The mushroom cook behind the poisonous beef wellington that poisoned four of her family members was an experienced mushroom picker, a source close to the family says.
Erin Patterson, 48, was known for picking mushrooms in Victoria’s Gippsland region, Daily Mail Australia can reveal.
A friend of the Patterson family said Erin was “very good at foraging” and identifying different kinds of mushrooms.
“The Patterson family (including Erin and Simon) picked mushrooms every year when they were in season,” the friend said.
“It’s very common for people to pick mushrooms in that area.”
Erin’s former in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian fell ill after a family lunch at her home in Leongatha on July 29.
A friend of the Patterson family has revealed that Erin Patterson (pictured) was an accomplished mushroom picker
Erin Patterson hosted the deadly luncheon at her home in Leongatha (pictured), in Victoria’s Gippsland region, on July 29
Don, 70, Gail, 70, and Heather, 66, have since died, while Ian fights for life in a critical but stable condition at Austin Hospital in Melbourne, where he awaits a liver transplant.
Her estranged husband Simon Patterson was also invited to lunch, but backed out beforehand.
Homicide detectives are investigating the “unexplained” deaths, believed to have been caused by deadly mushrooms, which are among the most poisonous in the world.
Erin has denied any wrongdoing and has written a statement to police claiming the mushrooms were a mixture of supermarket mushrooms and dried mushrooms she bought months ago from an Asian supermarket in Melbourne.
She said the dried mushrooms came in a package with a handwritten label, but she couldn’t identify the specific Asian grocer she visited.
She said she passed what was left of the meal to authorities for testing.
In the statement, Erin also admitted to lying to police about a vegetable dehydrator she dumped at the local tip, which has been seized for forensic examination.
Erin said that while she told officers she dropped it off there “a long time ago,” she actually threw it away in the days following lunch.
Friends of the family say the Pattersons were regular mushroom pickers. In the photo: the house where the fatal lunch was held
Mushrooms pictured on Erin’s Leongatha property in a 2019 real estate ad
Erin’s estranged husband Simon Patterson was also supposed to attend the luncheon, but backed out
She said she was discussing the dehydrator with her two children at the hospital when her ex-husband Simon asked, “Is that what you used to poison them?”
Erin said the allegation panicked her and she threw the device away, fearing she would lose custody of the couple’s children.
The friend confirmed to Daily Mail Australia that the Patterson and Wilkinson families, like Simon, harbor doubts about her version of events.
“The family went out foraging regularly and knew what to pick.”
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting that Erin deliberately poisoned her four relatives, only that she is known to be foraging.
A local man who runs one of the region’s many foraging courses said he started the program to focus on the dangers of picking the wrong species.
Although he had never seen Erin in his classes, he said he told students there are general rules for identifying poisonous varieties and the most important one is not to pick mushrooms that grow under oaks.
“Death hoods mainly grow under oaks, which are usually in parks,” he said.
“They (mushrooms growing under oak trees) are not all bad, but they are easy to mistake to the untrained eye.”
Gail and Don Patterson died after eating the mushrooms
Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson (both pictured) became seriously ill after eating wild mushrooms. Ms Wilkinson died on Friday while her husband is in critical condition in hospital
Police continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding the luncheon, which was organized to negotiate a reconciliation between Simon and Erin.
Detective Dean Thomas told reporters last week that Erin was a “person of interest” because she cooked the meals, but stressed that police were still working to determine whether the tragedy was accidental or suspicious.
Inspector Thomas said Erin’s two children attended lunch but ate separate meals, with the children and their mother all later taken to hospital as a precaution, despite showing no symptoms.
Erin initially told police she bought the mushrooms at a supermarket before giving a “no comment” interview.
Late last week, she gave an affidavit to police to tell her side of the story, saying she was advised by a lawyer who no longer represents her not to speak to detectives.
Despite initial police reports that the children were present at lunch, Erin said they went to the cinema instead.
However, she said the kids ate leftovers from lunch the next night, but they don’t like mushrooms, so she scraped them off the meal.
Like the four victims, she said they were also taken to hospital with severe abdominal pain and diarrhea on July 30, before being taken by ambulance to a hospital in Melbourne.
Erin said she’devastated at the thought that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness of my loved ones” and reiterated that she had “absolutely no reason to hurt these people I loved.”
She also paid tribute to her former in-laws and insists that she maintained a positive and amicable relationship with them even after her marriage to their son fell apart.
‘I had a close relationship with Simon’s parents for a long time. Our relationship had continued quite amicably after I ended the relationship with their son Simon,” she said.
“Our relationship was affected to some extent by seeing them less after the breakdown of our marriage to Simon, but I’ve never felt any different towards his parents.
“I had a deep love and respect for Simon’s parents and had encouraged my children to spend time with their grandparents, believing them to be exceptional role models.”