Australian woman guilty of triple murder after death cap mushroom lunch
Australian woman Erin Patterson has been found guilty of murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous death cap mushrooms.
The jury returned a verdict after six days of deliberations, following a nine-week trial that gripped Australia and media worldwide.
She faces life in prison and will be sentenced at a later date, although no hearing has been scheduled yet.
Patterson showed no emotion as the verdicts came back guilty, but blinked rapidly as they were read.
She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Ian Wilkinson, who survived the meal.
The deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson shocked the quiet Australian town of Leongatha, Victoria, and quickly captured both national and international attention.
At the centre of the tragedy was a seemingly innocuous family lunch on July 29, 2023, hosted by Erin Patterson, who had invited her former in-laws, Don and Gail (the parents of her estranged husband, Simon Patterson), along with Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson and Heather's husband, Ian.
Patterson, who shares two children with Simon, prepared a homemade beef wellington, a meal that would soon become the focus of a months-long murder investigation.
The dish allegedly contained death cap mushrooms, one of the world's deadliest fungi.
All four guests fell critically ill within 24 hours.
Three later died in hospital, while Ian Wilkinson required a liver transplant after spending nearly two months recovering, including time in intensive care. Ian Wilkinson (left) was the only survivor of the lunch which killed his wife Heather (left) and Don and Gail Patterson (middle). / Credit: 7 News
Patterson initially denied wrongdoing, claiming she accidentally used a mix of mushrooms sourced from an Asian grocery store and dried fungi, which she said were gifted by a friend.
However, police alleged inconsistencies in her account, including the disposal of a food dehydrator and deleted digital records, which became key points of scrutiny during the trial.
Throughout the proceedings, the case stirred debate across Australia.
The lack of clear motive, paired with public fascination and tabloid fervour, made the trial one of the most closely followed in recent Australian criminal history.
What were the key moments in the trial?
The prosecution alleged Patterson deliberately served a poisoned meal to her estranged in-laws and extended family.
They argue she prepared a special untainted portion for herself.
The defence argued the poisonings were a tragic accident, claiming Patterson unknowingly used contaminated mushrooms, became ill herself, and panicked afterwards, out of fear she would be wrongly blamed.
Here are the key points of evidence the trial discussed: Food dehydrator : Patterson purchased a food dehydrator on April 28, 2023, just two hours after a known sighting of death cap mushrooms was posted online near Loch. The prosecution alleges she saw the post and collected mushrooms that day. Patterson testified she purchased the dehydrator to preserve and dry mushrooms, which she regularly stored in containers in her pantry to use later in cooking.
: Patterson purchased a food dehydrator on April 28, 2023, just two hours after a known sighting of death cap mushrooms was posted online near Loch. The prosecution alleges she saw the post and collected mushrooms that day. Patterson testified she purchased the dehydrator to preserve and dry mushrooms, which she regularly stored in containers in her pantry to use later in cooking. Phone location: Cell tower data places her near Outtrim on May 22, 2023, shortly after death caps were recorded growing there. The prosecution claims this supports the theory she foraged for mushrooms twice during the short toxic season. Patterson admitted to using a mixture of store-bought mushrooms and dried ones from her pantry, but insists she never intentionally included toxic mushrooms and did not forage near Loch or Outtrim. The defence argues that mobile tower data can be imprecise and may show signals from within her home, undermining the claim that she traveled to foraging locations.
Cell tower data places her near Outtrim on May 22, 2023, shortly after death caps were recorded growing there. The prosecution claims this supports the theory she foraged for mushrooms twice during the short toxic season. Patterson admitted to using a mixture of store-bought mushrooms and dried ones from her pantry, but insists she never intentionally included toxic mushrooms and did not forage near Loch or Outtrim. The defence argues that mobile tower data can be imprecise and may show signals from within her home, undermining the claim that she traveled to foraging locations. Fake cancer: Patterson admitted during the trial that she lied to the lunch guests and lured them to the meal under the pretext that she had cancer and needed their support whilst she underwent surgery. The prosecution argues this lie was invented to cover her true motivations and reduce suspicion, suggesting she never expected them to survive the meal. The defence claims Patterson in reality was making plans to have gastric bypass surgery, in a bid to take control over concerns she had about her weight but was too embarrassed to share this with her guests.
Patterson admitted during the trial that she lied to the lunch guests and lured them to the meal under the pretext that she had cancer and needed their support whilst she underwent surgery. The prosecution argues this lie was invented to cover her true motivations and reduce suspicion, suggesting she never expected them to survive the meal. The defence claims Patterson in reality was making plans to have gastric bypass surgery, in a bid to take control over concerns she had about her weight but was too embarrassed to share this with her guests. Different plates: Survivor Ian Wilkinson told the court that all guests were served on grey plates, while Patterson used an orange one – implying she knew not to eat the poisoned food. Patterson claimed she prepared only one batch of beef wellington and ate the same meal as her guests, she denied reserving a safe portion for herself. She claimed she does not own grey plates.
Survivor Ian Wilkinson told the court that all guests were served on grey plates, while Patterson used an orange one – implying she knew not to eat the poisoned food. Patterson claimed she prepared only one batch of beef wellington and ate the same meal as her guests, she denied reserving a safe portion for herself. She claimed she does not own grey plates. Orange cake: After guests left, Patterson claims she ate large amounts of orange cake brought by her former mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, claiming she struggles with an eating disorder. Prosecutors challenged her claim that she made herself vomit afterwards, arguing that self‑induced vomiting would not eliminate the lethal amanitin toxin. Patterson told the court that she started to develop gastro-like symptoms hours after the lunch and took herself to hospital to receive fluids two days later.
After guests left, Patterson claims she ate large amounts of orange cake brought by her former mother-in-law, Gail Patterson, claiming she struggles with an eating disorder. Prosecutors challenged her claim that she made herself vomit afterwards, arguing that self‑induced vomiting would not eliminate the lethal amanitin toxin. Patterson told the court that she started to develop gastro-like symptoms hours after the lunch and took herself to hospital to receive fluids two days later. Withheld information: When Patterson was hospitalised with symptoms, she initially did not inform doctors that any remnants of foraged mushrooms may have been in the meal, something prosecutors say could have helped save lives. She testified that she did not immediately connect her own gastrointestinal symptoms with mushroom poisoning.
When Patterson was hospitalised with symptoms, she initially did not inform doctors that any remnants of foraged mushrooms may have been in the meal, something prosecutors say could have helped save lives. She testified that she did not immediately connect her own gastrointestinal symptoms with mushroom poisoning. CCTV disposal: On August 2, days after the fatal lunch, Patterson was seen on CCTV dumping the dehydrator. Prosecutors argue this was a deliberate attempt to destroy crucial evidence. Forensic analysis revealed remnants of death cap mushrooms inside the appliance. Patterson says she discarded and lied about the dehydrator not to hide evidence but out of panic after child protection services contacted her, fearing it could be used to justify taking her children away.
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The Sun
3 hours ago
- The Sun
Chilling moment mushroom murderer Erin Patterson discharges herself from hospital sparking panic after fatal meal
THIS is the chilling moment murderer Erin Patterson discharges herself from hospital - sparking panic after she served her fatal meal. The killer mushroom cook has since been found guilty of killing her in-laws at a deadly lunch. 15 15 15 Patterson was accused of hiding deadly mushrooms in a meal to murder her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66. She was also accused of attempting to murder Wilkinson's husband Ian by serving a beef wellington laced with poisonous death cap mushrooms. Patterson pleaded not guilty to three charges of murder and one of attempted murder for the July 29, 2023, incident. A sentencing date is yet to be scheduled. Bombshell footage shows Patterson discharging herself against medical advice from Leongatha hospital - after being told she had potentially been food poisoned. Footage released by the Supreme Court of Victoria shows a medic attempting to stop Patterson as she tries to leave, pressing the buzzer to open the hospital door. Her "discharge at own risk" document was revealed, showing she chose to leave from the hospital on her "own responsibility against the advice of the medical officer/senior nursing staff". Moments after leaving, a hospital worker is captured on CCTV using gloves to inspect the leftover deadly beef wellington after police retrieved it from Patterson's bin - before taking a picture of it. A call to the police a hospital doctor made was also shown in court. Dr Chris Webster is heard saying on the phone: "I have a concern regarding a patient that presented here earlier but has left the building and is potentially exposed to a fatal toxin from mushroom poisoning. 'Mushroom killer' Erin Patterson GUILTY of murdering three relatives with deadly beef wellington "And I've tried several times to get hold of her on her mobile phone. "So there were five people that ate a meal on Saturday, and two of them are in intensive care at Dandenong Hospital. "Two have just been transferred from Leongatha Hospital to Dandenong Hospital. "And Erin presented this morning with symptoms of poisoning. "While I was attending the other patients, the nurse informed me that she had discharged herself against medical advice." Meanwhile in other CCTV footage released by the Supreme Court of Victoria shows Patterson trying to cover her tracks by dumping the food dehydrator she used in her twisted murder plot. Wearing a long coat and sunglasses, Patterson is seen unloading the food dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station on August 2, 2023 - an apparent attempt to erase evidence linked to the deadly beef wellington meal. And in a chilling image also released by the court, the meal that left her family dying in agony is laid out next to forensic evidence bags. 15 15 15 The annotated photo was taken during toxicology testing at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. It shows plates containing remnants of the now-infamous dish - prepared and served by Patterson in her Leongatha home. Patterson's three chilling words to her best friend after the guilty verdict stunned court observers. As she was led back to the cells, she reportedly told Alison Rose Prior: "See you soon." The pal, in tears, vowed she would visit Patterson in prison, despite the damning verdict. 'I'm her friend and I'll see her – I'll visit with her,' she told reporters outside the courthouse. In a bizarre prelude to the verdict, Patterson reportedly had black tarps installed around her Leongatha home just days before the jury returned with a decision. And in the aftermath of the verdict, chilling new medical insight has emerged. A leading US expert on amatoxin poisoning claims the victims never stood a chance — not because of the mushrooms alone, but due to Australia's outdated treatment protocols. The specialist, who asked not to be named, slammed the use of the drug silibinin. They told the Daily Mail it is 'virtually useless' without aggressive hydration and proper kidney function — both of which may have been compromised in the dying victims. According to the expert, Australian physicians, unfamiliar with such rare cases, were forced to rely on 'past wisdom' around the milk thistle-based drug. 15 15 15 15 15 But once patients' organs began shutting down from severe dehydration, the drug couldn't help. 'They went from sick to catastrophic in a short space of time,' he said. They added that the silibinin treatment could have backfired if IV fluids were reduced to manage brain swelling — a common emergency response that may have sealed their fate. The expert went on to say the victims' organs likely entered a rapid death spiral, especially once their kidneys stopped flushing out the deadly amatoxin. 'Lose the kidneys and all of the amatoxin in circulation gets taken up by the liver,' he warned. Only Ian Wilkinson, the lone survivor, lived long enough for a liver transplant — a rare intervention that ultimately saved him. Patterson claimed to have purchased dehydrated mushrooms at an Asian supermarket in Melbourne, Australia. But she couldn't remember exactly where she had bought them from. Despite Patterson pleading not guilty, she did accept that death cap mushrooms were in the meal she served. But she argued she didn't intend to harm anyone and that the mushrooms were just a tragic accident. All of Patterson's victims were related to her estranged husband Simon and died from liver failure within a week of the fatal lunch. 15 15 15
BBC News
4 hours ago
- BBC News
Korumburra: The community where Erin Patterson's mushroom murders took place
The winters in Victoria's Gippsland region are known for being chilly. Frost is a frequent visitor overnight, and the days are often in the small town of Korumburra - a part of Australia surrounded by low, rolling hills - it's not just the weather that's gloomy; the mood here is plainly is where all of Erin Patterson's victims made their home. Don and Gail Patterson, her in-laws, had lived there since 1984. They brought up their four children in the town of 5,000. Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson lived nearby - her husband Ian was the pastor at the local Baptist four were invited to Erin's house on 29 July 2023 for a family lunch that only Ian would survive, after a liver transplant and weeks in an induced on Monday a jury rejected Erin's claim she accidentally served her guests toxic mushrooms, finding her guilty of three counts of murder and one of attempted 10-week trial caused a massive stir globally, but here in Korumburra they don't want to talk about it. They just want to return to their lives after what has been a difficult two years."It's not an easy thing to go through a grieving process... and it's particularly not easy when there's been so much attention," cattle farmer and councillor for the shire Nathan Hersey told the BBC."There's an opportunity now for a lot of people to be able to have some closure." The locals are fiercely loyal - he's one of the few people who is willing to explain what this ordeal has meant for the many in the region."It's the sort of place that you can be embraced in very quickly and made to feel you are part of it," he those who died clearly helped build that much everyone of a certain generation in town was taught by former school teacher Don Patterson: "You'll hear a lot of people talk very fondly of Don, about the impact he had on them."He was a great teacher and a really engaging person as well." And Mr Hersey says he has heard many, many tales of Heather and Gail's generosity and to the Korumburra Baptist Church noticeboard is a short statement paying tribute to the trio, who were "very special people who loved God and loved to bless others"."We all greatly miss Heather, Don and Gail whether we were friends for a short time or over 20 years," it not just Korumburra that's been changed by the tragedy though. This part of rural Victoria is dotted with small towns and hamlets, which may at first appear quite reality is they are held together by close ties - ties which this case has nearby Outtrim, the residents of Neilson Street – an unassuming gravel road host to a handful of houses – have been left reeling by the prosecution claim their gardens may have produced the murder was one of two locations where death cap mushrooms were sighted and posted on iNaturalist, a citizen science website. Pointing to cell phone tracking data, the prosecution alleged that Erin Patterson went to both to forage for the lethal fungi."Everyone knows somebody who has been affected by this case," Ian Thoms tells the BBC from his small farm on Nielson Street. He rattles off his list. His son is a police detective. His wife works with the daughter of the only survivor Ian. His neighbour is good friends with "Funky Tom", the renowned mushroom expert called upon by the prosecution – who coincidentally was also the person who had posted the sighting of the fungi the road another 15 minutes is Leongatha, where Erin Patterson's home sits among other sprawling properties on an unpaved bought a plot of land here with a generous inheritance from her mother and built the house assuming she would live here has been sitting empty for about 18 months, a sign on the gate telling trespassers to keep out. A neighbour's sheep intermittently drop by to mow the grass. This week, the livestock was gone, and a black tarpaulin had been erected around the carport and the entrance to her a sense of intrigue among some of the neighbours, but there's also a lot of weariness. Every day there are gawkers driving down the lane to see the place where the tragic meal happened. One neighbour even reckons she saw a tour bus trundle past the house."When you live in a local town you know names - it's been interesting to follow," says Emma Buckland, who stops to talk to us in the main street."It's bizarre," says her mother Gabrielle Stefani. "Nothing like that has [ever] happened so it's almost hard to believe."The conversation turns to mushroom foraging."We grew up on the farm. Even on the front lawn there's always mushrooms and you know which ones you can and can't eat," says Ms Buckland. "That's something you've grown up knowing."The town that's felt the impact of the case the most in recent months, though, is Morwell; the administrative capital of the City of Latrobe and where the trial has been heard. "We've seen Morwell, which is usually a pretty sleepy town, come to life," says local journalist Liam Durkin, sitting on a wall in front of Latrobe Valley edits the weekly Latrobe Valley Express newspaper, whose offices are just around the corner."I never thought I'd be listening to fungi experts and the like for weeks on end but here we are," he says."I don't think there's ever been anything like this, and they may well never be in Morwell ever again."While not remote by Australian standards, Morwell is still a two-hour drive from the country's second largest city, Melbourne. It feels far removed from the Victorian capital – and often a few months before that fateful lunch served up by Erin Patterson in July 2023, Morwell's paper mill - Australia's last manufacturer of white paper and the provider of many local jobs - shut down. Before that, many more people lost their jobs when a nearby power station closed people here have struggled to find work; others have left to find more lucrative options in states like locals say being thrust in the spotlight now is a bit bizarre. In Jay Dees coffee shop, opposite the police station and the court, Laura Heller explains that she normally makes about 150 coffees a day. Recently it's almost double that."There's been a lot of mixed feelings about [the trial]," she been a massive uptick for many businesses, but this case has also revived long-held division in the community when it comes to the police and justice systems, she explains."This town is affected by crime a lot, but it's a very different type of crime," Ms Heller says, mentioning drugs and youth offending as examples."Half the community don't really have much faith in the police force and our magistrates."Back in Korumburra, what has been shaken is their faith in humanity. It feels like many people around the globe have lost sight of the fact that this headline-making, meme-generating crime left three people dead."Lives in our local community have changed forever," Mr Hersey says."But I would say for a lot of people, it's just become almost like pop culture."Though the past two years has at times brought out the worst in the community, it's also shone a light on the best, he says."We want to be known as a community that has been strong and has supported one another... rather than a place that is known for what we now know was murder."Additional reporting by Tiffanie Turnbull
The Guardian
5 hours ago
- The Guardian
Morning Mail: US attack on Australian ‘freeloading', mushroom trial's ‘ghoulish fascination', Demon downed
Morning everyone. Powerful American lobby groups are trying to persuade the Trump administration to retaliate against what they believe are the Australian government's 'unfair' tactics in controlling the pharmaceutical market. We are also unpicking the stories behind the verdict in the Erin Patterson mushroom murder case and how the Northern Territory coroner invoked two centuries of colonisation in her Kumanjayi Walker verdict. Elsewhere, Alex de Minaur is out of Wimbledon and left wondering what might have been. Demon downed | Australia lost its last singles representative at Wimbledon when Alex de Minaur (pictured) lost to Novak Djokovic in four thrilling sets – although the Sydneysider's 6-1 winning margin in the first set initially raised hopes that he could overcome the Serbian great. 'Ghoulish fascination' | After 10 weeks watching the Erin Patterson trial, our reporter Nino Bucci writes today about the combination of laborious detail and ghoulish fascination and how the case hinged on the absence of motive versus her self-confessed lies. Meanwhile, the key exhibits from the case such as the beef wellingtons themselves and the infamous dehydrator can be shown for the first time. Australian 'freeloading' | Some of the most influential lobby groups in Washington are pushing the US to retaliate against Australia's treatment of American exporters, pointing to drug approvals and domestic manufacturing incentives as proof of unfair 'freeloading'. Cyber contact | A potential cybercriminal has made contact with Qantas, the airline has confirmed, after a major attack on its network exposed the personal records of up to 6 million customers. 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Sorry your browser does not support audio - but you can download here and listen $ The death of Kumanjayi Walker in the Northern Territory town of Yuendumu in 2019 centred on 3.1 seconds between the first and second shots fired by then police officer Zachary Rolfe. But the state's coroner, Elisabeth Armitage, evoked centuries of pain in the Indigenous communities to make her 638-page report about how future deaths could be avoided. The case provides an obvious lesson in truth-telling, writes Lorena Allam. From Meera Sodha's vegan microwave chocolate, miso and banana mug cakes to Benjamina Ebuehi's grilled bananas with bourbon butter (above), and from Felicity Cloake's rhubarb crumble to Ravneet Gill's tinned cherry bakewell pudding, we pick eight winter warmer puddings to help you look forward to the winter nights. 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