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ABC News
09-07-2025
- ABC News
Remembering mushroom murder victims, Gail and Don Patterson and Heather Wilkinson
The victims of Erin Patterson's deadly beef Wellington lunch are being remembered for their altruistic nature and kind hearts, just days after a jury convicted their killer of murder. Don and Gail Patterson and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, died from death cap mushroom poisoning following the lunch while Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, suffered serious injuries. They all lived in the regional Victorian town of Korumburra, south-east of Melbourne, which is home to roughly 4,500 people. Korumburra educator Andrea Lewis crossed paths with Gail, Don and Heather through work they had all done at local primary and secondary schools. "They were just lovely. They were funny ... they were the nicest people." Ms Lewis said Gail and Heather were part a learning assistance program she managed, helping disadvantaged children. "The way they worked with those children and what they were able to bring out in them was just phenomenal," Ms Lewis said. "They just had real talents and skills in all those sorts of areas." Heather also taught migrant women, which Ms Lewis said was more evidence of her giving nature. "Once again, she was looking at a group who were marginalised in the community and saying 'I can do something about that', and she did." She believed it was their faith that led all three to live such selfless lives, acting with "humour, good grace and humility". "I think they believed that we all had a greater mission or purpose beyond ourselves," Ms Lewis said. "We had to just get out there and help others. We're in a fortunate position and we had to go out there and make things better for others, particularly young children." Local councillor Nathan Hersey was mayor at the time of the lunch. He said the high-profile case had rocked the small community as those close to the families dealt with their loss. "At the centre of this is a tragic story and a tragic loss," he said. He said the local community had strong connections and he was proud of its ability to come together and support one another through a challenging time. "From this point forward, our community will have the opportunity to have closure, to complete the grieving process," he said. For Ms Lewis, while the verdict had been delivered, she doesn't feel like the ordeal is over just yet. "We have to remember what's at the heart of this — those four people and then those that extend out from them," she said. Remembering her colleagues as "model citizens", Ms Lewis said they were "fabulous human beings" who the wider community could learn a lot from.
The Guardian
09-07-2025
- The Guardian
After the mushroom murders media circus, will ‘dark tourism' be next for a small Victorian town?
On foggy, freezing mornings for the past two and half months, members of the public have queued outside the Latrobe Valley law courts, hoping to catch a glimpse of proceedings in courtroom four. The murder trial of Erin Patterson and her beef wellingtons laced with death cap mushrooms has gripped the imagination of the public. Media in Australia and around the world has focused its lens on Morwell in Victoria's Gippsland region, which has embraced the attention. One local cafe even served mushroom soup throughout the proceedings. It's far from the first time a small Australian town has found itself at the heart of a crime that has captured the world's attention. But what happens when the media circus moves on? On Monday, when a jury found Patterson guilty of murdering three relatives and attempting to murder a fourth, Det Insp Dean Thomas of the Victoria police homicide squad urged people not to forget the victims of the crime. At times, it has almost been lost amid the frenzy that three people died – Gail and Don Patterson and Heather Wilkinson – and a fourth, Ian Wilkinson, only just survived after falling into an induced coma, all after attending a family lunch. Public interest in disturbing crimes is not new, says Prof Lisa Waller, the associate dean of communication at RMIT, but the Patterson case may be 'the first really intense Australian example of it'. Sometimes, heightened public attention can develop into 'dark tourism' – travel specifically to places historically associated with death, tragedy or the macabre, and, often, commercial ventures set up to profit from it. Will Morwell, where the Patterson trial was held, or Leongatha, where Patterson lived and served the fatal lunch, be next? And would that be fair to the family, who have requested privacy, and the people for whom these towns are home? The fascination with justice occurring in the public eye 'harks back to that almost medieval idea about crime and punishment being a very public thing', Waller says. 'People aren't thinking that they're part of the mob, out in the town square, looking at the person that's about to be burned at the stake or put into the stocks or whatever,' she says. 'But at some really kind of elemental level … it's powerful.' Overseas, dark tourism is a thriving industry: some of the best-known sites include the Nazi death camp Auschwitz-Birkenau in Poland, the ruins of Pompeii in Italy, Chornobyl in Ukraine, Ground Zero in New York City and the Paris Catacombs. In Japan, the dense and haunting Aokigahara Forest is notorious for its association with suicides. In London, there's Tower Green, where Anne Boleyn was executed, and in Washington DC, Ford's Theatre, where Abraham Lincoln was assassinated. Sign up to Breaking News Australia Get the most important news as it breaks after newsletter promotion More than a century ago, the state of Victoria was transfixed by another figure: Frederick Deeming, later dubbed the 'Jack the Ripper of Australia'. After murdering his wife and burying her beneath a hearthstone in a Windsor home, he was tried and executed in a case that captured headlines around the world. These days, the Deeming case is the subject of a tour that winds through Melbourne to the sites of his crimes. It's not the only 'true crime' tour of its kind; the company that runs it also offers true crime tours in Adelaide, Brisbane, Fremantle, Fortitude Valley, Maitland, Newcastle and Perth. Associate Prof Jenny Wise, from the University of New England, says the fascination with the sites and ephemera associated with grisly crime is thought to come partly from society moving away from embracing death as an everyday part of life. 'We are seeking other ways to try to engage with death and to experience death, but in that safe way,' she says. 'Unfortunately, it's usually the sites where the most atrocious things have occurred [that dark tourism develops] … those really gory or sensational crimes that have almost become urban legends,' Wise says. The economic benefit to Morwell from the influx of journalists, podcasters, screenwriters and photographers has been considerable: Latrobe city council has spruiked the 'strong increase in external visitor spending', noting that in Traralgon, the biggest town in the region and where most visitors find a place to stay, external visitor local spend grew to $20.13m in the month of May 2025, a $2.56m increase on the previous year. In Morwell, home of Latrobe Valley courts, there was an increase from $5.88m in 2024 to $6.21m in 2025. 'The uplift in spend may also be partially attributed to increased foot traffic in the Morwell CBD associated with legal proceedings at the Latrobe Valley law court,' a council spokesperson said. But about 60km away, in Leongatha, as the jury's deliberations began, the town closed ranks. Black plastic tarps were put up around Patterson's home. Another 15km north, at the Korumburra Baptist church – where the lunch survivor, Ian Wilkinson, is pastor – journalists' questions were left unanswered. Signs have been posted outside the homes of the Wilkinsons, Patterson's estranged husband, Simon, and her sister, Ceinwen Scutter, pleading for privacy and warning journalists not to trespass. Wise says whether or not dark tourism industries are successful 'really depends on the community at the time, the type of crime, but also the vendors that are providing these opportunities and how willing they are to weather the storm'. She notes how guided ghost tours of the New South Wales forest where serial killer Ivan Milat buried his victims were swiftly cancelled after public backlash. 'The victims want their privacy, and I think that's a really important aspect of it. There are ways to be interested in these kind of cases while still being ethical about it, and that's really obviously very important,' Wise says. Waller's research has examined the media reporting of crime in small towns, such as Moe, where toddler Jaidyn Leskie died in 1997, and Snowtown, where bodies of murder victims were found in barrels in a bank vault. She says it can take a very long time for a community to rehabilitate after experiences like that, especially when their town's name becomes a byword for the crime itself. 'When the big media come to town, people feel exposed, and that somehow the crime is a spectacle, and that casts a bit of a shadow over everyone.'
The Sun
09-07-2025
- Health
- The Sun
‘You did it': Doc who treated mushroom killer Erin Patterson tells how he knew she was a ‘heinous' murderer in minutes
THE doctor who treated Australian mushroom killer Erin Patterson has revealed how he knew she was a "heinous" murderer within minutes. Dr Chris Webster treated the Leongatha, Victoria, mother and now- convicted killer after she took herself to hospital following the infamous lunch. 9 9 9 9 Patterson, 49, had cooked a beef wellington with lethal death cap mushrooms and intentionally fed it to four guests, killing three, for lunch in July 2023. Webster he had spent the next morning treating two of the poisoned four only for Patterson to turn up complaining of gastro, he told the BBC. Within minutes, Webster knew she was a cold-blooded killer. The doctor said: "I thought, 'Okay, yep, you did it, you heinous individual. You've poisoned them all'." Patterson was convicted on Monday of killing her 70-year-old in-laws, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister Heather, 66. The at-home chef was also convicted of one count of attempted murder against local pastor Ian Wilkinson - Heather's husband - in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Webster had first treated Heather and Ian at Leongatha Hospital the next morning after the lunch with intense gastroenteritis-like symptoms. He initially believed it was a case of mass food poisoning and through quizzing his patients suspected the meat in the beef wellington was the culprit. Webster said: "I did ask Heather at one stage what the beef Wellington tasted like and she said it was delicious." The doctor took Heather and Ian's blood samples and then sent them for analysis to a larger town with better facilities than the small rural Leongatha Hospital. 'Mushroom killer' Erin Patterson GUILTY of murdering three relatives with deadly beef wellington Soon after, he received a call from the doctor treating the other two who were poisoned - Don and Gail - at Dandenong Hospital. She said it was the mushrooms, not the meat, and Webster's stomach dropped. Webster had hooked Heather and Ian with fluids, but quickly changed tack as he realised their life was on the line. He knew he needed to save their failing livers and prepared to send them to a larger hospital where they could get better care. 9 9 But then a person presented themselves to the hospital claiming they had gastro symptoms. Webster asked Patterson for her name and said when he heard it: "The penny dropped… it's the chef." The doctor quizzed the chef about where the mushrooms had come from - Woolworths, she said. It was with that answer that Webster knew she was guilty. But the doctor said that made no sense as the supermarket giant would have stringent food safety standards. Webster also said Patterson didn't seem worried about the danger Heather and Ian - lying only metres away - were in. He then sent Ian and Heather off in an ambulance to Dandenong Hospital, saying he tragically knew they wouldn't return. When he returned, Patterson had checked herself out against medical advice. After desperately trying to call Patterson but being unable to reach her, Webster called the cops. He said: "This is Dr Chris Webster from Leongatha Hospital. I have a concern about a patient who presented here earlier, but has left the building and is potentially exposed to a fatal toxin from mushroom poisoning." 9 9 At the trial, Patterson said she had been caught off guard by the information about the deadly mushrooms and went home to pack an overnight bag and feed the animals. She also had a "lie-down" before returning to the hospital. When she finally did, Webster tried to get her to also bring her children, who the chef claimed had eaten leftovers. In court, Patterson said she was "concerned that they were going to be frightened." Days later, Patterson was caught on CCTV trying to cover her tracks by dumping the food dehydrator she used in her twisted murder plot. Wearing a long coat and sunglasses, Patterson is seen unloading the food dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station on August 2, 2023 - an apparent attempt to erase evidence linked to the deadly beef wellington meal. And in a chilling image also released by the court, the meal that left her family dying in agony is laid out next to forensic evidence bags. The annotated photo was taken during toxicology testing at the Victorian Institute of Forensic Medicine. 9
The Australian
09-07-2025
- The Australian
Beef wellington chef Nagi Maehashi breaks silence on Erin Patterson trial
The chef whose dish was dragged into the mushroom murder trial says she is upset the recipe is entangled in the tragedy. Australian online culinary figure Nagi Maehashi found herself as one of the countless facets of Erin Patterson's lengthy murder trial when it was revealed the triple murderer used one of Ms Maehashi's recipes as the basis for the fatal beef wellington dish. 'Dear journalists of Australia, please stop calling and emailing and texting and DM'ing me about the Erin Patterson case,' Ms Maehashi posted on Tuesday following the jury's guilty verdicts. Nagi Maehashi has a large following on her RecipeTin Eats site. Picture: Supplied Police found this cookbook when they searched Erin Patterson's house. Picture: Supplied 'It is of course upsetting to learn that one of my recipes – possibly the one I've spent more hours perfecting than any other – something I created to bring joy and happiness, is entangled in a tragic situation,' she wrote. 'Other than that I have nothing to say and I won't be talking to anyone. Thank you for respecting my privacy – Nagi.' Patterson, 50, was on Monday found guilty of the murders of Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and the attempted murder of Ms Wilkinson's husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, 71. During the trial, Patterson told the jury that she made beef wellingtons based on a recipe in Ms Maehashi's cookbook and wanted 'to do something new and special'. Patterson laced the meal with poisonous mushrooms at her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023. 'Murder is not fun' Swinburne University PhD candidate Loryn Sykes says the media and public have turned a devastating loss of life into a show for their own amusement. Ms Sykes is hoping to complete a PhD in true crime podcasting. 'From an avalanche of memes about the case, to journalists hounding the author of the cookbook Patterson based her beef wellington recipe on, there has been no shortage of unhelpful and deeply unserious behaviour online which has been spurred by this case,' she said. Following the guilty verdicts, the court released images of evidence, including the beef wellington in question and the above cookbook. Picture: Supplied 'The Erin Patterson case had all the hallmarks of a classic true-crime tale – fraught interpersonal family relationships which led to murder, a perpetrator who has been described as 'narcissistic' and 'evil', and an investigation with enough twists and turns to rival any true- crime podcast or series,' Ms Sykes said. In a media release, Ms Sykes said 'the intense media and public attention on this case was inevitable, but the amount of online discussion and in-person gossiping about the Patterson case reveals how easy it is to turn unthinkable tragedy into an amusing pop-culture moment to chat about'. 'Murder is not fun. Having not just one but several family members ripped away from you by the actions of another is a harrowing experience,' she said. 'The last thing the Patterson and Wilkinson families need is more eyes on them during such a horrifying moment in their lives.' The families involved in the case now needed privacy and time to heal, she said. 'This pain and grief will be with them for the rest of their lives; the intense international media coverage this case has received will certainly not have helped them grieve,' Ms Sykes said. Blair Jackson Reporter Blair's journalism career has taken him from Perth, to New Zealand, Queensland and now Melbourne. Blair Jackson
The Independent
09-07-2025
- The Independent
The mushroom poisoning trial captivated Australia. Why Erin Patterson did it remains a mystery
The high-profile case of the so-called Death Cap Mushroom Cook is likely to remain a topic of conversation across Australia for years to come. For more than two months, the triple-murder trial has gripped the public's attention with details of how Erin Patterson murdered three of her estranged husband's relatives by deliberately serving them a lunch of poisonous mushrooms. It was no surprise that on Tuesday — the day after the guilty verdict was delivered by the court in Victoria — media websites, social media and podcasts were scrambling to offer analysis on what motivated her. Newspaper headlines described Patterson, 50, as a coercive killer with narcissistic characteristics. ' Cold, mean and vicious,' read one. Strict Australian court reporting laws prohibit anything that might sway jurors in a trial. Some news outlets had saved up thousands of words awaiting the verdicts: scrutiny of Patterson's past work history, behavior and psyche. The coverage tried to explain why the mother of two meticulously planned the fatal lunch and lured three people she said she loved to their deaths. Any certain answer, for now, remains a mystery. No motive After a nine-week Supreme Court trial in the state of Victoria, it took the jury six days to convict Patterson. She was found guilty of murdering her parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, by serving them a lunch of beef Wellington pastries laced with poisonous mushrooms. She was also convicted of attempting to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived the meal at Patterson's home in the rural town of Leongatha in 2023. Patterson denied poisoning them deliberately and contended that she had no reason to murder her beloved, elderly in-laws. But the jury rejected her defense that the inclusion of toxic mushrooms in the meal was a terrible accident. Prosecutors failed to offer a motive for Patterson's crimes and weren't required to do so. 'People do different things for different reasons. Sometimes the reason is obvious enough to others,' prosecutor Nanette Rogers told the jury. 'At other times, the internal motivations are only known by the person themselves.' But Rogers gave hints. At one point, the prosecutor had Patterson read aloud scathing messages she'd sent which highlighted past friction with her in-laws and tension with her estranged husband, who had been invited to the lunch but didn't go. 'You had two faces,' Rogers said. Patterson denied it. 'She had a dilemma' With guilty verdicts but no proven reason why, Australian news outlets published avid speculation Tuesday. 'What on earth was Erin Patterson's motive?' The Australian newspaper's editorial director Claire Harvey asked in a column. Harvey pointed at rifts in the killer's relationship with her estranged husband. Chris Webster was the first medical doctor to speak to Patterson after her four lunch guests had been hospitalized and testified in the trial. He told reporters Tuesday that he became convinced she deliberately poisoned her victims when she lied about buying the foraged mushrooms she had served from a major supermarket chain. 'She had a dilemma and the solution that she chose is sociopathic,' Webster told Nine Network television. Displayed no emotion The outpouring of scorn for Patterson reflects a national obsession with the case and a widespread view that she wasn't a sympathetic figure. It was an opinion Australians were legally required not to express in the media or online before the trial ended to ensure a fair hearing. But newspapers now don't have to hold back. Under the headline 'Death Cap Stare,' The Age reported how the 'killer cook' didn't flinch as she learned her fate, but stared at the jury as they delivered their verdict. Melbourne's Herald Sun newspaper's front page screamed: 'COOKED,' labelling Patterson 'Evil Erin' and a 'Cold-Blooded Killer.' During the trial, Patterson chose to testify in her own defense, a tactic considered risky in the Australian justice system and one which most observers said didn't serve her well. She joked awkwardly at times and became combative with the prosecutor. Journalist John Ferguson, who won a Melbourne Press Club award for breaking the story of the fatal lunch, said Patterson often cried or came close to tears during her trial. But when she was convicted, she displayed no emotion, he noted. 'What the court got on Monday was the full Erin. Cold, mean and vicious,' Ferguson wrote in The Australian Tuesday. Drama series, documentary and books The verdicts also prompted an online frenzy among Australians, many of whom turned citizen detectives during the trial. By late Monday, posts about the verdicts on local Reddit pages had drawn thousands of comments laced with black humor, including memes, in-jokes and photographs taken at local supermarkets where pre-packaged beef Wellington meals were discounted. Fascination about the case will linger. A drama series, documentary and books are planned, all of them likely to attempt an answer to the question of what motivated Patterson. She faces life in prison, with sentencing to come at a later date. From then, Patterson's lawyers will have 28 days to appeal. —- Graham-McLay reported from Wellington, New Zealand.
