logo
‘Mushroom murder' accused Erin Patterson found guilty of killing three in Australia

‘Mushroom murder' accused Erin Patterson found guilty of killing three in Australia

News2407-07-2025
Australian Erin Patterson was found guilty of murder in the so-called 'mushroom murders' case.
She poisoned four dinner guests with Death cap mushrooms.
She served her guests a meal of beef Wellington lunch.
An Australian woman murdered her husband's parents and aunt by lacing their beef Wellington lunch with toxic mushrooms, a jury found on Monday at the climax of a trial watched around the world.
Keen home cook Erin Patterson hosted an intimate meal in July 2023 that started with good-natured banter and earnest prayer - but ended with three guests dead.
Throughout a trial lasting more than two months, Patterson maintained the beef-and-pastry dish was accidentally poisoned with death cap mushrooms, the world's most-lethal fungus.
But a 12-person jury on Monday found the 50-year-old guilty of triple murder. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder a fourth guest who survived.
The trial has drawn podcasters, film crews and true crime fans to the rural town of Morwell, a sedate hamlet in the state of Victoria better known for prize-winning roses.
READ | Mushroom murder accused claims she was ostracised and had 'never-ending battle of low self-esteem'
Newspapers from New York to New Delhi have followed every twist of what many now simply call the 'mushroom murders'.
On 29 July 2023, Patterson set the table for an intimate family meal at her tree-shaded country property.
Martin Keep/AFP
Her lunch guests that afternoon were Don and Gail Patterson, the elderly parents of her long-estranged husband Simon. Places were also set for Simon's maternal aunt Heather and her husband Ian, a well-known pastor at the local Baptist church.
Husband Simon was urged to come but he declined because he felt 'uncomfortable'.
In the background, Patterson's relationship with Simon was starting to turn sour. The pair - still legally married - had been fighting over Simon's child support contributions.
Patterson forked out for expensive cuts of beef, which she slathered in a duxelles of minced mushrooms and wrapped in pastry to make individual parcels of beef Wellington.
Guests said grace before tucking in - and prayed once more after eating - with Heather later gushing about the 'delicious and beautiful' meal.
Death cap mushrooms are easily mistaken for other edible varieties, and reportedly possess a sweet taste that belies their potent toxicity.
The guests' blood was soon coursing with deadly amatoxin, a poison produced by the death cap mushrooms known to sprout under the oak trees of Victoria.
Don, Gail and Heather died of organ failure within a week.
'It was very apparent that this was not survivable,' intensive care specialist Stephen Warrillow told the trial.
Detectives soon found signs that Patterson - herself a true crime buff - had dished up the meal with murderous intent.
Patterson told guests she had received a cancer diagnosis and needed advice on breaking the news to her children, prosecutors alleged.
But medical records showed Patterson received no such diagnosis.
The prosecution said this was a lie cooked up to lure the diners to her table. She also lied about owning a food dehydrator which police later found dumped in a rubbish tip.
Forensic tests found the appliance contained traces of the fatal fungi.
I agree that I lied because I was afraid I would be held responsible.
Erin Patterson
A computer seized from her house had browsed a website pinpointing death cap mushrooms spotted a short drive from her house a year before the lunch, police said.
Death caps are the most lethal mushrooms on the planet, responsible for some 90% of all fatalities due to consuming toxic fungi.
Baptist preacher Ian Wilkinson was the only guest to survive, pulling through after weeks in hospital.
He told the court how guests' meals were served on four grey plates, while Patterson ate from a smaller orange dish. But he could not explain why Patterson wanted him dead.
Paul Tyquin/Supreme Court of Victoria/AFP
Patterson was a devoted mother-of-two with an active interest in her tight-knit community, volunteering to edit the village newsletter and film church services.
She was also a well-known true crime buff, joining a Facebook group to chew over details from infamous Australian murders.
Friend Christine Hunt told the jury Patterson had a reputation as 'a bit of a super sleuth'.
Patterson said the meal was accidentally contaminated with death cap mushrooms, but maintained through her lawyers it was nothing more than a 'terrible accident'.
'She didn't do it deliberately. She didn't do it intentionally,' defence lawyer Colin Mandy told the trial.
'She denies that she ever deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms.'
The trial heard from doctors, detectives, computer experts and mushroom specialists as it picked apart the beef Wellington lunch in forensic detail.
Confronted with countless hours of intricate expert testimony, it took the jury a week to judge Patterson guilty. She will be sentenced at a later date.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Scheduled Florida execution would be 26th in U.S. this year, surpassing total for all of 2024
Scheduled Florida execution would be 26th in U.S. this year, surpassing total for all of 2024

CBS News

time2 hours ago

  • CBS News

Scheduled Florida execution would be 26th in U.S. this year, surpassing total for all of 2024

Starke, Fla. — A man who fatally shot a man and woman outside a Florida bar as part of an attempted revenge killing is scheduled to be executed on Tuesday. It would be the 26th execution in the U.S. this year. There were 25 nationwide in all of 2024. Michael Bernard Bell, 54, is scheduled to receive a lethal injection at Florida State Prison near Starke, barring a last-day reprieve. He was convicted in 1995 and sentenced to death for the murders of Jimmy West and Tamecka Smith. Bell would be the eighth person put to death in Florida this year, with a ninth scheduled for later this month. The state executed six people in 2023, but carried out only one execution last year. Florida has executed more people than any other state this year, while Texas and South Carolina are tied for second place with four each. Alabama has executed three people, Oklahoma two, and Arizona, Indiana, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee have carried out one each. In December 1993, Bell spotted what he thought was the car of the man who fatally shot his brother earlier that year, according to court records. Bell was apparently unaware that the man had sold the car to West. Bell called on two friends and armed himself with an AK-47 rifle, authorities said. They found the car parked outside a liquor lounge and waited. When West, Smith and another woman eventually exited the club, Bell approached the car and opened fire, officials said. West died at the scene and Smith died on the way to the hospital. The other woman escaped injury. Witnesses said Bell also fired at a crowd of onlookers before fleeing the area. He was arrested the following year. Bell was later convicted of three additional murders. He fatally shot a woman and her toddler son in 1989 and he killed his mother's boyfriend about four months before the attack on West and Smith, officials said. Attorneys for Bell filed appeals with the Florida Supreme Court and U.S. Supreme Court. The lawyers argued in their state filing that Bell's execution should be halted because of newly discovered evidence about witness testimony. But justices unanimously rejected the argument last week and pointed to overwhelming evidence of Bell's guilt, in a 54-page opinion. Bell's attorneys filed a similar petition with the U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday, but the panel hasn't issued a ruling yet.

Opening statements set for today in trial of Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife
Opening statements set for today in trial of Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife

CNN

time3 hours ago

  • CNN

Opening statements set for today in trial of Colorado dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife

Opening statements are set for Tuesday in the trial of an Aurora, Colorado, dentist accused of fatally poisoning his wife's protein shakes, plus plotting to kill four others, including the lead detective investigating her death. Fifteen jurors – 12 primary and three alternates – were seated following about six hours of questioning Monday. James Craig, 47, has pleaded not guilty to charges including first-degree murder, solicitation to commit first-degree murder, solicitation to commit tampering with physical evidence and solicitation to commit perjury. Craig's wife, Angela, died on March 18, 2023, after being admitted to local hospitals three times in 10 days. She was 43 years old; they had six children. Investigators say Craig began to carry out a plan to end his wife's life one week before her first hospitalization. Craig created a new email account on February 27, 2023, from a computer in an exam room at his dental office, a probable cause affidavit states. He used the account that same day to order arsenic on Amazon after conducting searches including 'how many grams of pure arsenic will kill a human,' and 'Top 5 Undetectable Poisons That Show No Signs of Foul Play,' the document says. A delivery confirmation shows the arsenic arrived at the Craig home on March 4. Two days later, Angela was admitted to a hospital complaining of dizziness, an inability to focus her eyes and sluggish physical responses, according to the affidavit. She was discharged the same day. Text messages between the couple, included in the document, show Angela told her husband the only thing she had consumed that morning was her protein shake. She denied feeling nauseated when he asked, and texted him, 'I feel drugged.' 'Given our history I know that must be triggering,' Craig wrote back. 'Just for the record, I didn't drug you.' The message is an apparent reference to an incident years prior when Craig allegedly drugged his wife to prevent her from stopping his attempt to commit suicide, one of Angela Craig's sisters told investigators, according to a probable cause affidavit. Angela was hospitalized again from March 9 until March 14 and appeared to have consumed another protein shake before that hospitalization, text messages from the affidavit indicate. In a text conversation on March 10, James Craig told a family friend, 'Yesterday, the only thing she had was a protein shake in the morning which she threw up,' along with soup for dinner which she also vomited, screenshots from the court document show. On March 13, while Angela was admitted for her second hospital stay, investigators allege an online order of potassium cyanide was delivered to Craig's dental practice. Craig told the company from which he placed an order that he needed it for a complex surgical procedure, but he told an office manager he would be receiving a personal package and not to open it, the affidavit says. The office manager told investigators the package was inadvertently opened by another employee and she saw a packing slip labeled 'potassium cyanide' before resealing the box, according to the document. Investigators also uncovered 'sexually explicit' email exchanges between Craig and a woman named Karin Cain who traveled from Texas to Colorado to visit Craig while his wife was hospitalized, the affidavit says. Cain met Craig at a dental convention that February and he told her he was amid a divorce, she told ABC News in 2023. 'If I had known what was true, I would not have been with this person,' Cain said. Angela was admitted to the hospital for the final time on March 15. About three hours after arriving, she had a seizure and unexplained rapid medical decline, which led to her being placed on life support in the hospital's intensive care unit, the affidavit says. She was pronounced dead three days later. The Arapahoe County coroner ruled Angela's cause of death was acute cyanide and tetrahydrozoline poisoning, with subacute arsenic poisoning listed as a significant condition. While Craig was in jail awaiting trial in his wife's death, prosecutors say he plotted to kill four people, including the lead detective investigating her death. Craig tried to convince a fellow inmate to kill the detective, another unidentified law enforcement officer and two other inmates, prosecutors said during a February preliminary hearing introducing two additional criminal charges. Craig also allegedly wrote letters to the inmate's ex-wife, trying to convince her to 'fabricate evidence,' prosecutors told the court. Law enforcement intercepted two letters to the woman offering her money to manufacture texts, phone records and photographs to back up a story about her being friends with Angela Craig – a story prosecutors say he wanted to sell to both the district attorney's office and Craig's own defense attorney at the time. That attorney, Harvey Steinberg, had abruptly withdrawn from the case last November, the day jury selection was set to begin. At the time of his withdrawal, Steinberg cited two rules of professional conduct, according to prosecutors. The first states, 'The client persists in a course of action involving the lawyer's services that the lawyer reasonably believes is criminal or fraudulent,' and the second says, 'The client insists upon taking action that the lawyer considers repugnant or with which the lawyer has a fundamental disagreement.' Steinberg has not responded to requests for comment. In one of the letters to the inmate's ex-wife, Craig indicated he believed his case hinged on 'being able to find someone to say Angela was suicidal,' an investigator testified, hinting at a possible defense. Craig had told several people Angela was suffering suicidal ideations leading up to her death, according to the affidavit. Craig's dental partner, Ryan Redfearn, told investigators when he brought up the potassium cyanide purchase, Craig initially denied it, then recanted, 'but claimed Angela asked him to order it,' the affidavit says. Craig told Redfearn he 'didn't think (Angela) would actually take it,' according to the affidavit, at which point Redfearn told him to 'stop talking and get a lawyer.' A case worker with child protective services described a similar conversation to investigators, the document says. Craig told her Angela had been suicidal 'for some time,' and he believed she had been 'intentionally overdosing on opioids and another unknown substance,' according to the document. The social worker told investigators the statements were concerning because Craig never reported the incidents nor tried to get medical help, and none of the couple's six children mentioned their mother suffered from depression. Craig's attorneys have not responded to requests for comment.

Colorado prosecutors to lay out evidence in firebomb attack on demonstration for Israeli hostages
Colorado prosecutors to lay out evidence in firebomb attack on demonstration for Israeli hostages

CNN

time3 hours ago

  • CNN

Colorado prosecutors to lay out evidence in firebomb attack on demonstration for Israeli hostages

Colorado prosecutors are set to lay out their evidence Tuesday against a man charged with murder, attempted murder and other crimes in a firebomb attack on demonstrators showing their support for Israeli hostages in Gaza. Investigators say Mohamed Sabry Soliman told them he intended to kill the roughly 20 participants at the weekly demonstration on Boulder's Pearl Street pedestrian mall on June 1. But he threw just two of more than two dozen Molotov cocktails he had with him while yelling, 'Free Palestine!' Police said he told them he got scared because he had never hurt anyone before. Federal authorities say Soliman, an Egyptian national, had been living in the U.S. illegally with his family. The purpose of Tuesday's preliminary hearing in state court in Boulder is for District Judge Nancy Woodruff Salomone to determine if there's enough evidence for Soliman to go on trial there. Soliman already faced dozens of charges in state court as well as hate crime charges in federal court when state prosecutors added murder charges following the death of an 82-year-old woman who was injured in the attack died as the result of her injuries. Karen Diamond helped at her synagogue and volunteered for several local groups, including the University of Colorado University Women's Club and a local music festival. Last week, Assistant U.S. Attorney Laura Cramer-Babycz told U.S. District Judge John L. Kane that federal prosecutors have not decided yet whether to file additional charges against Soliman related to Diamond's death. Federal prosecutors allege the victims were targeted because of their perceived or actual connection to Israel. But Soliman's federal defense lawyers say he should not have been charged with hate crimes because the evidence shows he was motivated by opposition to Zionism, the political movement to establish and sustain a Jewish state in Israel. An attack motivated by someone's political views is not considered a hate crime under federal law. Soliman has pleaded not guilty to the hate crime charges. He has not been asked to enter a plea to the state charges yet. State prosecutors have identified 29 people who are considered victims of the attack, including 13 who were physically injured. The others were nearby and are considered victims because they could have been hurt. A dog was also injured in the attack, so Soliman has also been charged with animal cruelty. Tuesday's hearing was set to move ahead over the objections of Soliman's state public defenders, who asked to delay it after Diamond died and Soliman was charged with murder. In a court filing last week, they said they were not aware of an autopsy report being done for Diamond yet and asked to delay the hearing until October so they would be be able to review 'significant medical records' in advance.

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store