A toxicologist has revealed how Victoria mushroom victims suffered in agony before, in a cruel twist, they would feel better before they died.
Erin Patterson invited her former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian to lunch at her home in Leongatha, Gippsland, Victoria on July 29.
After he served them beef wellington, Don and Gail, both 70, and Heather, 66, all died.
Ian is seriously ill in hospital and awaiting a liver transplant.
All four of them are believed to be eating the deadly mushroom.
Forensic toxicologist Dr Michael Robertson told Channel 9’s Under Investigation that victims of fatal mushroom poisoning can experience excruciating illness before starting to feel better.
But the feeling of relief did not last long, as the victim’s body completely died soon after.
A meal Erin Patterson served at her home in Victoria, Australia, sickened four people, resulting in the deaths of three of her former in-laws. Australians
Robertson said that victims would usually begin to feel unwell hours after eating the deadly mushroom – with “violent” vomiting and diarrhea usually the first signs of poisoning.
However, in a cruel twist, the victim will soon begin to feel better leading them to believe that the worst is over.
But even though toxins leave the body in this process, they continue to slowly close.
He said: “It’s one of those toxins that gets into your system.
“It’s absorbed into the bloodstream, then transported to the liver and absorbed. The body doesn’t break down these toxins.
“We must remove it usually in the urine but also in the bile, and the bile ducts drop the bile back into the intestine.
“It basically triggers the death of liver cells,” he added.
Toxicologists warn that it is also possible that the victim of the alleged death cap mushroom poisoning fell into a coma after eating Erin’s lunch.
“It’s going to be horrible if they keep coming to their senses,” he said.
“They might be in a coma, if they were conscious the first day must have been horrible.”
Heather Wilkinson, Gail Patterson, Don Patterson and Ian Wilkinson.
Robertson’s comments were supported by Dr Heike Neumeister-Kemp, a fungus researcher.
The mycologist added that in addition to the initial period of vomiting, the victim may also begin to hallucinate.
“Mushroom poisoning is so bad that we don’t have anecdotes,” he said.
“At the DNA level, you’re spewing out toxins but slowly and consistently your liver is dissolving.”
Erin claims the deadly beef wellington was made from a mixture of button mushrooms from a major supermarket chain, and dried mushrooms bought from an Asian grocer in Melbourne months earlier.
Death cap mushrooms cause gastrointestinal problems and liver failure. AFP via Getty Images
He also said he served the food and allowed guests to choose their own plates – while he himself ate part of the beef wellington.
In a written statement to investigators, obtained by the ABC earlier this month, he revealed he was also admitted to hospital after lunch with severe stomach pains and diarrhoea, put on a saline drip, and given “liver-protecting medication”.
And despite reports of her kids eating, Erin said the kids had gone to the movies before lunch.
Her kids ate the leftovers the next night – but the kids didn’t like mushrooms so she scraped them off, she added.
Photos obtained by news.com.au from inside the Korumburra home previously owned by Erin Patterson show a large section of one wall covered in red, blue and black graffiti.News.com.au
It was recently revealed that Erin claims to be an “experienced grower who harvests wild mushrooms near her home”.
A family friend, who has not been identified, told Daily Mail Australia: “The Patterson family (including Erin and Simon) would pick mushrooms every year when they were in season.
“It is common for people to go mushroom picking around the area.”
The friend added: “The family will go foraging regularly and know what to choose.”
A trader has also come forward to reveal what he calls a “wall of death” inside Erin’s former home in Korumburra.
He said he was hired to paint the interior last year so it could be whipped up.
The worker, who did not want to be identified, told news.com.au: “I’ve seen it and gone, ‘Oh my god, what’s going on here?’”
The haunting image shows red, blue and black graffiti on a kitchen wall.
One chilling drawing shows two stick figures with the words “I’m dead” and “no I’m really dead”.
Beside her there appear to be three headstones with the words “RIP grandma”, “Hannah RIP” and “Me RIP” on them.
The other part reads “you don’t [have] long to live 1 hour exactly”, “you [sic] die by my sword” and “be prepared”.
Painter, 46, added: “I said, ‘It’s really scary for a child to do this in a kitchen-dining room’. I didn’t think it was right, it looks scary”.
He said he believed Erin explained the painting happened when she “went out or something and the kids were there and had done it while they were out”.
Erin has since denied any wrongdoing and hit back at the suspicions, claiming she was “painted as an evil witch”.
He told the Herald Sun he had become a prisoner in his home – branding coverage of the case “unfair”.
He has denied killing his guests, saying he had “no reason” to hurt them.
Victoria Police have launched an investigation as they try and find out how this tragedy happened.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
