Leongatha mushroom poisoning: lifting the veil on Erin Patterson
Erin Patterson, the woman who is a police suspect in the deaths of three people after an ill-fated mushroom lunch, used to relish her anonymity. We now know more about her than she ever wanted.
Erin Patterson is shy. She loved her anonymity when she drove her funky little red SUV between the Gippsland towns of Leongatha and Korumburra to collect her two children and do her shopping.
The safety valve of keeping to herself was blown when the three elderly people she knew intimately died after apparently eating death cap mushrooms at her home in country Victoria on July 29. While her story is incomplete, we now know more about her than she ever wanted.
She likes to cook, a neighbour describes her as naive, “into unicorns’’, she had an interest in, or at least tolerated, Christianity, likes animals and is a good mother.
Ms Patterson, 48, is by many standards, quite well-off, her mother having died four years ago. She owns two houses, the well maintained two-storey Leongatha farmlet worth about $900,000 and a semi-detached townhouse in Melbourne’s well-heeled eastern suburbs worth well over $1m.
She doesn’t seem to work much but when she did, Korumburra Community Development and Action group president Syd Whyte says she was efficient.
The pair share the history of having edited The Burra Flyer, a 48-page booklet of advertorials and promotions of the Korrumburra community, about 125km southeast of Melbourne.
“She was quite capable of putting the Flyer together,’’ Whyte recalls. “I found her all right.’’
Sometimes a bit terse – maybe just city-girl direct – but a capable editor.
It’s becoming increasingly clear that, despite police describing her separation from her grieving husband Simon Patterson as amicable, there was strain; as there almost always is. Also, at times, a sense of oddness.
A visitor to an old family home noticed what they said was weird graffiti on a wall, macabrely referring to death.
“It was strange. You never know what goes on behind closed doors,’’ the visitor said.
Her two children are about high school age, sickened by the deaths of their grandparents Don and Gail Patterson and their great aunt Heather Wilkinson.
Pastor Ian Wilkinson, a loved former maintenance man, remains critically ill after the four apparently ingested death cap mushrooms in a meal prepared by Ms Patterson, who served separate food to her children.
Despite the carnage the mushrooms apparently inflicted on the gathering, Ms Patterson avoided sickness. Seven from the lunch presented to hospital on or after July 30 and the only ones to escape death or grave injury were Ms Patterson and her children.
Death cap mushrooms, if that’s what caused the culinary mayhem, can lead to symptoms including organ failure, preceded by violent stomach pains, nausea, diarrhoea and vomiting.
When liver failure strikes, as is the case for Ian Wilkinson, it can take months for a suitable donor organ to become available; if, indeed, he can survive that long.
An open mind
Detective Inspector Dean Thomas, of the Victorian homicide squad, is a smart man; he knows that kitchen appliances can’t walk.
The moment police discovered a food dehydrator at the local tip 15km from Ms Patterson’s house, it was game on for investigators.
Dehydrators can be used to dry and enhance the flavours of mushrooms but we still don’t know how police knew to look for the appliance that was found in a large bin. They sell for as little as $55 from Kmart and would allow out-of-season mushrooms to be served months later. The best guess is that Ms Patterson told investigators who interviewed her after the tragedy had unfolded where the dehydrator was.
It was, however, reported this week that it was largely a no-comment interview and police returned to the tip this week to check for CCTV footage; the timing of the visit could become crucial if Erin Patterson in fact disposed of it after cooking the ill-fated lunch.
A gentle-looking bloke who could pass for a parish priest, Inspector Thomas said Ms Patterson became a suspect (indeed, the only suspect) because she did not fall ill after serving what has been widely reported as beef Wellington, although this case is riddled with more contradictions and twists than an episode of Midsomer Murders.
“It may be very innocent,’’ he offered. At the start of his only press conference on the deaths, he stressed that police had an open mind and that a crime may not even have been committed.
Yet the reality is that police have shone the spotlight on Ms Patterson by naming her as a suspect, a development that has significantly ramped up pressure on the mother of two.
Veteran former homicide squad investigator Charlie Bezzina says the naming of Ms Patterson as a suspect was not remarkable. “It is stating the blatant obvious,’’ he said. “They are doing nothing different that I wouldn’t do.’’
Like all of these cases, it is a mistake to assume anything, even necessarily that a crime has been committed. Even if it has, it might not be Ms Patterson who is finally in the gun when the toxicology reports are finished.
The lessons of Lindy Chamberlain, who was wrongly convicted of murder in 1982 after a dingo stole her baby in Central Australia, still resonate.
One local who has interacted with Ms Patterson said they got on well with each other but there had been something “odd’’ about her relationship with Simon Patterson. He is active in the community as a photographer and basketball coach but friends said he liked to keep to himself.
Another said Ms Patterson had wanted to get a job as a support worker but this had not eventuated. She said Ms Patterson had been reserved at school pick-ups.
Sam Provan, a long-term Korumburra resident, said he had been taught by Simon’s late father Don at the local high school, and knew the Wilkinsons.
“They were the most caring, considerate people. This town will suffer not having these people around. If there was more people like Mr Patterson we wouldn’t have half the trouble in this world,’’ he said.
Test of law
Heather Douglas, a professor of law at the University of Melbourne, said that in order to charge and convict someone with murder then the court must find beyond reasonable doubt that the person intended to murder their victim or victims.
“It is quite a high test,’’ she said.
She said there also was a recklessness test in Victoria which could involve a murder conviction if the killer knew their action would cause death. In the case of death cap mushrooms, the prosecution would need to prove that whoever used them knew what the poison was and that there was intent.
In the case of manslaughter, the prosecution would have to prove the person knew of the potential of the dangerous item – in this case deadly mushrooms.
But, of course, we still don’t know whether the mushrooms – or whatever killed the Leongatha three – were death caps because the toxicology reports haven’t been released.
Eminent Melbourne barrister David Galbally KC says any crime committed around mushrooms would be “a very complicated matter’’. There would need to be very strong evidence to show that there was knowledge the mushrooms would kill. “It may never go to court,’’ he said.
Close community
Social standings in country towns are not homogenous as they often are in city suburbs.
When Erin Patterson married into the Patterson family she automatically was elevated into a respectful position.
Her in-laws were churchgoers while Don – the father – was a respected secondary teacher at Korumburra while Don’s brother-in-law would become the Baptist pastor. Don Patterson organised streaming of the church services during the pandemic to keep the community united.
At the top of the social strata in country areas are the big-time farmers, lawyers, doctors and successful businessmen and women. Religious leaders are also on the podium. Everyone else tends to fall in behind.
So when news spread that three people died and a fourth was fighting for life – the respected cleric – sympathy immediately went to the nearest and dearest of the dead and injured.
Erin Patterson, despite her vehement commentary on Monday, is not now part of that inner Korumburra sanctum.
Land title documents show she and her ex-husband carved up their property interests at the start of 2021, with separation listed as the reason for the transfer of properties in Korumburra and Mt Waverley, in Melbourne’s outer east.
This suggests the separation would have been well under way in 2020, well before Simon Patterson fell critically ill last year, almost dying twice.
The Herald Sun reported this week that Mr Patterson had privately accused his former wife of trying to poison him but Mr Patterson has steadfastly refused to comment on the deaths of his family or the suspicions surrounding his ex-wife.
Friends say that there was still contact between the estranged couple because of the mutual care of the children.
The survivors in the Patterson and Wilkinson families have hired a PR agent but Simon has made clear to the consultant that he does not want to comment.
The effect of this is suspicion continues to rain down on his ex wife.
In a post on the local Facebook site – where he has coached and photographed players – Simon Patterson said last year he had collapsed at home.
“Then I was in an induced coma for 16 days through which I had emergency operations, mainly on my small intestine, plus an additional planned operation,’’ he said.
“My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice, as I was not expected to live. I was in intensive care for 21 days.’’
Rumours about this health event are rampant, including that Mr Patterson may have ingested radiator antifreeze.
There is nothing to suggest this is true but police will closely examine his health records to determine whether foul play may have occurred.
Terrible tragedy
When Simon Patterson’s parents drove down the dirt road and turned into Erin Patterson’s driveway a fortnight ago today, they surely would have taken some comfort at the tidy and attractive home their grandchildren were living in.
It is on a one hectare block with a two-storey, modern home with a garage, carport and surrounded by gum trees and wattles.
Opposite, a child has started building a treehouse with discarded palettes next to a paddock.
It is likely when they sat to eat, the adults will have said grace, as was Ian Wilkinson’s habit.
Nothing would have – or could have – suggested what was to come.
Erin Patterson has had a terrible week, news crews and police swarming the area; on Tuesday Leongatha had the rare visit of the police air wing, items from her kitchen had previously been searched and some potential exhibits were seized.
On Monday, she was confused, wrongly telling media that Don Patterson was still alive, when he was already dead.
For more than two minutes, Erin Patterson spoke of her love for her in-laws and the trauma she was experiencing.
Wiping her left eye before removing her glasses, she said that it was a tragedy but did not answer questions about the lunch.
“It’s a tragedy what’s happened,’’ she said.
“Don’s (sic) still in hospital. Ian and Heather and Gail are some of the best people that I have ever met.
“Gail was like the mum I didn’t have because my mum passed away four years ago.
“What I can tell you is that I just can’t fathom what has happened.’’
Nor can anyone else.
Police included.
