Mushroom murder trial: Erin Patterson’s one-word response to wild mushroom question
Erin Patterson told investigators she had never foraged for mushrooms and did not own a dehydrator in a police interview taped on the day officers found the manual for a Sunbeam machine in her kitchen drawer.
Triple-murder accused Erin Patterson told investigators she had never foraged for mushrooms and did not own a dehydrator in a police interview taped on the same day that officers found the manual for a Sunbeam machine in the bottom kitchen drawer.
In a police interview – aired in court for the first time – that occurred after the alleged murder of her lunch guests, Ms Patterson described her alleged victims as “good, decent people”, and told officers she had been “very, very helpful” with initial inquiries.
Ms Patterson explained to the lead investigator in the case why she discharged herself from hospital against medical advice while her guests were becoming critically unwell, saying she needed to pack her daughter’s ballet bag and feed her animals.
The Victorian Supreme Court on Tuesday also heard that Ms Patterson “expressed surprise” when police informed her they were searching her house in connection with two deaths, and asked investigators: “Who died?”
Ms Patterson is currently on trial for allegedly using death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington to murder three of her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s relatives – Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson – at a lunch at her home on July 29, 2023.
She had also been charged with the attempted murder of Mr Patterson’s uncle, Ian Wilkinson, who ate the meal but survived after a lengthy stay in hospital. Ms Patterson has pleaded not guilty.
On Tuesday, the court was played the record of interview conducted with Ms Patterson on August 5, 2023, about 4.50pm. At the time, Gail Patterson and Ms Wilkinson had died, but Don Patterson was in the intensive care unit of the Austin Hospital.
Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall reminded Ms Patterson of her rights, and told her: “We want to discuss the deaths of Heather Wilkinson and Gail Patterson today with you”.
“We want to understand what has made them so unwell,” he said. “We are trying to understand why you’re not that ill.”
Ms Patterson told the constable she had “never been in a situation like this before”.
“I’m sure you understand too that I’ve never been in a situation like this before and I’ve been very, very helpful with the health department throughout the week because I wanted to help that side of things as much as possible because I do want to know what happened,” she said.
Ms Patterson told the officers she had provided “all the information on where the food came from” to the health department.
When Senior Constable Eppingstall asked Ms Patterson if she had foraged for mushrooms, she replied: “Never”.
Asked if she had owned a dehydrator, she responded: “No”.
Ms Patterson told the officers she had “manuals of lots of stuff” she had collected over the years.
Earlier on Tuesday, the jury was shown images taken when a search warrant was executed at Ms Patterson’s home on the same day the police interview was conducted. In the images, a Sunbeam dehydrator manual could be seen in a kitchen drawer.
The court had previously been shown CCTV vision of Ms Patterson at the Koonwarra tip on August 2, 2023.
In the footage, she is seen dumping a large black device which is allegedly the dehydrator.
Ms Patterson, in the police interview, explained why she discharged herself from Leongatha hospital against medical advice after presenting there complaining of diarrhoea two days after the lunch.
She told police: “You can’t just be told to drop everything and you’re off to Melbourne overnight. I had to go home and feed the animals and pack my daughter’s ballet bag so I did that and I went back,” she said.
Ms Patterson told Senior Constable Eppingstall that she loved Don and Gail Patterson, and they were “good, decent people” who had never done anything wrong.
“They always said to me they’d support me with love and emotional support even though Simon and I were separated, and I really appreciated that because both my parents are gone,” she said.
“They’re the only family that I’ve got and the only grandparents that my children have and I want them to stay in my kids’ life and that’s really important to me.”
She said she believed her husband “hated” that she had a relationship with his family.
Earlier on Tuesday, Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell, who led the team that executed a search warrant in Ms Patterson’s home on August 5, 2023, said she “expressed surprise” when learning Ms Wilkinson had died.
Sergeant Farrell could not recall whether Mr Patterson was informed any other guests had died, but Senior Constable Eppingstall later clarified she was told of both Ms Wilkinson and Gail Patterson’s deaths.
The court heard Ms Patterson had asked “who died?” when she was told officers were at her house in connection to two deaths. When searching the house, Sergeant Farrell said he found a copy of Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats cookbook. A recipe for beef Wellington was “spattered” with cooking liquids, he said.
Further photographs showed devices taken from the home, including a Cooler Master computer, a Samsung mobile device and a tablet.
The jury was also shown images of plates located at Ms Patterson’s home. The pictures showed two grey plates sitting above a dishwasher, and one white plate. In the dishwasher, three plates with dark red surfaces could be seen, along with two other plates whose colours could not be identified due to the angle of the photo. Two other white-ish coloured plates were also in the dishwasher.
In a drawer, there was a pile of four dark coloured plates. The bottom two plates had a red tinge, Sergeant Farrell said under cross-examination.
There was also one multi-coloured plate in the drawer.
The court had previously heard evidence from the sole survivor of the lunch, Ian Wilkinson, that the lunch guests ate off large, grey plates at the lunch, while Ms Patterson ate off a small tan-coloured plate.
Asked by prosecutor Jane Warren whether any of the plates in the home matched Mr Wilkinson’s description, Sergeant Constable Eppingstall replied: “No, ma’am.”
The trial continues on Wednesday.
More Coverage
Sydney Uni boss Mark Scott pockets $150,000 pay rise
The annual reports of 10 universities have been tabled in the NSW parliament, revealing the salary of the University of Sydney vice-chancellor is now beyond $1.33 million a year.
Jack Ball wins $100k Ramsay Art Prize
The expansive installation incorporating photography, paint and beeswax was praised by the Prize’s judges for its ‘restless, kinetic quality that refuses definition’.