Australian murder suspect says lethal lunch may have contained 'foraged' mushrooms
An Australian woman accused of murdering three people by lacing their lunch with toxic mushrooms told a court on Wednesday she may have unwittingly used "foraged" fungi in the dish.
Erin Patterson is charged with murdering her estranged husband's parents and aunt in 2023 by spiking their beef Wellington lunch with lethal death cap mushrooms.
She is also accused of attempting to murder a fourth guest -- her husband's uncle -- who survived after a long stay in hospital.
Patterson maintains the lunch was poisoned by accident, pleading not guilty to all charges in a case that continues to grip Australia.
The 50-year-old choked up with emotion as she gave her account of the meal on Wednesday.
She said she decided to improve the beef-and-pastry dish with dried mushrooms after deciding it tasted a "little bland".
While she initially believed a kitchen container held store-bought mushrooms, she said it may have been mixed with foraged fungi.
"I decided to put in the dried mushrooms I brought from the grocer," she told the court.
"Now I think that there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well."
Patterson earlier told the court how she had started foraging for mushrooms during a Covid lockdown in 2020.
She also told the court on Wednesday that she had misled her guests about the purpose of the family meal.
While they ate, Patterson revealed she might be receiving treatment for cancer in the coming weeks.
But this was a lie, Patterson said.
- 'Shouldn't have lied' -
"I was planning to have gastric bypass surgery, so I remember thinking I didn't want to tell anybody what I was going to have done.
"I was really embarrassed about it.
"So letting them believe I had some serious issue that needed treatment might mean they could help me with the logistics around the kids," she told the court.
"I shouldn't have lied to them," she added.
The prosecution alleges Patterson deliberately poisoned her lunch guests and took care that she did not consume the deadly mushrooms herself.
Her defence says Patterson ate the same meal as the others but did not fall as sick.
Patterson asked her estranged husband Simon to the family lunch at her secluded rural Victoria home in July 2023.
Simon turned down the invitation because he felt too uncomfortable, the court has heard previously.
The pair were long estranged but still legally married.
Simon's parents Don and Gail were happy to attend, dying days after eating the home-cooked meal.
Simon's aunt Heather Wilkinson also died, while her husband Ian fell seriously ill but later recovered.
The trial is expected to last another week.
lec/sft/sco
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
Jessica Ramos endorsing Andrew Cuomo for NYC mayor weeks after questioning his ‘mental acuity'
NEW YORK — In an extraordinary about-face, back-of-the-pack mayoral candidate Jessica Ramos is endorsing her front-running rival Andrew Cuomo — just weeks after questioning his 'mental acuity' and comparing his mental state to former President Joe Biden's. Ramos, a Queens state senator who was also among scores of lawmakers to call for Cuomo's 2021 resignation as governor over sexual misconduct accusations, is expected to formally throw her political weight behind his mayoral bid at a press conference in Manhattan on Friday morning, sources confirmed to the Daily News. Ramos and her campaign didn't immediately return multiple calls. But she told the New York Times, which first reported her surprising decision, that she's going with Cuomo because 'he's the one best positioned right now to protect this city.' Cuomo, who's polling as the favorite to win the June 24 Democratic mayoral primary, 'knows how to hold the line and deliver under pressure,' she added, citing uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump. Ramos, who identifies as a progressive Democrat, said she's not dropping out and her name will still appear on the primary ballot. But her endorsement of the centrist Cuomo is an effective acknowledgement she has no path to victory. Most polls of the mayoral race have shown Ramos pulling 1% or less in support. On the fundraising side, she hasn't taken in enough cash to qualify for matching funds and her latest filing from last month showed she had just about $9,000 in her war chest. The Cuomo nod marks a drastic flip-flop for Ramos, who said in April she believes Cuomo's 'mental acuity is in decline.' 'I don't think the City of New York can afford a Joe Biden moment,' she said at the time, referring to the former president who ended his reelection bid last year after serious concerns emerged about his mental fitness. 'I think that there are real reasons why [Cuomo is] not answering questions.' In response to her mental fitness broadsides against Cuomo, his spokesman Rich Azzopardi shot back in April: 'Was she sober when she said it?' Azzopardi didn't immediately return a request for comment Friday. Ramos has been a harsh critic of the centrist Cuomo on a number of other fronts, too. 'People may want to be courteous to Cuomo's face but they don't forget the people he sent to die, the women he touched or the people he left in our streets needing mental health care and housing,' Ramos wrote on X in March, referring to accusations that Cuomo mismanaged the COVID pandemic, sexually harassed more than 10 women and shuttered psychiatric institutions statewide as governor. Cuomo has denied the sexual harassment and pandemic mismanagement claims. Ramos' change of heart comes just days after the progressive Working Families Party ranked her its No. 5 candidate as part of an anti-Cuomo mayoral endorsement slate. On Friday, the party, which has had a rocky relationship with Ramos over the years, said it's 'sad and disappointed' by Ramos' announcement, but vowed to not 'be distracted by this desperate move.' Party leaders declined to immediately say whether they will formally remove Ramos from the slate. Ramos, the chair of the State Senate's Labor Committee, was the first woman to enter the 2025 mayoral race and had hoped to build a coalition rooted in union and Latino communities. But she never gained momentum on the campaign trail, as other progressives in the race, like runner-up candidate Zohran Mamdani, capitalized on a surge in enthusiasm for left-wing politics among young voters. During the first mayoral debate this week, Ramos lobbed a barb at Mamdani, Cuomo's top rival in the race, saying she wished she had run for mayor in 2021. 'I thought I needed more experience, but turns out you just need to make good videos,' she said, a reference to Mamdani's social media strategy. -----------
Politico
35 minutes ago
- Politico
Trump wants a manufacturing boom. The industry is buckling.
President Donald Trump is vowing to spark a manufacturing boom with tariffs to protect American workers and industry. So far, it's manufacturers that have borne the brunt of the pain. The president's surprise decision to raise tariffs on imported steel and aluminum to 50 percent will hit domestic manufacturing just as a new report shows the industry is already contracting. Uncertainty about where tariff rates will ultimately land — or where they'll be applied — has forced businesses to make hard decisions that could cut into both profits and hiring. And a leading trade group on Thursday called on Trump to give the companies a break on the tariffs. 'For a president who is intent on building U.S. manufacturing, the tariff strategy he's laid out is remarkably short-sighted,' said Gordon Hanson, a Harvard Kennedy School professor whose groundbreaking 2016 research work, 'The China Shock,' was among the first to sound the alarm about the threat to American industry. 'It fails to recognize what modern supply chains look like.' 'Even if you're intent on reshoring parts of manufacturing, you can't do it all,' he said. 'Steel and aluminum are part of that.' If Trump's tariffs fail to result in a manufacturing renaissance — a central focus of his presidential campaign — it could weaken the prospects of a GOP coalition that's increasingly reliant on working-class voters who supported his protectionist trade policies. But as unanticipated tariffs continue to drive up input costs for companies that need steel and aluminum for production, the warning signs emanating from manufacturers are getting louder. An index published this week by the Institute for Supply Management, which tracks manufacturing, slipped for the third straight month in May as companies made plans to scale back production. A quarterly survey conducted by the National Association of Manufacturers reported the steepest drop in optimism since the height of the Covid-19 pandemic, with trade uncertainty and raw material costs cited as top concerns. Federal Reserve data this month reported weaker manufacturing output. The manufacturers' association on Thursday urged Trump to develop a 'speed pass' that would allow companies to avoid costly new duties on imported raw materials and components that are essential to U.S. producers. 'The steel and aluminum tariffs are almost custom-made to hurt American manufacturing,' said Ernie Tedeschi, a former top Biden administration economist who's now with the Yale Budget Lab. Trump and top administration officials argue that tariffs will encourage investment in domestic manufacturers, which should lead to better-paying jobs, a more resilient economy and more secure supply chains. Exports climbed in April as the president's tariffs took hold, which contributed to an eye-popping decline in the U.S. trade deficit. Indeed, the overall economy remains solid, and businesses are continuing to hire, according to Friday's jobs report for May. Despite the trade headwinds, employment in the manufacturing sector has remained steady since Trump took office. 'As the president says, if you don't make steel, you can't fight a war. He's protecting that industry and bringing it back,' Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick told Senate lawmakers this week. 'You're going to see more steel and aluminum furnaces and mills in the history of this country get built over the next three years.' The White House did not respond to a request for comment. Trump welcomed the monthly jobs report, posting on Truth Social: 'AMERICA IS HOT! SIX MONTHS AGO IT WAS COLD AS ICE! BORDER IS CLOSED, PRICES ARE DOWN. WAGES ARE UP!' Still, domestic manufacturers who rely on international supply chains for critical steel and aluminum inputs will face tough choices if they want to maintain their profits while keeping output steady. 'Higher costs are expected. Higher input prices. The question is, what do you do with those costs? How much can you pass along to the consumer? How much can you negotiate with your suppliers?' said Andrew Siciliano, a partner at KPMG who leads the consulting firm's trade and customs practice. The challenges posed by the increase in steel and aluminum tariffs are particularly acute because it's far from clear whether domestic suppliers will be able to meet the demands of domestic manufacturers. Almost half the aluminum used in the U.S. last year came from foreign sources, according to federal data, and roughly a quarter of all steel is imported. Either way, 'input costs are going to be higher,' Siciliano said. 'If they pass it on, it could affect demand. If they don't pass it on, it could affect profitability.' That isn't to say manufacturers won't benefit from tariffs in the long term. To the extent that Trump's overall tariff regime limits imports, U.S.-based industrial production could expand to address unmet demand. The Budget Lab's analysis of Trump's tariff regime — which includes the 50 percent tariffs on steel and aluminum — projects that manufacturing output could grow by 1.3 percent over the next five years if existing import duties are left in place. But Tedeschi cautioned that growth may exclude segments like electronic and semiconductor production — which tend to generate higher incomes for workers. Meanwhile, output in other sectors like construction or agriculture would likely contract. Julia Coronado, founder of MacroPolicy Perspectives, also said the flurry of new import duties may prompt some manufacturers to actually move their manufacturing facilities offshore rather than subject their supply chains and production processes to multiple tariffs. 'If I have to assemble a bunch of parts and inputs, why don't I just don't do that on the Canadian or Mexican side of the border and then pay the tariff on the final good?' she said. An even bigger challenge may involve finding and training workers who can staff up any facilities that reshore. Most Americans work in the service sector and, to the extent tariffs lead to reshoring, those facilities will likely rely heavily on automation, according to economists at the Bank of America Institute. Finding qualified workers in the U.S. is either too difficult or too expensive. 'Whatever manufacturing production comes back to the U.S. will require far fewer jobs than 30 or 40 years ago,' Hanson said. 'It's just the way the world has gone.'
Yahoo
35 minutes ago
- Yahoo
How AI could help stop the next pandemic before it starts
Could artificial intelligence tools be used to stop the next pandemic before it starts? During the Covid pandemic, new technology developed by researchers at Johns Hopkins and Duke universities didn't exist. But, for the first time, researchers there say they've devised a revolutionary large language modeling tool - the type of generative AI used in ChatGP - to help predict the spread of any infectious disease, such as bird flu, monkeypox, and RSV. That could help save lives and reduce infections. 'Covid-19 elucidated the challenge of predicting disease spread due to the interplay of complex factors that were constantly changing,' Johns Hopkins' Lauren Gardner, a modeling expert who created the Covid dashboard that was relied upon by people worldwide during the pandemic, said in a statement. 'When conditions were stable the models were fine. However, when new variants emerged or policies changed, we were terrible at predicting the outcomes because we didn't have the modeling capabilities to include critical types of information,' she added. 'The new tool fills this gap.' Gardner was one of the authors of the study published Thursday in the Nature Computational Science journal. The tool, named PandemicLLM, considers recent infection spikes, new variants, and stringent protective measures. The researchers utilized data that had never been used before in pandemic prediction tools, finding that PandemicLLM could accurately predict disease patterns and hospitalization trends one to three weeks out. The data included rates of cases hospitalizations and vaccines, types of government policies, characteristics of disease variants and their prevalence, and state-level demographics. The model incorporates these elements to predict how they will come together and affect how disease behaves. They retroactively applied PandemicLLM to the Covid pandemic, looking at each state over the course of 19 months. The authors said the tool was particularly successful when the outbreak was in flux. It also outperformed existing state-of-the-art forecasting methods, including the highest performing ones on the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention's CovidHub. 'Traditionally we use the past to predict the future,' author Hao 'Frank' Yang, a Johns Hopkins assistant professor of civil and systems engineering, said. 'But that doesn't give the model sufficient information to understand and predict what's happening. Instead, this framework uses new types of real-time information.' Going forward, they are looking at how large language models can replicate the ways individuals make decisions about their health. They hope that such a model would help officials to design safer and more effective policies. More than a million Americans have died from Covid. It's not a matter of if there will be a next pandemic, but when. Right now, the U.S. is dealing with the spread of H5N1 bird flu, RSV, HMPV, pertussis, and measles, among other health concerns. Vaccination rates for measles have plunged since the pandemic, and general vaccine hesitancy has increased. That has resulted in fears that the nation could see decades of health progress reversed. Furthermore, U.S. health officials have acted to separate from global efforts to respond to pandemics, withdrawing from the World Health Organization earlier this year. Last month, they limited access to Covid vaccines for certain groups. 'We know from Covid-19 that we need better tools so that we can inform more effective policies,' Gardner said. 'There will be another pandemic, and these types of frameworks will be crucial for supporting public health response.'
