Erin Patterson’s toxic mushroom murder trial

Australian woman Erin Patterson was murdered by a jury of three relatives with a meal of beef with poisonous mushrooms.

The 50-year-old from the small Victorian town of Mowell was also convicted of murdering a fourth person, the only survivor of the deadly meal on July 29, 2023.

Mushroom trials in the country and most of the world show that Patterson chased death cap mushrooms from nearby towns and then tried to cover up his crimes by disposing of evidence and lying to authorities.

Three people died in the hospital in the days after the meal: Patterson’s former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, pastor Ian Wilkinson, recovered after several weeks of treatment in the hospital.

Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was also invited, but canceled the day before, saying he felt “discomfortable” when he was nervous between the previous couple.

After the guilty verdict, the Victoria Supreme Court released about 100 images to the jury during the trial as evidence.

Some of the published photos are beef Wellington leftovers, collected from Patterson’s house.

Collect leftovers in specimen bags to prevent contamination before being examined.

Leftovers found by police in her bin have been tested with Death Cap Mushrooms.

According to Britannica, the Death Cap mushroom is considered the deadliest of all mushrooms. The encyclopedia says the fungus is the cause of most mushroom poisoning around the world, some of which are fatal.

The cover has a color ranging from green to brown, tan or rarely white, with a diameter of about 4-16 cm (about 1.5-6 inches).

Patterson claims she bought some mushrooms from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne, but can’t remember which suburb. When she was asked about the brand and asked for a transaction record, she said the mushrooms were plain packaging and added that she must have paid the cash.

However, detectives found death cap mushrooms found in two towns near Morwell where Patterson lives. About locals have been posting images and locations of mushrooms on the online plant database inaturalist.

Erin Patterson’s search history shows that she has viewed witnesses at least once using the Inaturalist website.

Her cell phone location data appears to show that she is traveling on the way home and buying a food dehydrator.

Forensic experts are also able to recover images on their phones to show that they look like death cap mushrooms on weighing scales.

Even a small piece of death cap mushroom can be fatal, and toxins cannot be destroyed by cooking, freezing, or drying.

The day after Erin Patterson was discharged from the hospital, Erin Patterson found traces of toxic mushrooms in a food dehydrator disposed in a local dump.

Patterson told police that despite finding the manual in a kitchen drawer and posting in a real crime Facebook group, she boasted about using it, but she never owned a device like this.

In the exhibition released by the judge, there are stills of Patterson dumping food on a local tip a few days after a beef Wellington lunch.

Remind people that she brought herself to the hospital two days after lunch and said she was sick. She initially refused the pleading of staff and her children, claiming she had leftovers and they were treated. None of their tests showed signs of death cap mushroom poisoning.

Patterson brings the dehydrator to the e-waste site.

The dehydrator was discovered by police, and a forensic examination of the device found traces of her fingertips and death cap mushrooms.