Three Australians Die From Eating ‘Death Cap’ Mushrooms At Lunch, Ex-Wife Suspected Of Murdering In-Laws

A simple family lunch in Australia turned out to be the last lunch three people were ever going to have.

Erin Patterson, 48, prepared beef Wellington with “lots of mushrooms” and served them to her guests. Patterson’s lunch guests included her ex-husband’s parents, Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, and a pastor and his wife, Ian and Heather Wilkinson, 68 and 66, respectively.

Patterson’s ex-husband, Simon Patterson, was also invited to the lunch but was unable to make it. Their two children were also not at the lunch, as they had left to go to the movies, but are said to have eaten the beef Wellington with the mushrooms removed because they did not like them.

On the night of the beef Wellington lunch, all the guests felt sick and were taken to the hospital. Days later, both of Simon’s parents and Heather, who was also his mother’s sister and his aunt, died. The only surviving guest is Ian Wilkinson.

After their deaths, police began a homicide investigation, in which Erin was questioned and was officially confirmed a suspect later on.

Erin claims to have bought the mushrooms used in the beef Wellington from two locations, button mushrooms from a local store, and dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery store. She also admitted to being dishonest to investigators about trashing a food dehydrator that was used during the meal preparation, when she said she threw it out after her ex-husband asked if that was what she used to “poison her guests.”

Erin has strongly denied any bad intentions on her part and is maintaining her innocence.

“I didn’t do anything,” Erin told reporters camped outside her home.

“I lost my parents-in-law, my children lost their grandparents,” she later told The Australian. “And I’ve been painted as an evil witch and the media is making it impossible for me to live in this town.”

Further into the investigation, Erin’s ex-husband Simon claimed in a Facebook post to have suffered an illness after eating a meal also prepared by Erin. The alleged sickness happened in 2022 and Simon reportedly had to spend 16 days in the hospital.

To add to the growing suspense, one friend of Erin’s spoke to The Daily Mail and said that both Erin and Simon were experienced mushroom foragers. Police say that those who got sick from the fatal lunch showed symptoms of death cap mushroom consumption. It is said that eating just one death cap mushroom is enough to cause death.

In a continuous effort to clear her suspected involvement in the three deaths, Erin wrote a statement to the police, which was obtained by the media.

“I am now wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones,” Erin said. “I am hoping this statement might help in some way. I believe if people understood the background more, they would not be so quick to rush to judgment.”

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“I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones,” she added. “I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved.”