Australian woman convicted of triple murder after taking mushroom meal – National
Australian woman Erin Patterson was found guilty on Monday to murder relatives of three estranged husbands, deliberately serving them with a toxic mushroom lunch.
The jury at the Victoria Supreme Court trial ruled the verdict after six days of deliberation after a nine-week trial. Patterson faces life in prison and will be sentenced later.
Patterson, 50, showed no emotion, but blinked quickly as the verdict was read between the two prison officials.
Three of Patterson’s four lunch guests – her parents Don and Gail Patterson and Gail Patterson, 70, were 66-year-old Heather Wilkinson, who died in the hospital after a toxic meal at his home in the country town of Leongartha on July 29, 2023.
Patterson was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived.
Patterson offers a separate meal of Beef Wellington pastry, which contains Death Cap mushrooms, mashed potatoes and mung beans.
Patterson pleaded not guilty to the four charges, believing the death was accidental.
The jury must decide whether Patterson knows if the lunch contains the death cap mushroom and whether she intends to let the guests die. Patterson had no doubt killed her guests for mushroom service or beef Wellington pastry.
The guilty verdict needs to be unanimous, indicating that the jurors rejected Patterson’s defense that the existence of poisonous mushrooms in the meal was a horrible accident, caused by mistakes including foraging mushrooms, but she did not know about the death cap.
Prosecutors did not provide motives for the killing, but during the trial, she highlighted the tension between Patterson and her estranged husband and the frustration she had with her parents in the past.
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The focus of the case is whether Patterson plans a murder or whether she accidentally killed three people, including her child’s only surviving grandparent.
Her attorney claimed she had no reason to murder because she had recently moved into her new home, was financially comfortable and had the only custody of the child. They also said she will start studying nursing and midwife degrees.
But prosecutors suggest Patterson has two faces—the woman publicly appears to have a good relationship with her father-in-law, and her true feelings about them are hidden.
Prosecutors said her relationship with her estranged husband Simon Patterson was invited to the deadly lunch, but failed to attend, worsening a year before her death.
The day after the meal, all four of Patterson's guests were hospitalized for poisoning with death cap mushrooms (also known as Amanita phalloides) and added to beef and pastry dishes. Ian Wilkinson survived a liver transplant.
“I've had months, especially with Don and Gail's relationship, maybe there's a greater distance or space between us,” Patterson said earlier at the trial. “We meet each other.”
Wilkinson had previously told the court that Patterson had plated with “all the food” and seemed to “guntally” get her lunch guests into the pantry.
“Everyone has a personal serving, which is a lot like mushy,” Wilkinson said. “It's a pastry case and when we cut into it, there's steak and mushrooms.”
They all ate from four gray plates, he said, and Patterson ate from “orange tan” plates.
He told the court: “Irene picked up the strange plate and brought it to the table. She brought it to the table.”
Wilkinson also said his wife told him the next day that she “noted the color difference in the plate.”
He said he and his wife “had a whole meal” while he had another half of the beef and Gale had not finished.
“Someone talks about husband helping his wife,” he said.
Judge Christopher Beale had previously told jurors that prosecutors filed separate charges against Patterson, alleging that she also tried to murder her estranged husband with poisonous mushrooms.
Death cap mushrooms are found in many forests in British Columbia but can also be found in urban settings related to many imported tree species. According to the British Columbia Centers for Disease Control, mushrooms were found in Vancouver Island and in the Lower Land.
Death cap mushrooms look similar to regular bubble mushrooms, but should never be eaten. If you suspect you may have consumed Death Cap mushrooms, you should seek emergency medical services immediately.
Symptoms of death cap mushroom poisoning include hypotension, nausea and vomiting.
–Documents from Michelle Butterfield and the Associated Press from Global News
& Copy 2025 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
