A jury in Australia has found Erin Patterson guilty of murdering three elderly relatives of her estranged husband with a meal laced with poisonous mushrooms, as a criminal trial that has gripped the country for months finally came to an end.
Patterson, 50, was found guilty of murdering three people and attempting to murder a fourth person. She was charged with killing her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law, Donald Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, along with the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband.
Patterson cooked and served her estranged husband’s parents and his aunt and uncle beef wellington at her Leongatha home in July 2023. The next day, all four guests were hospitalised with symptoms of death cap mushroom poisoning, and later, three of them died.
The accused, who had pleaded not guilty to all charges saying the deaths were accidental, will be sentenced at a later date. She faces the maximum sentence of life imprisonment for the murder charges.
The 12-member jury in the Supreme Court trial in Victoria state returned a verdict after six days of deliberations following a nine-week trial, in which more than 50 witnesses took the stand.
Patterson, who sat in the dock between two prison officers, showed no emotion but blinked rapidly as the verdicts were read.
She was arrested and charged in November 2023, about four months after the lethal lunch.
While it wasn’t disputed that Patterson served the mushroom-laced lunch, the jury was required to decide whether she knew the food contained death caps, and if she intended for them to die.
Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, told the jury about how the couple’s relationship had become strained in the months leading up to the lunch. Wilkinson, a pastor in a nearby regional town, told the court that Patterson had served her beef wellington on a different coloured plate.
The prosecution, led by Nanette Rogers, detailed their case against Patterson, saying she had deliberately foraged for deadly death cap mushrooms and dried them in a dehydrator.
Making individual beef wellingtons, the prosecution said Patterson used kitchen scales to weigh out the death cap mushrooms to add to her guests’ meals while leaving her wellington unpoisoned.
Rogers argued Patterson lied to police and health experts about where the mushrooms in the wellington had come from, lied about foraging for mushrooms or owning a food dehydrator, and lied to her guests about the reason for the meal.
“That choice to make individual portions allowed her complete control over the ingredients in each individual parcel,” Rogers said in her closing arguments.
Rogers said Patterson had lied about having a cancer diagnosis in a bid to lure her guests to the fatal lunch. “She knew how to tell convincing lies when it came to the cancer because she had put in the research,” the chief prosecutor said.
According to the prosecution, Patterson had no intention of ever being questioned about the lie, because she believed her lunch guests would not survive. “Her lie would die with them,” Rogers said, adding that Patterson admitted in court she was never diagnosed with cancer.
Her defence did not dispute the fact death cap mushrooms had been in the meal, or that she had lied about some details, but the deaths were an accident and she had no reason to kill her guests.
Defence barrister Colin Mandy said Patterson had panicked after her lunch guests fell ill, and she had invited her in-laws and Heather and Ian Wilkinson for a meal because she wanted to keep an good relationship with her family.
During her eight days in the witness box as the only defence witness, Patterson said the deaths were a “terrible accident”.
She also told the court that she had lied about having cancer in order to cover up her plans for weight-loss surgery, which she had felt embarrassed to disclose. “I didn’t want to tell anybody, but I shouldn’t have lied to them,” she told the court.
Justice Christopher Beale, in his direction to the jury, said that Patterson’s admission that she told lies and disposal of evidence must not lead them to be prejudiced against her. “This is a court of law, not a court of morals,” he said.
Outside the court, reporters from throughout Australia crowded around friends of Patterson's as they left after the hearing. "I'm saddened, but it is what it is," said one friend, Ali Rose, who wore sunglasses and fought back tears.
Asked what she thought Patterson felt as the verdicts were read, Ms Rose said, "I don't know."
Victoria Police said the families involved had opted not to issue statements regarding the verdict via the police. "Our thoughts are with the respective families at this time and we acknowledge how difficult these past two years have been for them," a spokesperson told ABC.
"We will continue to support them in every way possible following this decision."
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