Latest news with #BaptistChurch
Yahoo
3 days ago
- General
- Yahoo
Historic Downtown Palatka church demolished
The City of Palatka a few days ago announced the temporary closure of some sidewalks downtown because 'the church located at 913 Reid Street will be demolished,' a city social media post states. To some, like Mischa Johns, a Putnam County archivist, it's more than a church. 'So gently announced as 'a church,' but it's not just 'a church,'' she stated in a Facebook post. 'It's over a century of history in our African American community and it's being razed ... We have failed this beautiful old church, and my heart is broken for another lost piece of history.' >>> STREAM ACTION NEWS JAX LIVE <<< The following is from Mt. Tabor Baptist Church's website Following the Civil War within the Reconstruction Era, the institution known as Mount Tabor First Baptist Church was officially established. The church was organized during a 'Wednesday Prayer Meeting,' on the 15th day of September, 1869, in Palatka, Florida. The original meeting place was in the 'Hudson Building' and the second meeting place was a nicely constructed 'Brush Arbor' (a rough, open-sided shelter constructed of vertical poles driven into the ground with additional long poles laid across the top as support for a roof of brush, cut branches or hay) built with the choicest shrubs. Within the first two years (1869-1871), three ministers, Reverend R. P. Bishop, Reverend Jones, and Reverend Samuel Small formed the ministerial council that ordained the first Deacons: Jackson Wright, Ned Hutchinson and James Arnold. Reverend William Bell served as the first regular pastor (1871-1889) and also served two subsequent pastorates (1896-1898) & (1900-1902). In 1887, during Reverend Bell's pastorate it became a reality for this band of Christian believers to leave the 'brush arbor' and the congregation relocated to a newly built wooden church edifice at 913 Reid Street in downtown Palatka, which was dedicated on May 18, 1888. In 1912, the church facility was rebuilt under the leadership of Reverend F.W. Wells. [DOWNLOAD: Free Action News Jax app for alerts as news breaks] [SIGN UP: Action News Jax Daily Headlines Newsletter] Click here to download the free Action News Jax news and weather apps, click here to download the Action News Jax Now app for your smart TV and click here to stream Action News Jax live.
Daily Mail
3 days ago
- Health
- Daily Mail
Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial LIVE updates: Patterson returns to the stand to give evidence in week six of marathon court case
00:37 Microsoft Paint and family troubles: Patterson's first day in the witness box revisited The Crown closed its case against accused killer Erin Patterson on the Monday in the sixth week of the marathon murder trial. The defence, led by Colin Mandy SC, called Patterson herself as their first witness. Patterson told the jury about her rocky relationship with estranged husband Simon Patterson after the pair married in 2007. Patterson also said she was an atheist but she became interested in religion after meeting and spending time with Simon. 'I was what you'd probably call a fundamentalist atheist,' she said. Patterson said her attitude to religion changed in early 2005. The jury heard Patterson and Simon had a lot of conversations about religion. Patterson was trying to convert Simon into an atheist 'But things went in reverse and I became a Christian,' she said. She recalled her visit to Korumburra Baptist Church. 'I remember being really excited about it,' she said. Patterson recalled there was a banner on the wall behind where Ian Wilkinson was preaching. 'It said faith, hope and love,' she said. Patterson said Mr Wilkinson gave a sermon about this banner. She had communion and was welcomed to participate in it. 'I had what can basically be described as a spiritual experience,' she said. 'It had been an intellectual experience until then.' Patterson also told the jury she felt there had been a 'bit more space or distance put between' her and husband's parents, Gail and Don Patterson, at the start of 2023. 'We saw each other less,' she said. She said her relationship with Simon since the start of 2023 was 'functional'. Patterson said she only dealt with Simon regarding logistics, church and the kids. 'We didn't relate on friend things, banter,' Patterson said. 'I'd been fighting a never-ending battle of low self-esteem most of my adult life, (I had) put on more weight, could handle exercise less (as I entered middle-age).' Patterson also told the jury she was financially 'comfortable' and planned to have weight loss surgery. The court heard Patterson initially designed her Leongatha home using Microsoft Paint. She said she designed the property with her kids' needs in mind but also decided the home – where the deadly lunch was served – would be her last. 'That I'd grow old there was what I hoped,' she said. Everything you need to know about the Erin Patterson mushroom murder trial so far Erin Patterson, 50, is accused of murdering her in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, after allegedly serving them a beef Wellington lunch made with death cap mushrooms. Patterson is also accused of attempting to murder Heather's husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, who survived the lunch after spending several weeks in an intensive care unit. The court heard Patterson's estranged husband, Simon, was also invited to the gathering at her home in Leongatha, in Victoria's Gippsland region, but didn't attend. Witnesses told the jury Patterson ate her serving from a smaller, differently-coloured plate than those of her guests, who ate off four grey plates. Patterson told authorities she bought dried mushrooms from an unnamed Asian store in the Monash area of Melbourne, but health inspectors could find no evidence of this. Victoria's health department said the death cap mushroom poisoning was 'isolated' to Patterson's deadly lunch. Multiple witnesses, including Erin's estranged husband, Heather's husband and other family members, have given emotionally-charged evidence to the jury. Medical staff have told the jury of the painful symptoms the dying lunch guests and Mr Wilkinson suffered. An expert witness told the court that death cap mushrooms were detected in debris taken from a dehydrator Patterson had allegedly dumped at a local tip. Telecommunications expert Dr Matthew Sorell also told the jury Patterson's phone was detected near areas at Outtrim and Loch, in the Gippsland region, where death cap mushrooms had been spotted. Victoria Police Cybercrime Squad senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry said he found evidence of a death cap mushroom on data from a computer seized from Patterson's Leongatha home on August 5, 2023. On Friday, Austin Hospital intensive care director Professor Stephen Warrillow told the jury he was at the Melbourne health facility in July 2023 when the poisoned lunch guests were transferred to his care. Professor Warrillow said all patients were given intense treatment and Don received a liver transplant. Ian Wilkinson sat in court and listened as details of how his wife died from death cap poisoning were aired in court. The jury also heard the text exchanges between health department officer Sally Anne Atkinson and Patterson in the days after the deadly lunch as authorities rushed to get answers. On Tuesday, the jury was shown the police interview Patterson took part in shortly after her home was searched on August 5. Detectives seized a manual for a Sunbeam hydrator but Patterson denied in her interview that she had ever owned such an appliance. Patterson also told police she invited her in-laws for lunch because she loved them and they were like real family to her. Homicide Squad detective leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall told the court officers searched for a Samsung Galaxy A23 – known as 'Phone A' – but it was never found. Sen-Constable Eppingstall also said another Samsung Galaxy A23 – known as 'Phone B' – was factory reset multiple times including while police searched Patterson's Leongatha home. He said Phone B was later remotely wiped while it was kept in a secure locker at the Homicide Squad headquarters in Melbourne. The jury also heard Patterson's family had a history of cancer and her daughter had a benign ovarian cancer cyst removed. On Thursday, lead defence barrister Colin Mandy SC suggested to Sen-Constable Eppingstall that a photo taken during the Leongatha police search depicted the mysterious Phone A. Mr Mandy also highlighted other devices he suggested police failed to seize including laptops and a USB stick. Later, the jury heard Facebook messages between Patterson and her online friends in which they discussed Simon, pets and the death of actress Kirstie Alley. The jury also heard Signal messages between Don and Erin in which Don and Gail (pictured) wished Patterson well and also prayed for her health. On Friday, the jury heard more messages between Erin, Don, Gail and Simon. They discussed Patterson's health and Don also offered to help tutor Erin's son. Erin also praised Gail in another message. 'Happy Mother's Day to the best mother-in-law anyone could ever ask for,' Erin wrote. Late on Monday, the Crown led by Dr Nanette Rogers (pictured) closed it's case and Patterson herself entered the witness box. The trial continues.
Daily Mail
09-05-2025
- Daily Mail
Why was 'mushroom poisoner' so reluctant to let her lunch guests into the pantry before they ate beef wellington that killed them?
The very last thing Ian Wilkinson remembers is being given a 'charcoal substance' to drink shortly after being rushed by ambulance to Dandenong Hospital in Melbourne on the morning of Monday July 31, 2023. After that, everything went dark. And when the 71-year-old Baptist pastor woke up, several weeks later, it was to terrible news: his beloved wife Heather, her sister Gail and brother-in-law Don were all dead. By this point, Ian and his family were at the centre of an international media circus. To blame were the highly unusual circumstances in which they had all ended up in hospital. Specifically: the group, who were best friends as well as close relatives, had fallen ill after eating a beef wellington made using highly toxic death cap mushrooms. It had been served by Erin Patterson, estranged wife of Gail and Don's son Simon, during a lunch on Saturday, July 29, at her home on the outskirts of Leongatha, a dairy-farming town in Victoria. This week, the events of that fateful day took both Ian Wilkinson and that international media circus to Court Four at Latrobe Valley Magistrates in Morwell, just over half an hour's drive away. Erin's circumstances have now changed significantly. She is no longer the generous host who warmly welcomed guests to the expansive property she and Simon's two children called home. Instead, she stood grimly in the dock, flanked by two burly police officers. It was the sixth day of the 50-year-old housewife's trial for the murders of Don, Gail and Heather, plus the attempted murder of Ian, whom she was seeing face-to-face for the very first time since that eventful lunch. Wearing a dark blue gilet, spectacles and a small crucifix on his lapel, the preacher walked to the stand and glanced briefly in Erin's direction. Asked whether he wanted to swear an oath or take an affirmation, he declared: 'I will swear an oath to the Almighty God.' His ensuing evidence, at which I enjoyed a ringside seat, lasted the best part of a day. And it provided some of the most electrifying and potentially consequential moments of this already gripping trial. A sweet-sounding, grey-haired man, who seems in remarkably fine shape given the awful nature of his ordeal, Wilkinson told the jury in forensic detail how the lunch and its aftermath had unfolded. We saw him examine eerie photos of the dinner table where Heather, his beloved wife of more than 40 years, had eaten her last meal. And we watched him slowly and deliberately use a court-issued touchscreen to pinpoint the exact places where each guest had sat. The small upstairs courtroom hung on his every word as he recalled exactly how the deadly dish, which was accompanied by 'mashed potatoes and green beans', was served. At times, the whole thing was vaguely surreal. Even while recounting how Heather had fallen suddenly and terribly ill, rushing to the bathroom of their home at around 10.30 that night where she began 'vomiting into the laundry trough', Ian peppered his testimony with nervous laughter. It wasn't until he was excused, after several hours on the stand, that the toll of proceedings became apparent. Ian's hands visibly shook as he was handed a glass of water by a relative, while other family members offered consoling hugs. Erin, for her part, remained almost entirely poker-faced throughout. Despite pleading not guilty to all four charges, she has already admitted that death cap mushrooms were indeed used in the beef wellington that was fed to her guests. The prosecution, led by a bespectacled veteran barrister named Nanette Rogers, insists the poisoning was deliberate. Erin's defence argues, however, that this was all a big accident. It claims the poisonous fungi were added to the dish – in which a fillet of beef is covered in blended mushroom puree, then encased in puff pastry – only because Erin had picked them by mistake during a foraging expedition. Against this disputed backdrop, Ian offered a gripping account of the lunch in question, to which estranged husband Simon had been invited but withdrew at the last minute. Some of his most intriguing evidence involved Patterson's behaviour after welcoming her four remaining guests, who had rarely visited the property. Ian told the jury that she had seemed hugely reluctant to allow them to see parts of the house where lunch had been prepared. 'Heather was very interested in pantries at that time because we'd just built one at home,' he recalled. 'Heather was calling out to me, 'Come and look at the pantry'.' However, he said: 'I'd noticed Erin was very reluctant about the visit to the pantry and had not yet started following [Heather and Gail] there, so I thought maybe the pantry's a mess and I won't add to the embarrassment by joining.' Another potentially crucial moment in Ian's testimony revolved around the serving of the main course, which he said involved 'discussion about plating up' between the female guests. 'Both Heather and Gail were offering to help plate up the food,' he recalled. 'The offer was rejected and Erin plated all of the food.' Erin Patterson had previously been accused of the attempted murder of her ex-husband Simon Patterson (pictured). Giving evidence prior, Simon had stated that the couple, who married in 2007, had initially remained on extremely friendly terms after separating in 2015 Then came the issue of the plates themselves. Having insisted on presiding over the serving of the main course, in which each guest was given an individual beef wellington which looked 'very much like a pasty', Ian said that Erin took an odd decision to serve them on colour-coded plates. 'There were four, large grey dinner plates and one smaller plate, a different colour,' he said. 'It was an orangey tan sort of colour.' Gail and Heather then each carried two grey plates to the table, Ian added, while Patterson carried the distinct colourful one to her place. The coloured plates also seem to have been noted by Heather. After arriving at Leongatha Hospital, a local facility they were taken to the morning after the meal, Ian says they began to discuss what food might be the culprit. 'I recall... Heather reminding me that there were different coloured plates,' Ian told the jury. 'I think she just plainly said there were different-coloured plates in a conversation, wondering why we were ill. She just noticed the difference in the colours between the plate Erin was using and our plates.' The question of whether Erin might have put different food on those different-coloured plates is now at the centre of the murder allegations. Prosecutor Rogers has alleged that Erin's dish was subtly different from others served, because it did not contain any death cap mushrooms. The orange plate was therefore used to help her identify the 'safe' dish. In the days after the meal, the Crown argues that Erin then faked symptoms of food poisoning in an effort to escape suspicion and convince the authorities that she, too, had eaten the deadly meal. Erin for her part argues that there was no such fakery involved, suggesting she used mismatched plates because that's what happened to be in her kitchen cupboard. Or to quote her defence counsel Colin Mandy: 'She was not feigning illness, she wasn't pretending to be sick. The defence case is that she was sick too, just not as sick.' Another crucial topic on which Ian testified involves events that happened over dessert, which consisted of an orange cake and a 'fruit platter' that had been prepared by Heather. When issuing the invitation to the lunch, Erin had told guests she wanted to discuss a 'medical issue'. She duly informed her guests that she had been diagnosed with what Ian called a 'very serious' and 'life-threatening' cancer. 'I didn't quite catch what she said but I thought it was... ovarian or cervical cancer,' he said. 'She was anxious about telling the kids. She was asking our advice about that.' The guests consoled her and advised that it was 'best' for her to be honest with the children, Ian recalled, saying he then led a prayer 'asking God's blessing on Erin, that she would get the treatment she needed'. It later emerged that Erin had never been diagnosed with cancer and was in fact perfectly healthy. The prosecution claims that she faked the diagnosis in order to 'ensure and explain why her children would not be present at the lunch'. In her defence, Erin's team have conceded that she has indeed 'never been diagnosed with cancer' but says this is an irrelevance. During cross-examination, Mr Mandy sought to suggest that she didn't lie. He put it to Ian that Erin might have instead said she 'suspected' she might have the disease, rather than stating that she'd received an official diagnosis. The pastor stuck to his guns however, saying: 'It wasn't an impression. She plainly said she had some sort of cancer. She went on to speak about the scan and that this was a serious situation, a situation that made her afraid for the future of her kids.' Discussion of the illness was cut short by the arrival of Erin's teenage son and a friend, the court was told. At this point, the lunch party ended, with Ian rushing off to attend a 3pm meeting about the following day's service in nearby Korumburra Baptist Church, where he'd served as minister for more than two decades. It was a service Ian Wilkinson would never get to deliver. He and Heather fell ill the following night, with vomiting and severe diarrhoea, and were taken to hospital by Simon the next morning. During the first 24 hours, their conditions appeared to improve. But a variety of medical witnesses have explained that this was in fact a false dawn: like many victims of mushroom poisoning, they began to suffer multiple organ failure in the ensuing days. By the following weekend, Heather, 66, had died, along with Gail and Don, who were both 70. Ian was in a coma. Listening to the evidence was clearly deeply harrowing for Ian's relatives, several of whom have been attending court every day, breaking down in tears on several occasions. At times, this reporter has felt like an intruder at a family wake. Erin, for her part, sat virtually motionless in the dock, betraying little emotion, even as the terrible fallout from her lunch was spelled out in graphic detail. We have seen her upset just twice in this trial so far: when police interviews with the two children she has with Simon, who are now 17 and 11, were played to the court, she dabbed her eyes with a tissue and seemed close to tears. It is, of course, for the jury to decide whether this was the natural reaction of a woman who is traumatised at being falsely accused, or the behaviour of a murderous narcissist who is incapable of feeling proper empathy or remorse. Elsewhere this week, further insight into Erin's state-of-mind was provided by three witnesses she'd met online. The middle-aged women had become acquainted as members of a 'true crime' Facebook group concerning Keli Lane, an Australian woman convicted of murdering her newborn child in the 1990s. Erin appears to have been an enthusiastic contributor. Smaller private chatgroups formed during lockdown, in which the members would discuss politics, the British royals, current affairs and their personal lives, sometimes via messages and on other occasions via group video calls. It was here that Erin seemingly began to share intimate details about the state of her marriage, repeatedly portraying estranged husband Simon to her online chums as sinister and manipulative. As Christine Hunt, who gave evidence via video link, put it: 'He was very controlling. She used the term 'coercive' at times. And also that his family were very demanding and that she was really challenged by their demands and particularly around the kids attending a faith-based education.' Two other witnesses, Daniela Barklay and Jenny Hay, told the court that Erin had often described herself as an atheist, saying that this was causing serious tensions with Simon's extended family. 'I feel like sometimes she felt as though he put the church before her and her family,' said Barklay. 'She being an atheist and Simon being from a very strong Baptist background, she found that very challenging, is what she shared with us,' added Hunt. 'She found that challenging and in particular the decisions around things like divorce, separation, how the kids should be educated and brought up. She found all that very controlling.' Erin's comments to her online friends shed significant light on her attitude to her spouse in the years leading up to the lunch. And, intriguingly, they seem entirely at odds with what the court has heard about her behaviour with real-life acquaintances at the time. During three days of evidence earlier in the case, Simon has stated that the couple, who married in 2007, remained on extremely friendly terms after separating in 2015. It wasn't until November 2022 that tensions arose after Erin found that Simon had changed his relationship status from 'married' to 'separated' on a tax return, depriving her of some financial benefits. The months leading up to the July lunch had seen them squabble over money and school fees, though by the standards of estranged spouses, the ill-feeling seemed minor. Daily Mail Australia is running a podcast covering all the details throughout the trial Erin had told friends during this period that she had become fascinated with a food dehydrator she had bought from a local hardware store in late April. This device played a crucial role in the poisoning, since death cap mushrooms do not grow in Victoria during July. Instead, it was put to the court that Erin had picked the deadly fungi in April then preserved them with the machine. After her lunch guests fell ill, she initially denied owning the dehydrator, saying she'd got dried mushrooms from an Asian supermarket. But after police obtained footage of her disposing of the device at a rubbish tip (and found Erin's fingerprints and traces of death cap mushroom), she confessed that the appliance had belonged to her. The defence now accepts Erin's initial claims were untrue and says she lied because she 'panicked'. It blames this reaction on an alleged conversation in hospital, the Monday after the lunch, in which Erin says Simon mentioned the device and asked: 'Is that what you used to poison them?' However, giving evidence earlier this week, Simon vigorously denied making such a remark. Whatever the truth, her Facebook friends revealed that she'd posted endless messages about the machine in their chats, with screenshots of two of Erin's posts shown to the jury. Given what would ensue, they now make for grisly reading. 'So, fun fact, the dehydrator reduces mushroom mass by 90 per cent,' read one. 'Do you think Woolies [supermarket Woolworths] would mind if I brought the dehydrator into their vegetable section and dry things before I buy them?' Another went: 'I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. Mixed it into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea.' Then, in an utterly chilling moment, the court was shown three photos of the dehydrator that Erin had sent to her chums. In one, dozens of sliced mushrooms could be seen, neatly laid on the trays. In about five weeks, the jury must, of course, decide whether those images depict a harmless scene captured by an enthusiastic amateur chef, or gruesome mementos of the run-up to a carefully planned murder. Until then, this utterly compelling case continues.
Yahoo
09-05-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Happy Mother's Day: Church built for a mom leaves a lasting legacy
If the magnificent building at the corner of Park and King Streets in Jacksonville, Florida, could speak, what a story it would have to tell. It was designed in 1925 and completed in 1926 by the famous architect, Addison Mizner, who is known as the most important individual in popularizing the Mediterranean Revival style in Florida during the boom years of the 1920's. He was instrumental in developing Boca Raton and transforming Palm Beach. The unique church building he designed combines ingredients of Romanesque, Byzantine, and Spanish church architecture and was considered by his contemporaries to be Mizner's masterpiece. While the architect himself was not particularly religious, his mother was devout, and he had promised her that he would one day design a church for her. When approached by the fledgling congregation who wondered how they would pay him if he said 'yes,' his stipulation was that they not pay him, as he wanted to design the church in the blessed memory of his mother, Ella Watson Mizner. Ella had six sons, one of whom was a Reverend, and a daughter, and spent most of her life in San Francisco. She lived her last three years in her son Addison's home in Port Washington, New York, where she died in his care on April 6, 1915. This magnificent building, Riverside Baptist Church, is on the National Register, and was my home church, the only church I knew growing up. Recently I attended a state-wide Cooperative Baptist Fellowship meeting there. I was not prepared for the flood of emotion I felt being in this beautiful and sacred place for a few days, a place that is foundational for me. The church membership has declined through the years, as is true of so many churches in America, and the upkeep of a large property by so few members has been a daunting task. But I was energized by the ways in which the current membership is looking to be the presence of Christ in its neighborhood in creative and redemptive ways. The pastor of Riverside Church, as it is now known, Rev. Adam Gray, a native of Jacksonville, is a gifted person of grace, who speaks with wisdom and eloquence, is musically talented, and a visionary. I feel grateful for the ways in which he is guiding his eager congregation to build on the rich history of this great church going forward. And when, in our concluding worship service for the recent conference, I heard the stunning beauty of the rare Skinner Organ, another leap of faith in purchasing and maintaining that the church bravely undertook in 1925, I felt a sense of relief that my home church was not only going to survive, but thrive. It stretched my heart in ways that I had not realized needing stretching, and I am grateful. As we come to Mother's Day, I think of the remarkable ways in which a successful architect, in keeping his promise to his beloved mother, has made a profound difference in the lives of so many. My own experience as a child growing up in this church was to admire the ways in which the mothers and other strong women of the church, while not always credited for the hard work they did, were responsible for the care of so much of our congregational life. From teaching, to encouraging, to cooking, to chaperoning, to landscaping, to decorating, to praying, to delivering flowers from worship, to visiting the sick, it was the mothers, or those women who mothered us, who kept the church alive and well. I remember to this day a song that we sang on Mother's Day each year at Riverside Baptist Church. As choirs, including children, youth, and adults, we processed down the aisle to open worship, singing, 'We offer thanks and praise to God, for our mothers whose devoted love, through all the changing years has been as faithful as the stars above.' While I understand now that this idealization of motherhood may place undue burden on mothers who have needs of their own to consider, or isolate women who are not able or do not chose to be mothers, or stigmatize those who had a mother who could not or would not be their best selves, it was a comfort to imagine such loving protection from my own mother and other mothers in the church in whom I found acceptance and encouragement. While I have known both precious joy and deep heartache and disappointment in the mothering of my own children, I have in recent years been blessed to act as a mother figure to several young adults whose lives I have been fortunate to touch. I have always admired those mothers who have found deep contentment in the role of mothering and have blessed their children with this singular priority. Like too many preacher's children, PKs as they are called, I know and regret that my priority was often the church. I thank God for the opportunity to try again with these dear young adults who allow me to love them, and with my grandchildren, whose love fills my heart. And what a joy to be reminded of my own dear mother, in the church where she and my father raised me, and all that she did not only to mother me, but also so many of the youth that adore her to this day. She worked in the nursery at Riverside for more than 40 years and in that time helped many children see the love of God in her tender care. Her sensitivity to little ones who were shy about being in the nursery was palpable. Her delight in having youth in her home on Sunday evenings for after-worship fellowship was an embarrassment to me as a teen, as she invited youth to work puzzles or to shell field peas, but the youth seemed to love it. Her encouragement of me always in whatever I wished to pursue and her guidance when she felt I was headed in the wrong direction is deeply appreciated as I as an aging adult realize all that she sacrificed for me and how much she loved me. This Mother's Day, I pray that we all will spend some time reflecting on the role of our mothers in our lives, with a gracious spirit of forgiveness and gratitude. And when necessary, apply that same spirit to our own lives as we seek to be encouragers of those we may still 'parent' in ways that bring encouragement to them and healing to us. Happy Mother's Day! The Rev. Candace McKibben is an ordained minister and pastor of Tallahassee Fellowship. This article originally appeared on Tallahassee Democrat: Happy Mother's Day: Church built for a mom leaves a lasting legacy
The Sun
06-05-2025
- The Sun
‘Mushroom cook' sole survivor breaks silence – and reveals moment he knew something was wrong at deadly lunch
THE sole survivor of the "Mushroom cook" tragedy has finally broken his silence and revealed the moment he realised something was wrong at the deadly lunch. Ian Wilkinson, the pastor at the Korumburra Baptist church and his wife Heather were invited to Erin Patterson's house for the deadly meal. 9 9 9 Ms Patterson, 50, is alleged to have purposely put death cap mushrooms into the steak and pastry dish that killed her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister Heather. She is now facing three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder relating to the beef Wellington lunch she served at her house in Leongatha. The woman has pleaded not guilty to murdering or attempting to murder. Pastor Wilkinson was the only one who survived the deadly lunch. But he was left in critical condition and spent almost two months being treated in a Hospital - including time spent in a coma. Mr Wilkinson revealed that he had never been to Ms Patterson's house for lunch and there were no reasons to get the invite. But he said he and Heather were 'very happy to be invited'. Crown prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers revealed to the court on Wednesday that the mum-of-two had fabricated a cancer diagnosis prior to the lunch. Patterson allegedly hosted the lunch on the pretence of discussing the best way to tell her two children about the illness - ensuring they would be far away from the meal. Mr Wilkinson said: "At that moment, I thought, this is the reason we've been invited to the lunch.' But the court heard how medical tests had found no signs of cancer in Ms Patterson. Soon after the meal, Mr Wilkinson and his wife, Heather, began vomiting. He told the court how he initially though it was 'a case of gastro, a few hours we'll be right'. But he was soon told that he and his wife may be suffering from mushroom poisoning. The prosecutor also revealed how Ms Patterson dodged the deadly dinner herself. Rogers said that Patterson served individual beef Wellingtons, mashed potatoes and green beans at the meal. The guests allegedly all ate from large grey dinner plates, while she ate from a smaller, orange plate, thus avoiding the poison-laced Wellington. Wilkinson insisted the plates were grey, and larger than the plate Patterson had served her own food on. On Monday, the Supreme Court of Victoria heard the home cook was online pals with a true-crime group and updated them on her adventures cooking with mushrooms. Several of the friends were called to give evidence at the trial about their interactions with the Leongatha mother. 9 9 9 One message written by Patterson and shown to the court said: "I've been hiding powdered mushrooms in everything. "Mixed it into chocolate brownies yesterday, the kids had no idea." Another pal, Daniela Barkley, said Patterson had asked the group for advice on cooking beef Wellington and had been looking for the right meat in the fortnight leading up to the lunch. In the lead up to the deadly lunch, Patterson shared pictures of a food dehydrator and seemed to be a fan of mushrooms. One picture shown to the court showed chopped-up button mushrooms while another snap had mushrooms on the dehydrator's shelves. Pal Jenny Hay told the court: "She seemed to really like mushrooms." Hay said she and Patterson had spoken over the phone two days after the lunch with Patterson saying she had bought the mushrooms from an Asian grocer. Pals told the court that Patterson had complained on several occasions about her "coercive" and "abusive" estranged husband Simon. Earlier on Monday, Simon had denied asking his wife about the dehydrator: "Is that what you used to poison them?" Six days after the fatal lunch, the dehydrator was found at the local tip by cops. One picture shown to the court showed chopped-up button mushrooms while another snap had mushrooms on the dehydrator's shelves. Pal Jenny Hay told the court: "She seemed to really like mushrooms." Hay said she and Patterson had spoken over the phone two days after the lunch with Patterson saying she had bought the mushrooms from an Asian grocer. Pals told the court that Patterson had complained on several occasions about her "coercive" and "abusive" estranged husband Simon. Earlier on Monday, Simon had denied asking his wife about the dehydrator: "Is that what you used to poison them?" Six days after the fatal lunch, the dehydrator was found at the local tip by cops. The trial continues in Australia. 9 9 9
