POISON ‘PLOT’
Erin Patterson: Poison mushroom cook ‘tried to kill her ex-husband FOUR times’ as she’s charged with murdering in-laws
Police allege there were three previous attempts before she served the toxic beef wellington to her former in-laws
POISON mushroom chef Erin Patterson tried to kill her ex-husband three times, police allege.
The 48-year-old faces three counts of murdering her in-laws and a total of five counts of attempted murder.
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Three of those counts allegedly relate to a 48-year-old Korumburra man - believed to be Erin’s ex-husband Simon Patterson.
He is said to have become ill on three occasions following meals in 2021 and 2022.
Simon was also supposed to go to a fateful family lunch in July this year but sources claimed he pulled out at the last minute.
His parents, aunt and uncle still went to Erin's house where she served up a beef Wellington that allegedly contained death cap mushrooms.
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Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, later died in hospital along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66.
A fourth victim, Wilkinson's husband Ian, was left critically ill and spent months in a hospital.
The alleged killer was arrested and charged today after cops raided her home in East Victoria, Australia.
Police took several items from the home using trained dogs but didn't say what they had.
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Patterson has always denied any wrongdoing.
All three victims of the mushroom meal died in the days after eating a toxic beef wellington that Patterson cooked at her home in Leongatha on July 29.
Doctors said their symptoms were consistent with poisoning by death cap mushrooms, which grow wild in the area.
As well as three murders, mum-of-two Erin also faces five attempted murder charges, three of which relate to "separate incidents" between 2021-2022, Victoria police said.
The two other attempted murder charges relate to the mushroom meal in July, police said.
Patterson's former husband Simon was allegedly supposed to attend the fateful lunch - but sources claimed he pulled out last minute.
“Today’s charges are just the next step in what has been an incredibly complex, methodical and thorough investigation by homicide squad detectives,” said Detective Inspector Dean Thomas.
He added that the investigation "is not over yet".
“I know that people will no doubt have many unanswered questions about this matter, however I urge people to be especially mindful of unnecessary speculation and not sharing misinformation.”
Police have been seen searching Patterson's home with the help of "technology detector dogs" that will sniff out any electronic devices that may be hidden.
The dogs were seen combing through cars and her home as more officers carried things out of her house.
Patterson will remain in custody and appear at court on Friday morning.
In the days following the lethal lunch in July, cops quickly launched an investigation into the "unexpected deaths" and Patterson instantly denied any wrongdoing.
Her house was searched on August 5 and homicide detectives quickly made the 48-year-old a person of interest in the case.
Questions were quickly raised over why Patterson didn't get ill herself - despite claiming to have eaten the same food.
But in a police statement a fortnight later, she claimed she became poorly and was taken to hospital.
She also claimed to have served the leftovers to her children who did not fall ill.
There were also conflicting reports over whether her children were at the lunch.
Initially, it was said her son and daughter were there - but she later claimed they had gone to the cinema before the gathering started.
Their father and Patterson's ex Simon, was reportedly supposed to join his former spouse and his parents for lunch at their former family home.
But friends said the dad pulled out of the get-together at the last minute for unknown reasons.
In May 2022, Simon claimed to have suffered from a mystery illness after collapsing and was placed into an induced coma.
He detailed his ordeal in a social media post, writing: "I collapsed at home, then was in an induced coma for 16 days through which I had three emergency operations mainly on my small intestine, plus an additional planned operation.
"My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice, as I was not expected to live. I was in intensive care for 21 days..."
In initial statements to police, Patterson claimed to have purchased the lethal mushrooms from an Asian supermarket in Melbourne months before the fatal incident.
But her neighbour insisted that she was an experienced forager and she regularly picked own mushrooms.
Erin later claimed, however, that she got the mushrooms from two different stores in Victoria.
But despite her claims, Victoria’s Health Department had no health alerts for any mushroom sales.
Asian shops and mushroom growers in the area also did not have any issues reported to them, and none of their mushroom products were recalled.
In other statements, Patterson claimed to have intentionally dumped her food dehydrator - believed to have been used to prepare the mushrooms - in a skip.
Police later seized the dehydrator to carry out forensic tests and have not yet released the results.
In August, a tradesman also came forward to reveal he found what was described as a "death wall" in her former home.
Red and blue markers were used to scrawl eerie drawings and messages over the wall - with one chilling note reading: "You don't [have] long to live".
In public statements made after the deadly lunch, Patterson said: "I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones.
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"I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved."
The 68-year-old survivor of the mushroom lunch, Ian Wilkinson, was pictured last month attending his wife Heather's funeral, just days after being released from his long stint in hospital.
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