Latest news with #toxicmushrooms
The Independent
09-07-2025
- Health
- The Independent
Doctor who treated Erin Patterson's death cap mushroom victims reveals alarming details
The doctor who led the fight to save Erin Patterson's victims of mushroom poisoning described the horrifying effects of the toxins that alarmed his team and raised suspicion that they were dealing with a killer. Dr Stephen Warrillow, director of intensive care at Austin Health in Victoria, said the four patients who had eaten the beef wellington dish cooked by Patterson were among the sickest he had ever seen. Patterson, 50, was found guilty this week of murdering her former husband's parents Gail and Donald Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and of attempting to murder Heather's husband Ian. Patterson had invited them for a meal at her home in Morwell, Victoria, on 29 July 2023 and served them beef wellington containing toxic mushrooms. They fell sick shortly afterwards and died, except Ian, who survived after a period in hospital. She had also invited her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, to the lunch, but he cancelled the day before because he was feeling too 'uncomfortable' amid rising tensions between them. Dr Warrillow described to the ABC how each of the four guests spiralled into multi-organ failure despite the best efforts of his team. The four patients were 'devastatingly unwell', Dr Warrillow recalled, but what rang the alarm bells for his team was they all showed the same pattern of organ failure, which pointed to a common and powerful toxin. 'Certainly, the sickest patients in the whole state,' he said, 'but it is unusual to have four patients similarly afflicted and they were critically ill with multiple organ failure'. The triple murder trial of Patterson – dubbed the death cap mushroom cook case – gripped Australia for over two months as shocking details emerged of how she had murdered three of her estranged husband's relatives. Patterson denied deliberate poisoning and contended she had no reason to murder her elderly in-laws. But the jury rejected her defence that the inclusion of toxic mushrooms in the meal was a terrible accident. The death cap mushroom toxin first attacks the liver and the damage quickly spreads. Kidney failure follows, then circulatory collapse and broader metabolic failure. 'Once the liver fails, it tends to drag down all the other organs with it,' Dr Warrillow pointed out. The four patients were put on mechanical ventilators and dialysis machines to purify their blood. Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson became too sick to be even considered for liver transplants, the lead doctor said. Don Patterson was able to get one but could not be saved. 'Liver transplantation is one of the most complex and lengthy surgical procedures that we would ever do. The patient has to be sick enough to need one, but well enough to get through the surgery,' he said. Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, was only saved due to 'extraordinary work by the bedside clinical team' at the ICU despite his multiple organ failure, Dr Warrillow said. His family was told he might not survive but measures of support for his circulation to try and clear toxins from his blood helped. 'He had very high levels of acid in his blood, higher levels of ammonia toxin in his blood, and looked very much like he was likely to die,' the doctor recalled. "It's quite a remarkable outcome for him that he was ultimately able to survive and could recover so well in the end." Dr Chris Webster, who treated Heather Wilkinson before the incident, said her death was "particularly distressing". He described the couple as "humble, softly spoken, unassuming and respectful of each other". Dr Webster said that he immediately suspected Patterson of foul play after she had told him the mushrooms came from Woolworths. He described her demeanour as 'evil' and 'sociopathic' and said her lack of concern after being told she might have been exposed to a deadly toxin raised serious alarm. Recalling Patterson's behaviour at the hospital, Dr Webster said she sat just metres away from two of the critically ill victims, Ian and Heather, without showing the slightest concern. 'That absence of concern for the wellbeing of Ian and Heather, I found that quite stark in terms of its oddness,' he said. 'It contributed to the ongoing tapestry in my mind of her culpability.'
The Independent
08-07-2025
- The Independent
First photos of deadly beef wellington meal cooked by Erin Patterson released
The Supreme Court of Victoria released pictures of the beef wellington dish that Erin Patterson made with toxic mushrooms to kill her estranged husband's family following her conviction for triple murder. Images of the meal served at her home in Victoria were among nearly 100 exhibits, including CCTV footage, private message screenshots, medical documents and photographs, presented during the nine-week trial that gripped Australia. Patterson, 50, was found guilty on Monday of murdering her former husband's parents Gail and Donald Patterson and Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson and of attempting to murder Heather's husband Ian. Patterson had invited them for a meal at her home in Morwell, Victoria, on 29 July 2023 and served them beef wellington containing toxic mushrooms. They fell sick shortly afterwards and died, except Ian, who survived after a period in hospital. She had also invited her estranged husband Simon Patterson to the lunch, but he cancelled the day before because he was feeling too 'uncomfortable' due to rising tensions between them. The pictures, which had been shown to the jurors, showed remains of the meal recovered from Patterson's dustbin as well as samples sent for examination. The lunch leftovers had tested positive for death cap mushroom traces, a discovery that formed the cornerstone of the prosecution's case. At the trial, Ian testified that Patterson had eaten from a differently coloured plate than her guests, a claim she rejected. He also described the atmosphere that day, noting Patterson's unwillingness to accept help in the kitchen and her emotional disclosure about having cancer, which was later revealed to be untrue. Further images from Patterson's mobile phone showed yellow-coloured mushrooms, believed to be the death caps, resting on a dehydrator mesh placed on a kitchen scale. There were some 14 pieces of mushrooms on the mesh. The prosecution, led by Nanette Rogers, told the court Patterson had foraged for the death caps, dried them and measured out a "fatal dose" before adding them to the beef wellingtons for her guests while ensuring her own food was untainted. The death cap is a large fungus up to 15cm across and 15cm tall with a domed or white cap and an off-white stem. Found in colours ranging from greenish yellow to brown, tan, or rarely white, these mushrooms can be located in parks, gardens and nature strips, the Royal Botanic Gardens Victoria states on its website. Patterson's search history on her phone showed she looked up the iNaturalist website for locations of death cap mushrooms around her town. Investigators found that the deadly mushrooms were seen in two towns around her house during the same period. Her phone location data appeared to show she travelled to both locations and bought a food dehydrator on the way back. Police later found images of the dehydrator, which Patterson had discarded at a local tip on the day she was discharged from hospital. CCTV footage showed her dumping the appliance. Forensic testing found her fingerprints and traces of the mushrooms on the dehydrator. Patterson claimed she had never owned a dehydrator despite an instruction manual being found in her kitchen drawer and Facebook posts where she discussed using one in a true crime group. Patterson had pleaded not guilty to all charges, claiming the deaths were accidental. She will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum sentence of life in prison.
BBC News
07-07-2025
- 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
Irish Times
07-07-2025
- Irish Times
Death cap mushrooms: Are they in Ireland and how do you spot them?
An Australian woman has been found guilty of murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives by deliberately serving them poisonous mushrooms for lunch. In 2023, Erin Patterson served her husband's family beef wellingtons, which were later found to contain death cap mushrooms. While Patterson found these mushrooms on the other side of the world, you might be wondering if they can be found in Ireland. Bill O'Dea, who studied fungi at University College Dublin and is now a mycophagist (someone interested in fungi), says that Ireland is a 'fungophobic' society. READ MORE 'In general, Irish people have been afraid of mushrooms. There's only one that we eat and that's the field mushroom.' In other parts of Europe, he notes the historical 'trading up and down with other cultures' means that there is more of an acceptance of eating different kinds of mushrooms in other parts of the continent. What is a death cap mushroom? Amanita phalloides, commonly known as death cap mushrooms are the world's most toxic mushrooms. They can cause kidney and liver failure hours after consumption. Can they be found in Ireland? Yes, the death cap is fairly common across Ireland and mainland Europe. It can also be found in North America and Australia. O'Dea notes there are 'loads around Wicklow'. How do I spot one? Death cap mushrooms look similar to several edible mushroom species, which makes them particularly dangerous. O'Dea notes that they typically have white gills. These are the thin structures on the underside of the mushroom's cap. He said they also have a white stem with a ring around it. He says that while identifying mushrooms with guide books can be helpful, 'some of them can not be particularly accurate.' Death Cap mushrooms are a particularly deadly variety. Photograph: Alamy/PA He advises people to not 'eat any mushroom unless it's identified and safe to do so by an expert'. One way people can become more familiar with mushroom types is by going 'on a mushroom hunt with experts.' [ Mushroom hunting in Ireland: You really need to know what you're doing Opens in new window ] Is the death cap the only dangerous mushroom in Ireland? No. O'Dea names many other harmful mushrooms in Ireland, including the destroying angel, the deadly webcap and the false morel, all of which can cause death. 'There are thousands of mushrooms in Ireland – up to 15,000. Of those there's probably 50 that are poisonous, but of those probably eight of them are deadly' he says. There's a particularly 'devious' mushroom found in Ireland, the brown roll-rim , which O'Dea notes can kill someone after they have eaten it a few times. It works by stimulating an autoimmune reaction, which leads to the body attacking its own red blood cells.
LBCI
07-07-2025
- LBCI
Australian woman found guilty of triple murder with toxic mushrooms
An Australian woman murdered her husband's parents and aunt by lacing their beef Wellington lunch with toxic mushrooms, a jury found Monday at the climax of a trial watched around the world. Keen home cook Erin Patterson hosted an intimate meal in July 2023 that started with good-natured banter and earnest prayer -- but ended with three guests dead. Throughout a trial lasting more than two months, Patterson maintained the beef-and-pastry dish was accidentally poisoned with death cap mushrooms, the world's most-lethal fungus. But a 12-person jury on Monday found the 50-year-old guilty of triple murder, a crime that carries a maximum sentence of life imprisonment. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder a fourth guest who survived. Newspapers from New York to New Delhi have followed every twist of what many now simply call the "mushroom murders." Family members of the victims declined to speak after the verdict, asking for privacy in a statement issued through police. On July 29, 2023, Patterson set the table for an intimate family meal at her tree-shaded country property. Her lunch guests that afternoon were Don and Gail Patterson, the parents of her long-estranged husband Simon. Places were also set for Simon's maternal aunt Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian, a well-known pastor at the local Baptist church. Husband Simon was urged to come but he declined because he felt "uncomfortable." In the background, Patterson's relationship with Simon was starting to turn sour. The pair, still legally married, had been fighting over Simon's child support contributions. Guests said grace before tucking in and prayed once more after eating, with Heather later gushing about the "delicious and beautiful" meal. Death cap mushrooms are easily mistaken for other edible varieties and reportedly possess a sweet taste that belies their potent toxicity. The guests' blood was swiftly coursing with deadly amatoxin, a poison produced by the death cap mushrooms known to sprout under the oak trees of Victoria. Don, Gail and Heather died of organ failure within a week. Detectives soon found signs that Patterson had dished up the meal with murderous intent. Patterson told her guests she had received a cancer diagnosis and needed advice on breaking the news to her children, prosecutors alleged. But medical records showed Patterson received no such prosecution said this was a lie cooked up to lure the diners to her table. She also lied about owning a food dehydrator which police later found dumped in a rubbish tip. Forensic tests found the appliance contained traces of the fatal fungi. A computer seized from her house had browsed a website pinpointing death cap mushrooms spotted a short drive from her house a year before the lunch, police said. Baptist preacher Ian Wilkinson was the only guest to survive, pulling through after weeks in hospital. He told the court how guests' meals were served on four grey plates, while Patterson ate from a smaller orange dish. But he could not explain why Patterson wanted him dead. Patterson was a devoted mother-of-two with an active interest in her tight-knit community. She maintained through her lawyers it was nothing more than a "terrible accident." Confronted with countless hours of intricate expert testimony, it took the jury a week to find Patterson guilty. The court will soon set a date for a sentencing hearing that will determine how long Patterson spends in jail. Her legal team has 28 days after sentencing to appeal both her criminal convictions and her sentence. AFP
