 "Who is Erin Patterson, the ‘mushroom killer’ whose trial has begun in Australia?")
In one of Australia ’s most bizarre and closely-watched criminal trials, Erin Patterson — a 50-year-old woman from small town in Victoria — stands accused of turning an ordinary family lunch into a deadly affair.
She is now on trial for allegedly serving a dish laced with poisonous mushrooms that killed three of her former in-laws and left a fourth relative fighting for life. Patterson, however, has pleaded not guilty and maintains her innocence.
Nearly two years after the incident, the case has finally reached court, with prosecutors trying to piece together the events that led to the tragedy. Here’s everything you need to know.
The fateful lunch
On July 29 2023, Patterson invited a bunch of guests to lunch at her home at Leongatha, a town of around 6,000 people, some 135 kilometres from Melbourne.
Patterson had separated from her husband, and the guests were her former mother and father-in-law law Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, and her former aunt and uncle-in-law, Heather Wilkinson, 66 and Reverend Ian Wilkinson, 68.
Patterson said she served her guests with beef wellingtons, an English baked steak dish that consisted a piece of steak covered in mushrooms and encased in pastry, with mashed potato and green beans on four large grey plates. According to prosecutors, the dish contained poisonous mushrooms, as all four who ate the dish began feeling unwell at midnight.
Police previously said that their symptoms were consistent with poisoning from wild Amanita phalloides, known as death cap mushrooms , which are responsible for 90 per cent of all toxic mushroom-related fatalities.
Impact Shorts
More ShortsWhile Gail and Heather died nearly a week later on Friday, August 4, Don died a day later. Reverend Wilkinson also spent seven weeks in the hospital but somehow survived.
Patterson, a 50-year-old mother of two, was charged with the murder of Don, Gail and Heather, and the attempted murder of Ian over the fatal lunch. However, she has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
In a voluntary statement to police in August 2023, Patterson said she wanted to “clear up the record” because she was “extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones” and was hospitalised herself after eating the meal. Her two kids, however, had eaten a different supper.
She said she served the meal and allowed the guests to choose their own plates, adding she then took the last plate and ate some of the beef wellington herself. Patterson said she had “absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved”.
The trial
The trial commenced on April 29, 2025, at the Supreme Court of Victoria in Morwell. During opening statements, prosecutor Nanette Rogers SC presented several key points:
Different plates: Patterson allegedly served the guests on large grey plates while using a smaller,lighter-coloured plate for herself.
False cancer claim: Prosecutors claim Patterson purportedly fabricated a cancer diagnosis to explain the gathering with her in-laws and to ensure her children were not present during the lunch.
Food dehydrator disposal: Patterson admitted to disposing of a food dehydrator, which a forensic analysis later found to contain traces of death cap mushrooms. She was also seen dumping the machine at a local tip on CCTV footage.
The defence acknowledges that Patterson lied about certain aspects, including the cancer diagnosis and the origin of the mushrooms. But the incident was not a deliberate act of poisoning.
“She did not intend to cause any harm to anyone on that day. The defence case is this was a tragedy and a terrible accident,” Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, told the court on Wednesday.
Earlier, Patterson was also accused of attempting to kill her husband, however, the charges were dropped by prosecutors.
The trial is expected to last for five to six weeks. The case continues to draw significant public and media attention as it unfolds.
With input from agencies
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