Australian woman Erin Patterson convicted of mushroom murders of husband's relatives
After a week of deliberation, the jury found Erin Patterson lured her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, to lunch at her home and poisoned them with individual servings of Beef Wellington that contained death cap mushrooms.
They also found the 50-year-old guilty of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, Heather's husband, who survivedthe 2023 meal at Erin Patterson's home in Leongatha, a town of about 6,000 people some 135 km (84 miles) southeast of Melbourne.
Patterson had pleaded not guilty to thefour charges, saying the deaths were accidental.
The mother of two will be sentenced at a later date and faces a maximum life sentence. She can appeal against the verdict.
More: 3 relatives dead after suspected mushroom poisoning at family lunch in Australia
Colin Mandy, Patterson's defence lawyer and one of Melbourne's top criminal barristers, made no comment as he left the court through a scrum of journalists.
Jessica O'Donnell, a spokesperson for Patterson's estranged husband, Simon Patterson and his siblings, also declined to comment.
Dean Thomas, a detective with Victoria Police, thanked investigators for their work on the case.
"I think it's very important that we remember that three people have died, and we've had a person that nearly died and was seriously injured," he said in a brief statement outside the court.
The families of the victims had requested privacy and would not be making a statement, he added.
The 10-week trial in Morwell, a former coal mining town around two hours east of Melbourne, attracted global interest with local and international media descending on Court 4 at the Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court where Patterson had requested the case be heard.
Public broadcaster ABC's daily podcast on proceedings was consistently among the most popular in Australia during the trial, while several documentaries on the case are already in production.
MAJOR DECEPTION
The prosecution, led by barrister Nanette Rogers, told the court that Patterson had employed four major deceptions in order to murder her guests.
She first fabricated a cancer diagnosis to lure the guests to the lunch, then poisoned their meals while serving herself an untainted portion, Rogers told the court.
Patterson then lied that she was also sick from the food to avoid suspicion, before finally embarking on a cover-up when police began investigating the deaths, attempting to destroy evidence and lying to investigating officers, the prosecution said.
Patterson, who said during the trial she had inherited large sums of money from her mother and grandmother, retained a four-person legal team, led by Mandy.
She was the only witness in her defence, spending eight days on the stand, including five days of cross-examination.
Patterson told the court about a life-long struggle with her weight, an eating disorder and low self-esteem, frequently becoming emotional as she spoke about the impact of the lunch on the Patterson family and her two children.
She had lied about having cancer to her guests because she was embarrassed to admit she was actually having weight loss surgery, Patterson told the court. Shewanted her relatives' advice on how to tell her children about the surgery, she said.
Patterson told the court she had also not become as ill as her guests because she secretly binged on a cake that her mother-in-law had brought to the lunch and then made herself sick.
The jury of seven men and five women retired on June 30 to consider the evidence.
Justice Christopher Beale gave the jurors in the trial special dispensation to avoid jury duty for the next 15 years, due to the length and complexity of the case.
(Reporting by Alasdair Pal in Sydney; Editing by Saad Sayeed, Kate Mayberry and Michael Perry)
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Ten civilians killed in Ukraine, while Zelensky says troops fend off major Russian advance on frontline regions
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Buzz Feed
2 days ago
- Buzz Feed
Obscure True Crime Stories
Do you love all things scary, dark, and creepy? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox! A little while back we asked the BuzzFeed Community to tell us about a more obscure true crime story they felt more people should be talking about. Here are their bone-chilling responses: The shocking case of Katherine Knight, who was convicted for the gruesome murder of her boyfriend, John Charles Thomas Price in February 2000 in New South Wales, Australia. She became the first one in Australian history to be given a life sentence without parole. "She stabbed her partner at least 37 times and then tried to feed him to her kids. If you're wondering skinned him, took off his head, chopped him into pieces, cooked him, and served it to their kids with potatoes..."—Anonymous The disappearance of Ann Mineko Racz in Newhall, California in 1991. Although Ann's body has never been found, she is believed to have been murdered by her estranged husband, a former LA County Sheriff's sergeant, John Racz. "She was a mother who was in the process of divorcing her (former) sheriff's sergeant husband to be with her high school sweetheart. Her body has never been found, but even her oldest child is convinced the dad/husband is guilty."—laurenenriquezIn August 2007, John Racz was convicted of murdering Ann from circumstantial evidence. Although Racz denied his guilt in the courtroom, the conviction was upheld by an appeals court in 2010. The cryptic case of Franchesca Alvarado, who disappeared while on a trip to Atlantic City with an unidentified older man in 2012. "Franchesca Alvarado, was a 22-year-old single mom from Philadelphia who went to Atlantic City with a male friend in 2012 and never returned. The male acquaintance and her roommate were suspected but nothing ever came about. Her family never got answers from the police, no search party, nothing. They had to Google search constantly "body found" or "human remains" to get answers. Several months after she disappeared they got a hit, a fisherman found her shoe with her foot fully intact inside. They continued searching eventually finding her tibia and femur after which they would personally request with each medical examiner to see if it was their sister's. That was the last they found of her and had to bury what they could. Still to this day, no arrests have been made. She was a beautiful bright girl, I'll never forget her smile, she went to school with some friends of mine who had nothing but good things to say about her. So sad her daughter and family never got answers."—lisect The highly disturbing case of seven-year-old Ondrej and nine-year-old Jakub Mauerova who were severely abused by their mother Klara (pictured below), which included feeding their flesh to relatives, in the Czech Republic in 2008. 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"How have there been no updates on a Jack-the-Ripper-style murder that happened in Atlanta's most popular park?!"—curiouspamelaAfter going out for a walk with Bowie and not returning home, Janness' partner Emma Clark allegedly tracked them with her iPhone and found them dead near the park entrance. Clark then called police who arrived around 1 a.m. Unfortunately, the park's security cameras were inactive reportedly because of outdated technology. So, there's no footage of what exactly to an autopsy report, Janness died from "sharp force injuries of her face, neck, and torso" after sustaining more than 50 stab wounds. It was also reported that the letters "F", "A", and "T" had been carved into her torso.A necropsy was also done on Bowie to see if any DNA could be extracted, however, the results of that have not been publically there have been many tips, the case remains unsolved. The ongoing case of Dahlia Bolin, a 16-year-old teen in rural Illinois who is facing charges of first-degree murder, attempted first-degree murder, solicitation of murder for hire, solicitation of murder, and conspiracy to commit murder in the deadly shooting of her mother, Rebecca Bolin on Oct. 22, 2021. "No one has heard about this yet because it's still going to trial, but in a small town near where I live, a girl hired hitmen to kill her parents. They wouldn't let her date, but she had an OnlyFans account. This girl was 15 at the time. She paid the 'hitmen' $150. They did kill her mother, but her father survived. When this goes to trial, it'll be a Dateline story for sure!"—Anonymous The appalling death of five-year-old Logan Marr in Maine in 2001. Logan, and her younger sister Bailey, had been in the care of a woman named Sally Schofield (pictured below) at the time. Schofield was eventually convicted of manslaughter in Logan's death. "She was removed from a good home then murdered by her foster mom. She was acting out, upset she had been removed from her mother again for bogus reasons. Maine placed her with a DHS (Department of Human Services) employee, Sally Schofield. Schofield wrapped her in duct tape and taped her to a high chair then left her alone in the basement. After a bit, Schofield checked on her and Logan was dead. Schofield is currently out and free."—AnonymousAccording to News Center Maine, "It was later discovered that the girls should never have been at Schofield's home in the first place because she was a supervisor in the Maine Department of Health and Human Services, and the placement violated state rules." The strange disappearance of 16-year-old Ruth Wilson in Box Hill, Surrey, England in 1995. "It is still unsolved, her parents afterward acted in such a weird way. It's also knowing who to believe, the taxi driver, her friends, her parents..."—staceyleighkLeading up to her disappearance, there's conflicting information that Ruth was unhappy at home. Ruth had discovered that her mother had died by suicide after her father had told her she fell down the stairs, and she allegedly did not have a good relationship with her stepmother. On the day she disappeared, she had skipped school, went to a flower shop to buy flowers for her stepmother (requesting they be delivered the following week), and was last seen by a taxi driver who dropped her off near a pub that night. According to the taxi driver, Ruth appeared to be waiting for someone to pick her up, as she "stood still" in the rain. It is unknown what happened to her after that.A documentary on her disappearance, Vanished: the Surrey Schoolgirl, was released in 2018. The controversial and highly suspicious death of Private First Class LaVena Lynn Johnson who was found dead in her tent in Iraq in July 2005. Although her death was ruled a suicide by the Department of Defense, her family argues there was evidence suggesting she'd been raped and murdered. "They murdered that young woman and the details are pretty awful."—stabbycrackerAccording to NPR, "Investigators concluded that Private Johnson shot herself in the mouth with her M-16 rifle in a contractor's tent on the military base in Balad, Iraq, where she was stationed. The report included witness testimony suggesting that she may have been depressed over a recent breakup."However, Johnson's father, John, did not believe any of it, and believes his daughter was raped, murdered, and the murder covered formed his own investigation and they studied the investigation documents, photos, and witness statements. He even had her body exhumed for an independent NPR story continued, "Johnson disputes practically everything about the Army's conclusion. He says her commanding officer described her as happy and healthy. He contends that her arms were too short; that she couldn't have shot herself with her rifle, and that the wound in her head was too small to have been made by an M-16. He says the pictures tell him that LaVena had been beaten. There was no suicide note; the bullet that killed her was not found." The Port Arthur massacre, a mass shooting that happened in Tasmania, Australia on April 28, 1996. The killer, Martin Bryant, killed 35 people, including children, and wounded 23 more. —qtrayvnAfter an 18-hour standoff with police, Bryant barricaded himself in a house with a hostage (who he eventually killed) and then lit the house on fire, which in turn set himself on fire. He came running out of the house on fire where authorities extinguished is currently serving 35 life sentences plus 1,652 years in prison. The gruesome triple homicide of an elderly couple, who were tortured before their death, and their deaf and nearly-blind son in the Boise foothills of Idaho in 2015. "There is very little information on it but I am so curious and want to know and understand everything. It was an older couple in a nice home who lived with their adult son who was deaf and killer broke in to 'steal,' but savagely killed the couple while their son couldn't hear anything and then went to his room and killed him too. To think that he didn't know what was going on while his parents were screaming.I just remember the press conference the chief of police just looked stunned and said it was the most gruesome and bloody crime scene he has seen in his 25-plus years on the police force."—grimchbettahavemymoneyThe perpetrator, Adam Dees, was caught not long after and sentenced to life in prison without parole. The case of Anna Maciejewska from Malvern, Pennsylvania who has been missing since 2017 and whose case is being investigated as a homicide. "Her husband and his family are clearly involved, but they are no longer cooperating with the police. She lived in my neighborhood and I would pass her missing poster each day. Her husband was even seen at the townhouse at night removing something in trash bags. Her parents live in Poland and have not received any answers about their daughter. She also has a son who is being raised by her husband (the main person of interest)."—sprescott93 The terrible Parker-Hulme murder case in Christchurch, New Zealand in June 1954, which actually inspired the Peter Jackson film Heavenly Creatures. "16-year-old Pauline Parker and 15-year-old Juliet Hulme (pictured above) had a very close and obsessive friendship. Juliet was being sent to South Africa for health reasons, and the girls were being separated. Both of them saw Pauline's mother as the obstacle in their path, so they went on a walk to Victoria Park. They dropped a stone, and as Pauline's mother bent over to pick it up, the girls bludgeoned her to death with a half brick in a stocking. They made a story up about an accident when they were questioned by the police, but it fell apart quickly. As they were too young for the death penalty, they were sentenced to 5 years in separate prisons and were released in 1959."—mollyredsull The mysterious and upsetting death of a young girl named Sara Keesling in Riverside, California in 1988 that didn't get enough attention. "Her body was found decomposing on a hillside two weeks after she was reported missing. To this day, no one has ever been suspected, charged, or arrested, nothing. It barely even made the local news at the time. Someone murdered this child and has gotten away with it."—keetawnandon The horrifying case of mass murderer John List who methodically killed his wife, three children, and mother at their home in Westfield, New Jersey in 1971 believing it was "the only way to ensure their safe arrival in heaven." "Probably a more popular one but I'm still fascinated by John List. Killed his entire family and mother and went on the run for 18 years to 'save them from damnation.' As a note, his father who had passed before the murders, and his mother whom he killed are buried in my in-laws' hometown. There is a blank spot on their headstone and local lore says he's buried right next to her in an unmarked grave."—thegassygoose The unthinkable and extremely violent killing and dismemberment of Aliahna Lemmon, a nine-year-old girl in Fort Wayne, Indiana by Michael Plumadore, a family friend who was babysitting her in 2011. "This is one that I feel has a much larger story that isn't even being looked in to. This happened in my town, down the street from where I lived, and this little girl was in my son's class at school. Michael Plumadore was charged with murder in the death of Aliahna Lemmon."—dianah44221ccb5According to CBS News, "Plumadore was allegedly looking after Aliahna and her six-year-old sisters on Dec. 22 at his mobile home while their mother was said they found the girl's head, hands, and feet in the freezer at the mobile home where Plumadore lived with Aliahna's grandfather, who died about three weeks earlier. The other remains were thrown into trash bags and discarded at a gas station. The other girls weren't harmed."Plumadore pleaded guilty in court and agreed to a life sentence without possibility of parole. David Parker Ray, aka the Toy-Box Killer, who was active in the '90s in New Mexico. The moniker came from the fact that he would chain and torture women in his soundproofed "toy box," a semi-trailer. "The Toy-Box Killer was a suspected serial killer who would abduct, rape, and torture his victims. He would drug the women his accomplice would abduct and keep them in a trailer on his property (hence the name). When the victims regained consciousness, he would play them a tape, laying out exactly what was going to happen to them for however long the killer would keep them there. When he was done with them, he would either (presumably) kill them or 'wipe [their] memories' with another drug cocktail before setting them loose on a desert road, naked. He was caught after one of his victims managed to escape. He died in jail before his trial started so his victims never got justice."—flipswhitefudge The tragic case of Keith Warren, a Black teenager who was found hanging from a tree in Maryland in 1986, and whose case was believed to be mishandled and "erroneously ruled a suicide." "His mother is still seeking justice. The police are still ignoring her. The bizarre details of the case and the (in my opinion willful) inaction of the police make it a memorable one. The docuseries I watched about it, Uprooted, was heart-wrenching and I was so struck by his family's anguish."—mollyh40d9072ac The horrible case of Seth Privacky, who shot and killed his parents, grandfather, brother, and his brother's girlfriend in November 1998 in Muskegon, Michigan. "Several motives were offered by Seth and other individuals, but something enraged him on November 28th. After his dad (a 5th-grade teacher) left to pick up his grandfather for a delayed Thanksgiving meal, Seth shot his brother in the head as he watched TV. When his father and grandfather arrived home, Seth shot and killed both in the driveway. He then went upstairs and killed his mother as she got out of the shower. His brother's girlfriend then arrived unexpectedly and saw the bodies in the driveway. Seth then killed her as well. He got a friend to help try and cover up the crime and then fled. The cover-up failed, and Seth was caught, arrested, and sentenced to life in prison. He was killed in 2010 during a failed prison escape attempt."—jenniferr4786d9525 The deplorable case of Marcus Wesson, a mass murderer, abuser, and rapist — including the rape of his own underage daughters and nieces — who is responsible for one of Fresno, California's most horrific crimes. His crimes spanned several decades, from the 1970s until the mid-2000s. "Marcus Wesson ran a cult-like household in the middle of Fresno, California. When authorities got involved after multiple, repeated reports of child abuse, he killed most of his family, including nine of his children, seven of whom were under the age of nine and had been born out of incest."—AnonymousAccording to ABC 30 News, "Wesson believed he was Jesus and if anyone tried to separate the family, then they would all go to heaven. He even went so far as to purchasing caskets from a local antique store months before the mass murder took place."Wesson was convicted on June 17, 2005, on nine counts of murder, and 14 counts of rape and molestation. He was sentenced to death and remains on death row at San Quentin. The awful case of Jeff Pelo, a former Bloomington Police Sergeant who was convicted of repeatedly assaulting four women and stalking a fifth woman in Bloomington, Illinois from 2002–2006. "He used his training and influence as a respected police officer in his community to stalk and assault women and then watched as he made them clean off all evidence making it impossible for detectives to find him. Super creepy guy, makes me glad my dog is not in love with strangers."—silvership35Pelo was sentenced to more than 400 years behind bars for the series of brutal rapes. The case of Robert Garrow, a serial rapist and spree killer who was active in upstate New York in the 1970s. The case turned a bizarre twist when his lawyers refused to disclose the location of the bodies of two of his victims in what became known as the "Buried Bodies Case." The horrifying case of Anthony Sowell aka "The Cleveland Strangler" or "The Imperial Avenue Murderer," a serial killer who was active in Cleveland, Ohio in 2009. "A literal monster in every sense of the word. His victims included 11 women (11 were identified, but could be up to 14) and a local sausage shop that was blamed for the foul smell in the neighborhood. In reality, the odor was from the decomposing bodies scattered throughout Sowell's residence next door."—meghanr4bda0d31dSowell died of a terminal illness while in prison in 2011. The disappearance of Wetumpka, Alabama resident Traci Pittman Kegley in 1998. Her car was found abandoned with her unharmed two-year-old daughter, purse, and ID still inside. "She was due to start a new job the next day and it's noted that her divorce was finalized 16 days before her disappearance."—Anonymous The nightmarish case of Allan Legere, an arsonist, rapist, and serial killer who was active in New Brunswick, Canada in the 1980s. —AnonymousLegere, aka the "Monster of the Miramichi," was initially imprisoned for the murder of a local shopkeeper and the rape and assault of his wife. However, he escaped prison and then went on to four more people over seven months before finally being caught. The awful case of Thomas Koskovich & Jayson Vreeland, aka the "Pizza Killers," who committed their crimes in Franklin, New Jersey in 1997. —AnonymousNew Jersey teens Koskovich and Vreeland were just 18 and 19 years old, respectively, when they killed two randomly chosen pizza deliverymen — Georgio Gallara and Jeremy Giordano. The deliverymen were lured to an abandoned house in a remote location and violently shot to death, multiple times, in their car. According to law enforcement at the time, the teens' motivation was that "they just wanted to see what it would be like to kill somebody." The horrible case of the "Hangman" or "Killer Cop", aka Gerard John Schaefer Jr., a former sheriff's deputy and suspected serial killer active in Florida in the '70s. "I just recently learned about this horrible horrible man. He is responsible for the murders of many women, which were carried out in such horrific ways. If you love listening to True Crime, I recommend listening to a podcast about this guy. My jaw was on the floor that someone could carry out such horrific acts."—Anonymous The case of Bruce McArthur, a serial killer active in the 2010s in Toronto, Canada who targeted marginalized people, primarily gay men of color. "He buried their body parts in landscape pots at a client's home that he landscaped at, and police arrested him right before he was about to murder his next victim. They found the victim tied up when they entered his home."—Anonymous The Ant Hill Kids cult, formed by Roch Thériault in Canada, which was active from the '70s to the '80s. "Honestly, the WORST cult I have ever read about. A few members were brutally tortured and murdered. One even got away after Roch cut her arm completely off. There are so many details but be prepared if you read into it."—AnonymousFounded by Thériault in 1977 as a doomsday cult, Thériault had multiple wives and impregnated all female members of the cult as a "religious requirement." He fathered 26 children. The cult dissolved in 1989 and Thériault was eventually convicted of murder in 1993. Finally, the terrifying case of Gary Lee Bullock, who had only been out of jail for a few hours when he committed the violent murder of a beloved priest in Eureka, California in 2014. "Gary Lee Bullock is my husband's cousin and he bludgeoned a priest to death in Eureka, California on New Year's Day 2014."—AnonymousA jury found Bullock "guilty of first-degree murder with special allegations that the crime was committed while engaged in torture, residential burglary, and carjacking. Bullock was sentenced to life without the possibility of parole. Is there a lesser-known true crime story you think more people should know about? Tell us in the comments below or via this anonymous form: Are you obsessed with this kind of content? Subscribe to the That Got Dark newsletter to get your weekly dopamine fix of the macabre delivered RIGHT to your inbox!
