Brisbane Times
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Australian Woman Convicted of Triple Murder in 'Mushroom Poisoning' Trial
Melbourne, Australia – Erin Patterson, an Australian mother of two, has been found guilty on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder following a ten-week trial that captivated Australia and the world. The verdict was delivered after a jury concluded that Patterson intentionally poisoned her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, with a meal containing toxic death cap mushrooms. The incident occurred in July 2023, when Patterson hosted four family members for lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria. The meal served was Beef Wellington, which prosecutors argued contained the deadly fungi. Don and Gail Patterson, along with Heather Wilkinson, died in the days following the lunch. Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, also consumed the meal but survived after weeks of hospitalization, fighting the poison. Patterson's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, had declined the invitation to the lunch. Erin Patterson herself took herself to the hospital after the meal but was never as severely ill as the others. In court, she claimed the poisoning was accidental, stating she had used dried mushrooms she believed were from a grocer. However, evidence presented by prosecutors suggested she may have collected and dehydrated the wild mushrooms herself as part of a hobby. A dehydrator machine, later found in a dumpster with Patterson's fingerprints and traces of death cap mushrooms, became a key piece of evidence. Patterson admitted disposing of the machine in a panic and initially lied to police about owning it. The prosecution successfully argued that Patterson purposely hunted for death caps and cooked them with the intention of killing her children's only grandparents and her ex-husband's aunt and uncle.
