Wealthy mother-of-two Erin Patterson once lived a life of privilege before her marriage ended and she reportedly served a fatal mushroom lunch.
The 49-year-old heiress, who owns a multimillion-dollar property portfolio, was arrested on Thursday morning at her rural property on Gibson Street in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, 140 kilometers south-east of Melbourne.
Hours after the arrest, she was still in the two-storey smart home where she hosted a reportedly fatal Beef Wellington pie lunch on July 29, while police searched her car and garage with technological sniffer dogs.
The trained accountant owns the house she built following an inheritance of cash and a beautiful oceanfront estate when her mother died four years ago.
Police and sniffer dogs swarmed Erin Patterson’s home in Leongatha on Thursday (above)
Investigators swarmed the Leongatha home (above) where Erin Patterson served the allegedly fatal Beef Wellington lunch
Wealthy heiress and mother of two Erin Patterson was arrested three months after cooking a lunch of Beef Wellington pie, which allegedly caused the deaths of three family members
Mrs. Patterson’s lunch reportedly contained one of the most poisonous plants in the world, Amanita phalloides.
The meal of the day, a beef tenderloin, was reportedly covered in a paste of Death Cap mushrooms, rolled in puff pastry and served — according to Ms. Patterson’s own statement released in August — to guests “who were allowed to take their own plates.” to elect’. .
Six days later, Erin’s ex-husband Simon’s father Don Patterson, 70, died and the next day Simon’s mother Gail Patterson, 70, died along with his aunt Heather Wilkinson, 66.
His uncle, the Reverend Ian Wilkinson, who survived but may have had a liver transplant, was discharged from hospital on September 22.
Victoria Police have since classified the three deaths as confirmed poisonous mushroom fatalities, but have not revealed how the alleged victims consumed the toxins.
Erin Patterson’s once peaceful life became chaotic when she found herself under siege by the media in the wake of the deaths of three lunch guests at her Leongatha home
Died, survived, died, died: Erin Patterson’s four lunch guests were her husband’s aunt, Heather Wilkinson (left), the Reverend Ian Wilkinson, and her parents-in-law Don Patterson and Gail Patterson
In the months since all four became ill, Erin Patterson — who says she “took the last plate and ate a portion” but escaped serious symptoms — has seen her previously orderly and comfortable life torn apart.
The former respected editor of a national newspaper and beneficiary of a reported significant fortune could no longer appear in public without being followed by media cameras, complaining that she had been branded “a wicked witch”.
Erin Patterson grew up in the Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley with her sister Ceinwen and parents Heather and Eitan.
Her father was a government official and her mother, Dr. Heather Scutter, became a lecturer at Monash University in 19th-century literature for adults and a renowned children’s book critic and author of articles and reviews on children’s literature.
Erin married Gippsland engineer and basketball coach Simon Patterson, and the couple had two children.
The Pattersons moved to Western Australia for a while and ran a bookstore in a southwestern town before returning to country Victoria.
Erin married Simon Patterson (above) and they had two children together, but their marriage fell apart, with heiress Erin an atheist and Simon reportedly ‘deeply religious’.
Erin Patterson inherited the beautiful oceanfront property in Eden that her parents bought after she left Victoria, her mother died in 2019 and left the house to her two daughters
Erin took over the running of the Burra Flyer, the local newsletter previously published by Don and Gail Patterson in their home town of Korumburra.
Simon Patterson, a talented amateur photographer who traveled to Africa and other overseas countries to ply his trade, was a regular contributor to the publication.
Erin became a stay-at-home mother as her children grew up, although it has since been claimed that she looked down on contributors to the newsletter from her local community.
An online forum that got to know Erin through her complaints about her then-husband and her passion for true crime claimed she had labeled locals as “illiterate assholes” during a rant.
In another post, Erin seemingly targeted Simon Patterson and attacked the engineer for not doing enough housework.
‘My husband has no idea that a cleaner is coming. I love it,” Erin allegedly posted while the couple was still together.
“Now I don’t resent the fact that he never helps me with anything because I don’t do the big jobs either… now I only have to resent him for doing the dishes at night.”
A poster on the forum, now deactivated, claimed that Erin had worked as an accountant and in the Ministry of Defense, stating ‘she is meticulous and very smart, her entire family are extremely smart people.’
Erin’s parents, the Scutters, moved from Victoria to NSW in 2009, into a beautiful oceanfront property in Eden, on the cliff top above Aslings Beach overlooking the expanse of the South Pacific.
Erin Patterson’s in-laws and lunch guests are buried in Kurumburra Cemetery (above) and their deaths have since been ruled due to mushroom poisoning
When Eitan Scutter died, his ashes were scattered on Aslings Beach, after which Heather Scutter developed cancer and eventually died in 2019.
Erin Patterson and her sister Ceinwen Scutter inherited the million-dollar Eden property and reportedly enough money for real estate investments, making Erin independently wealthy.
Unfortunately, it coincided with the demise of her marriage to Simon Patterson.
In 2022, Simon developed a serious illness that left him hospitalized for clostridium difficile, a bacterial infection that causes diarrhea and colitis.
Simon spent 21 days in intensive care after collapsing at his home in May 2022, and although Erin kept his friends updated on his condition on social media, their marriage appeared to be over.
In the wake of the catastrophic outcome of Erin’s lunch on July 29, it was suggested that the meal would also be a forum for mediation by the older guests to repair Erin and Simon’s marriage.
Simon Patterson was reportedly a lunch guest but pulled out at the last minute.
A police dog on the porch of Erin Patterson’s home in rural Victoria, which was searched after her arrest
One of Erin’s friends who contributed to the online forum discussion about her after lunch disputed Erin’s desire to get back together with her deeply religious husband.
Instead, it was claimed that Erin initiated the split.
“She’s an atheist as far as I know… she was very unhappy in her marriage and felt like a single parent (with) ‘my husband doesn’t care’ type comments,” the friend stated.
‘We haven’t heard much about Simon other than he was never home. I never helped her. She was very secretive about this… She left him. She didn’t want to go back with him. ‘
After the deaths of her parents-in-law and her husband’s aunt, and while Pastor Wilkinson remained in the hospital and police named Erin Patterson as a person of interest, she responded to the unwanted media gathering in her driveway.
“My mother died four years ago and Gail was never anything but good and kind to me,” she said, describing her late mother-in-law as “the mother I didn’t have.”
‘Ian and Heather were some of the best people I had ever met. They never did anything wrong to me.’
Hunted by the media, Erin Patterson posted signs outside her Leongatha home to warn of intruders and retreated from the public eye as best she could.