Australian law enforcement officials charged a woman with murder after she allegedly used mushroom poisoning to target her victims.
The suspect, identified as 49-year-old Erin Patterson, is now facing three counts of murder and two counts of attempted murder. The charges against the defendant were laid a few hours after detectives arrested her and searched her home in Leongatha.
Mushroom Poisoning Murders
An Australian woman is charged with murder over the deaths of three people after alleged mushroom poisoning.
While Patterson has denied any wrongdoing, police charged her with another three counts of attempted murder over three previous incidents that occurred from 2021 to 2022. These came to light after a 38-year-old man "became ill after meals."
The charges against the suspect are the latest development in a saga that has gripped the nation. Patterson is believed to have served a beef Wellington meal on July 29 to her estranged parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson. She also served the food to local Baptist pastor Ian Wilkinson and his wife Heather.
Come that night, the two couples were all taken to the hospital with symptoms of food poisoning as their health deteriorated rapidly. In just a week, three of the victims were dead and the only survivor is 69-year-old Wilkinson. He spent nearly two months in the hospital while being gravely ill and was released on Sept. 23, as per Yahoo News.
The surviving victim appeared for the first time in public in early October during a memorial for his wife and he was described as "frail-looking" and "using a walking frame." Law enforcement personnel said that the victims' symptoms were consistent with those caused by eating highly toxic death cap mushrooms. However, they did not reference the ingredient in their latest statement.
The Victorian police homicide squad's Detective Inspector Dean Thomas said that the charges against Patterson were the next step in what has been an "incredibly complex, methodical, and thorough investigation by Homicide Squad detectives."
He added that it was particularly important to keep in mind that at the heart of the incident, three people had already died. Thomas noted that a tragedy such as this can reverberate for years to come in smaller communities.
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Suspect Denied Any Wrongdoing
Thomas noted that in the last three months, the investigation into the incident has been subjected to incredibly intense levels of public scrutiny and curiosity. He said that he has never encountered an investigation that has generated the same level of media and public interest, according to CNN.
When Patterson denied any wrongdoing in the incident, she said that she had no idea that the mushrooms she used for the meals were dangerous. In a statement, the suspect said that she is devastated to think that the mushrooms may have contributed to the illness that her loved ones suffered.
The Victorian government said that roughly 90% of fungi-related deaths are attributable to the Death Cap mushroom. Officials added that symptoms of poisoning from this particular mushroom usually begin six to 24 hours after ingestion.
Patterson supposedly told investigators that she prepared her beef Wellington using a mix of mushrooms from a supermarket and dried mushrooms that she got from an Asian grocery. The deadly dish featured a beef tenderloin in puff pastry, said NPR.
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