Erin Patterson killed three people in her Leongatha home. Now what happens to it?
Erin Patterson had a plan for her children to grow up in her $1.2m dollar “forever” home — but now she’s been found guilty of murder, that has drastically changed.
The Mushroom Cook
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Erin Patterson is intelligent, engaging and, at times, witty.
That’s what those who know the triple murderer say, including her estranged husband Simon Patterson.
But there was nothing funny when the door slammed behind her as she entered her prison cell on Monday night at the maximum security jail she must now know will be her “forever” home.
The $1.2m dollar “forever” home Patterson leaves behind in Leongatha, where she murdered three members of her family and almost killed another remains a picturesque weatherboard on a hectare block at the foot of a hill.
“And what were your plans for the house?” Patterson was asked at her trial.
“I saw it as the final house, meaning I wanted it to be a house where the children would grow up, where once they moved away for uni or work, they could come back and stay whenever they liked, bring their children, and I’d grow old there. That’s what I hoped.”
Maximum security women’s prison Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, which sits on a flat piece of arid land in Melbourne’s west, is more than two hours from the house she built from the ground up.
Unlike most other criminals, it will be some time before Patterson will dim from public view as the documentaries, dramas and books hit the market.
But in time, the spotlight will fade.
Inside jail, Patterson is just another inmate. Her infamy is a hindrance, not a help.
She was separated from other prisoners last year after a complaint was made against her for allegedly tampering with food and she has copped her fair share of flak since her arrest in November 2023 for murdering elderly people with death cap mushrooms.
As her story is told over and over again over the coming years in documentaries, dramas and books, including one to be co-authored by Helen Garner, Patterson will fume.
In a conversation with this reporter outside her home just before she was charged, Patterson said how she was agitated at being cast as a “witch” by the media.
Patterson’s crime has been raked over by all major Australian media and more than 20 international outlets from the UK, US and New Zealand including The New York Times, The Washington Post, The Times and BBC.
Add to that the nine authors, seven documentary crews and one television drama working on projects.
The production companies which have taken an interest include Matchbox Pictures, Dreamchaser Productions, Stan, iTV and the ABC.
One of them could be producing a series for an international audience to be bought by a streaming giant such as Netflix, Apple or Disney+.
Podcasts have also been heavily consumed.
Among the first in 2024 was the Herald Sun’s The Mushroom Cook.
Such was the interest it was the No.1 ranked show on Apple for five weeks.
The intense media interest has led to speculation Leongatha could attract unwanted visitors in what is dubbed “dark tourism”.
But there are significant differences with other notorious places where gruesome events have unfolded, such as Snowtown – a rural town in South Australia which became synonymous with a murderous group who stored bodies in barrels in a disused bank vault.
University of New England Associate Professor of Criminology Dr Jenny Wise said although some people’s curiosity could lead them to Leongatha, it wouldn’t last.
“There may be some increased ‘tourist’ activity to Leongatha, and specifically perhaps driving past the house, or intrigue around where the mushrooms were collected,” Dr Wise said.
“However, it probably isn’t likely that Leongatha will become a permanent dark tourism location.”
Leongatha locals recoil at being defined by the murderous actions of the woman now known worldwide as the “Mushroom Cook”.
“She’s a total blow-in,” one local said.
“She’d only been here for four years.
“It is such a good town. This town can’t be defined by a complete stranger.”
Patterson is powerless to control the narrative of her story from her cell.
Her eight days testifying at her trial, after she took an affirmation rather than swearing on the Bible, ended in her denials of being a murderer.
Those denials will be replaced by the boredom and loneliness of prison life.
It has been noted that since she served Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian with a poisoned meal in July, 2023, no one she ever loved has spoken out in her defence — just an online friend who has taken up her cause.
Even her sister, Ceinwen, has kept her silence.
Then there’s her children.
Does Patterson have a right to see them?
And even if she does as their mother, would they be willing to see her?
Patterson’s original barrister Phil Dunn KC said this case would be reviewed by academics in years to come.
“My view is that despite the jury verdict that when the dust settles there will be academics who review this case and will see it through a different prism,” he said
The law will see Patterson as remorseless because, to date, she has shied from telling the truth.
Her prospects for rehabilitation depend on being honest.
It includes admitting where she foraged the death cap mushrooms, what led her to use the fungi in her diabolical crime and why she killed the only family she had.
Observers have wondered what Patterson felt as her lunch guests prayed for her good health after knowingly feeding them their last meal.
“It would have given her an overwhelming sense of power as they held hands and prayed,” a source said.
Patterson has little left to give other than contrition and her wealth.
Just weeks after the 50-year-old was charged she sold her Mount Waverley unit for $1.025 million.
And she still owns the Leongatha home, although it now has a mortgage against it as surety her legal bills will be paid.
It has raised the question as to why her assets have not been frozen by authorities for her victims’ family members to make claims against.
In all likelihood, Patterson’s wealth will be held in trust for her two children whose lives will never be the same.
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