A jury has found Erin Patterson, a 50-year-old mother of two from Leongatha, Victoria, guilty of three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder after she served her estranged husband’s elderly relatives a home-cooked meal laced with lethal mushrooms.
The verdict follows a gripping nine-week trial that examined whether the fatal lunch was a tragic accident or a calculated act of murder.
A Fatal Lunch in the Countryside
In July 2023, Patterson hosted a seemingly innocent Sunday lunch at her rural home, approximately 85 miles from Melbourne.
Her guests were her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Gail and Donald, both aged 70, and his aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian Wilkinson, aged 66 and 68 respectively.
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Erin reportedly invited the group under the pretence of discussing a medical issue she claimed to be facing.
The group dined on homemade beef Wellington, a dish typically featuring a mushroom paste — but in this case, that paste contained Amanita phalloides, or death cap mushrooms, among the most poisonous in the world.
Patterson later testified that she had prepared each Wellington individually and served herself on a differently coloured and sized plate — a detail noted by both Wilkinson and his late wife.
Three Dead, One Survivor
The following day, all four guests were hospitalised with severe gastrointestinal distress. Despite initial uncertainty about the cause, toxicologists eventually identified signs of death cap mushroom poisoning.
Tragically, Gail and Heather died on 4 August, and Donald passed away the next day. Ian Wilkinson, the only survivor, endured weeks in intensive care, including being placed on a ventilator, before recovering and testifying in court.
The court heard that although Patterson claimed she too experienced diarrhoea, there was no medical evidence to support that she had mushroom poisoning. Prosecutors contended she either consumed far less of the toxic dish or faked her symptoms entirely. Her explanation? She fell ill later that day after eating leftover cake brought by one of the guests.
Lies, Cover-Ups and the Question of Intent
The trial featured over 50 witnesses and eight days of Patterson’s own testimony. Central to the case was whether she deliberately included the death cap mushrooms in the dish.
Prosecutors accused Patterson of lying repeatedly in the aftermath of the tragedy. She initially denied foraging for mushrooms, denied owning a food dehydrator, and misled investigators about where her mushrooms were sourced. She also failed to inform medical staff about the possible presence of death caps in the food — critical information that might have saved lives.
It later emerged that Patterson had purchased a dehydrator months earlier, which she discarded at a local tip shortly after the deaths. She eventually admitted on the stand that she had panicked, calling her behaviour a “stupid, knee-jerk reaction to just dig deeper and keep lying.”
Her phone, factory-reset during the investigation, was later found to have contained photos of wild mushrooms on the dehydrator tray, as well as location data placing her near areas known for toxic fungi.
Prosecutor Nanette Rogers alleged that Patterson had intentionally searched for and picked death cap mushrooms from nearby towns using a naturalist website, dehydrated them into a powder, and incorporated them into her guests’ meals.
A False Cancer Claim and a Chilling Message
According to court documents, Patterson told her guests she wanted to talk about her “cancer diagnosis” and whether to inform her children. However, medical records confirmed that no such diagnosis existed. Patterson later confessed she made up the story out of embarrassment, as she was actually considering weight-loss surgery.
A text message sent to her estranged husband after he declined the invitation the night before the lunch read: “I wanted it to be a special meal, as I may not be able to host a lunch like this again for some time.” Prosecutors suggested this was part of her calculated deception to lure her victims.
Rogers outlined four key “deceptions” at the heart of the case: the fabricated cancer diagnosis, the fatal poisoning, the false suggestion that Patterson herself had been affected, and the extended cover-up to hide the truth.
The Jury Decides
Justice Christopher Beale cautioned jurors that Patterson’s dishonesty alone did not constitute proof of guilt. Nevertheless, after weighing the evidence — including inconsistencies in her account, forensic discoveries, and expert testimonies — the jury delivered a guilty verdict.
Erin Patterson now faces the prospect of life imprisonment. Sentencing is expected in the coming weeks.
This case has gripped Australia and beyond, raising unsettling questions about domestic trust, food safety, and the deadly potential of common ingredients.
