CANBERRA, Australia (AP) — The host of a weekend family lunch at her Australian country home was charged Thursday with murdering her estranged husband’s parents and aunt with poisonous mushrooms and attempting to murder a fourth guest, police said.
Police arrested Erin Patterson, 49, at her home in the Victoria state town of Leongatha.
It was at that home that she served lunch on July 29 to four guests. The gathering has been described as an attempt to address issues concerning the fractured marriage of Erin and Simon Patterson. Attending were Simon Patterson’s parents, Gail and Don Patterson, both 70; Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66; and Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, a Baptist minister. Simon Patterson had declined to attend.
All four guests were hospitalized the next day, and only Ian Wilkinson survived.
Patterson has publicly denied any wrongdoing.
“I’m devastated. I loved them. I can’t believe that this has happened and I’m so sorry,” she tearfully told reporters in August.
Patterson was also charged with four counts of attempting to murder Simon Patterson: once for the July lunch that he did not attend, and three times for earlier meals after which he became sick. Friends say that in one of those incidents, in May 2022, he was hospitalized for three weeks.
Simon Patterson, 48, has been described in news accounts both as “ex-husband” and “estranged husband.” The couple had reportedly been living apart for some months at the time of the lunch.
Patterson served her guests beef Wellington that she had prepared. She would later tell the police she used two types of mushrooms, both purchased from grocery stores.
The symptoms the four guests experienced were consistent with poisoning from wild Amanita phalloides, known as death cap mushrooms, a police inspector said.
All four went to hospitals on July 30. The sisters died on Aug. 4 and Don Patterson on Aug. 5. Ian Wilkinson was critically ill and remained in a hospital until late September.
The police initially said Erin Patterson did not become ill, but she has said she went to a hospital on July 30 with diarrhea and abdominal pain.
Her two children ate the leftover beef Wellington with the mushrooms scraped off, she said. They did not become ill.
Murder in Victoria carries a potential maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Patterson was expected to remain in police custody until she appears in a local court on Friday, when she can potentially apply to be released on bail.