On July 29, Erin Patterson invited four family members for lunch. Within days, three were dead.
What started as an apparently normal family meal in a quiet Australian town has ballooned into an extraordinary homicide investigation. Here’s the latest on the “mushroom poisoning” mystery that’s got the world gripped and details on the woman who hosted the deadly lunch, Erin Patterson.
A family lunch takes a tragic turn after death cap mushroom poisoning
On July 29, Erin Patterson, 48, hosted four family members, all linked to her former partner Simon Patterson, for lunch.
Within days, three of them — her former parents-in-law, Gail and Don Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, were dead. Heather’s husband Ian Wilkinson, a 68-year-old reverend, remains critically ill. Their symptoms are consistent with poisoning by death cap mushrooms.
Patterson was the only adult present for the meal who emerged unharmed. Her two children with Simon Patterson also attended, but they ate a different meal, and have shown no signs of illness.
“We have to keep an open mind in relation to this. It could be very innocent,” Detective Inspector Dean Thomas with the Victoria Police homicide squad said during a press briefing on Monday. “But again, we just don’t know at this point … four people turn up and three of them pass away, with another one critical, so we have to work through this.”
According to Daily Mail Australia, Patterson originally invited her former partner Simon, with whom she has an “amicable” relationship, to the meal, but “at the last minute,” he couldn’t make it.
Host Erin Patterson denies all wrongdoing
Patterson, who has not fallen ill, tearfully denied any wrongdoing to reporters outside her home.
“I can’t believe that this has happened and I’m so sorry,” she said per the New York Times. She called her deceased relatives “some of the best people I ever met,” adding that “they never did anything wrong to me.”
She described her former mother-in-law Gail Patterson as “the mother I never had.”
The Wilkinson and Patterson families told a local newspaper in a statement that their relatives were “pillars of faith within our community.”
“Their love, steadfast faith, and selfless service have left an indelible mark on our families, the Korumburra Baptist Church, the local community, and indeed, people around the globe,” it read.
