red Badger]

I expect a lot of our new citizens to get poisoned by mushrooms over the next few years................