Australian police on Wednesday were trying to figure out how three people died and a fourth became critically ill after apparently eating wild mushrooms at a family lunch.
Homicide detectives have been investigating the case. Police have interviewed the woman who they say cooked the meal at her home on July 29 but didn't become ill herself. Police released her without filing any charges but say she remains a suspect.
The woman told media outside her home in the town of Leongatha, in Victoria state, that she didn’t know what had happened.
“I didn’t do anything,” she told Network Nine on Monday. “I loved them and I’m devastated they’re gone.”
The woman declined to answer questions about what meals were served to which guests or the origin of the mushrooms.
Victoria Police Det. Inspector Dean Thomas said it wasn't clear what type of mushrooms the guests had eaten, but their symptoms were consistent with those from a death cap, a particularly deadly variety.
He said it would take some time to determine what happened and police were keeping an open mind.
“It could be very innocent but, again, we just don’t know,” Thomas said.
The woman had been hosting her in-laws, Gail and Don Patterson, both aged 70. Both died at area hospitals. Also at the lunch were Gail Patterson's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, who died, and husband Ian Wilkinson, 68, a Baptist pastor who remained hospitalized this week in critical condition.
Thomas said the woman who cooked the meal was separated from her husband but police had been told their relationship was amicable. Her children were also at home during the lunch but did not eat the same meal, police said.
Detectives searched the woman’s home on Saturday and took several items. The Sydney Morning Herald reported that police were also conducting forensic tests on a food dehydrator they had found at a nearby landfill to see if it was linked to the case.
© Copyright 2023 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed without permission.
17 Comments
Login to comment
wallace
People need to be very careful picking wild mushrooms. They need to be identified before eating. Dying from mushrooms is unusual.
sakurasuki
No Mario Brothers effect after eating those mushrooms for this family.
Mark
This case should be easy to solve with good detective and forensic work, almost certain the woman had a lot to do with it, look out for life insurance pay off's too.
WA4TKG
It was deliberate, otherwise, why not answer questions.
Conveniently, her children didn't eat any.
Just say NO, to "Wild Mushrooms"....unless they're Magic of course.
Sanjinosebleed
Murder most foul me thinks!
wallace
Erin Patterson, 48, invited her estranged ex-husband Simon Patterson to their former family home for lunch with his parents Gail and Don Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, and her husband Ian on Saturday, July 29.
'Simon was supposed to go to the lunch but couldn't make it at the last minute,'.
Gail and Don Patterson died after eating the mushrooms. Heather Wilkinson, also died.
Erin Patterson has fled her home.
Lindsay
There is a lot more to this incident than this article states. The Australian media reports are pointing the finger at her for purposely poisoning her in-laws.
earsay
So the deceased and critically ill were all related to her estranged husband yet she and her children were unharmed. This can't be too difficult for the police to wrap up.
MilesTeg
The chances she mistakenly picked poisonous mushrooms to serve people are slim. She didn't eat them herself and neither did her children. If her strategy was to claim ignorance, that's pretty stupid too.
odoriko
Mostly likely she could only have have benefited from an insurance policy on her husbands death. So it this was on purpose, it was an emotional issue.
odoriko
Come to think of it, her husband is actually the one likely to immediately financially benefit from the deaths of his own parents. Not that it has anything to do with reality, but it could be inspiration for a good Agatha Christie story.
Trapped
It turns out her husband was hospitalised last year and placed in a coma after becoming very ill. She's clearly tried this before.
Sanjinosebleed
Serial killer in the making! Lucky they got her early!!!!!
GuruMick
I,m sticking to shitake from now...
Eastman
magic mushorroms.
i remember those.
had plenty in Vic around Cobram.