Latest news with #toxicfood
CBS News
6 days ago
- CBS News
Woman on trial for poison mushroom killings says she was trying to fix "bland" meal
An Australian woman accused of serving poisonous death cap mushrooms in a dish that killed three of her four guests who ate it spoke Wednesday about the incident and detailed how she planned the meal. Prosecutors in the Supreme Court case in the state of Victoria say Erin Patterson, 50, lured her guests to lunch in July 2023 with a lie about having cancer, before deliberately feeding them toxic fungi. But her lawyers say the tainted beef Wellington that Patterson served was a tragic accident caused by a mushroom storage mishap. Patterson denies murdering her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and their relative, Heather Wilkinson. The mother of two also denies attempting to murder Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, who survived the meal. If convicted, Patterson faces life in prison for murder and 25 years for attempted murder. In a rare step for a defendant charged with murder, Patterson chose to speak in her own defense at her trial this week. On Wednesday, she spoke publicly for the first time about the fateful lunch and offered her explanations on how she planned the meal and didn't become sick herself. Erin Patterson, the woman accused of serving her ex-husband's family poisonous mushrooms, is photographed in Melbourne, Australia, on April 15, 2025. James Ross/AAP Image via AP Adding more mushrooms to a "bland" meal No one disputes that Patterson served death cap mushrooms to her guests for lunch in the rural town of Leongatha, but she says she did it unknowingly. Patterson said Wednesday she splurged on expensive ingredients and researched ideas to find "something special" to serve. She deviated from her chosen recipe to improve the "bland" flavor, she said. She believed she was adding dried fungi bought from an Asian supermarket from a container in her pantry, she told the court. "Now I think that there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well," she told her lawyer, Colin Mandy. Patterson had foraged wild mushrooms for years, she told the court Tuesday, and had put some in her pantry weeks before the deaths. The accused says she 'shouldn't have lied' about cancer Patterson, who formally separated from her husband Simon Patterson in 2015, said she felt "hurt" when Simon told her the night before the lunch that he "wasn't comfortable" attending. She had earlier told his relatives that she'd arranged the meal to discuss her health. Patterson admitted this week that she never had cancer — but after a health scare, she told her in-laws she did. In reality, Patterson said she intended to have weight loss surgery. But she was too embarrassed to tell anybody and planned to pretend to her in-laws that she was undergoing cancer treatment instead, she said. "I was ashamed of the fact that I didn't have control over my body or what I ate," a tearful Patterson said Wednesday. "I didn't want to tell anybody, but I shouldn't have lied to them." Patterson says she threw up her mushroom meal The accused said she believes she was spared the worst effects of the poisoned meal because she self-induced vomiting shortly after her lunch guests left. She had binged on most of a cake and then made herself throw up — a problem she said she had struggled with for decades. Patterson also said she believes she had eaten enough of the meal to cause her subsequent diarrhea. She then sought hospital treatment but unlike her lunch guests, she quickly recovered. At the hospital where her guests' health was deteriorating, her estranged husband asked her about the dehydrator she used to dry her foraged mushrooms, she said. "Is that how you poisoned my parents?" she said Simon Patterson asked her. Growing afraid she would be blamed for the poisoning and that her children would be taken from her, Patterson said she later disposed of her dehydrator. She told investigators she'd never owned one and hadn't foraged for mushrooms before. While still at the hospital, she insisted she'd bought all the mushrooms at stores, even though she said she knew it was possible that foraged mushrooms had accidentally found their way into the meal. She was too frightened to tell anyone, Patterson said. Also later, Patterson said she remotely wiped her cellphone while it sat in an evidence locker to remove pictures of mushrooms she'd foraged. Prosecutors argued in opening their case in April that she poisoned her husband's family on purpose, although they didn't suggest a motive. She carefully avoided poisoning herself and faked being ill, they said. The trial continues on Thursday with Patterson's cross-examination by the prosecutors.
Washington Post
6 days ago
- Health
- Washington Post
Australian woman on trial for mushroom murder of in-laws says she was trying to fix a 'bland' lunch
WELLINGTON, New Zealand — Before Erin Patterson's in-laws and their relatives arrived at her home for lunch, she bought pricey ingredients, consulted friends about recipes and sent her children out to a movie. Then, the Australian woman served them a dish containing poisonous death cap mushrooms — a meal that was fatal for three of her four guests . Whether that was Patterson's plan is at the heart of a triple murder trial that has gripped Australia for nearly six weeks. Prosecutors in the Supreme Court case in the state of Victoria say the accused lured her guests to lunch with a lie about having cancer, before deliberately feeding them toxic fungi. But her lawyers say the tainted beef Wellington she served was a tragic accident caused by a mushroom storage mishap. She denies murdering her estranged husband's parents, Don and Gail Patterson, and their relative, Heather Wilkinson. The mother of two also denies attempting to murder Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson, who survived the meal. In a rare step for a defendant charged with murder, Patterson chose to speak in her own defense at her trial this week. On Wednesday, she spoke publicly for the first time about the fateful lunch in July 2023 and offered her explanations on how she planned the meal and didn't become sick herself. No one disputes that Patterson, 50, served death cap mushrooms to her guests for lunch in the rural town of Leongatha, but she says she did it unknowingly. Patterson said Wednesday she splurged on expensive ingredients and researched ideas to find 'something special' to serve. She deviated from her chosen recipe to improve the 'bland' flavor, she said. She believed she was adding dried fungi bought from an Asian supermarket from a container in her pantry, she told the court. 'Now I think that there was a possibility that there were foraged ones in there as well,' she told her lawyer, Colin Mandy. Patterson had foraged wild mushrooms for years, she told the court Tuesday, and had put some in her pantry weeks before the deaths. Patterson, who formally separated from her husband Simon Patterson in 2015, said she felt 'hurt' when Simon told her the night before the lunch that he 'wasn't comfortable' attending. She earlier told his relatives that she'd arranged the meal to discuss her health. Patterson admitted this week that she never had cancer — but after a health scare, she told her in-laws she did. In reality, Patterson said she intended to have weight loss surgery. But she was too embarrassed to tell anybody and planned to pretend to her in-laws that she was undergoing cancer treatment instead, she said. 'I was ashamed of the fact that I didn't have control over my body or what I ate,' a tearful Patterson said Wednesday. 'I didn't want to tell anybody, but I shouldn't have lied to them.' The accused said she believes she was spared the worst effects of the poisoned meal because she self-induced vomiting shortly after her lunch guests left. She had binged on most of a cake and then made herself throw up — a problem she said she had struggled with for decades. Patterson also said she believes she had eaten enough of the meal to cause her subsequent diarrhea. She then sought hospital treatment but unlike her lunch guests, she quickly recovered. At the hospital where her guests' health was deteriorating, her estranged husband asked her about the dehydrator she used to dry her foraged mushrooms, she said. 'Is that how you poisoned my parents?' she said Simon Patterson asked her. Growing afraid she would be blamed for the poisoning and that her children would be taken from her, Patterson said she later disposed of her dehydrator. She told investigators she'd never owned one and hadn't foraged for mushrooms before. While still at the hospital, she insisted she'd bought all the mushrooms at stores even though she said she knew it was possible that foraged mushrooms had accidentally found their way into the meal. She was too frightened to tell anyone, Patterson said. Also later, Patterson said she remotely wiped her cell phone while it sat in an evidence locker to remove pictures of mushrooms she'd foraged. Prosecutors argued in opening their case in April that she poisoned her husband's family on purpose, although they didn't suggest a motive. She carefully avoided poisoning herself and faked being ill, they said. The trial continues on Thursday with Patterson's cross-examination by the prosecutors. If convicted, she faces life in prison for murder and 25 years for attempted murder.
Washington Post
23-05-2025
- Washington Post
In Australia, everyone has a hot take about the mushroom murder trial
SYDNEY — It is the criminal trial that has captivated Australia. No fewer than four podcasts track its every update. At least two documentaries are delving into it. Newspapers have been devoting pages to the trial, while websites have been live-blogging every witness's testimony. And each morning, scores of people line up for the chance to squeeze into a courtroom to watch it unfold. It is the mushroom murder case, and almost everyone Down Under is talking about it. 'It's fascinating,' said Dave Thorpe, 78, as he waited for a coffee at a Sydney cafe, with a mushroom-case-heavy tabloid under his arm. 'She's not your typical murder suspect. She looks more like a churchgoer.' For the past month, the small town of Morwell, a few hours outside of Melbourne, has been the setting for a courtroom saga of a mushroom meal most foul. Erin Patterson, a 50-year-old mother of two, faces three counts of murder for serving toxic beef Wellington to relatives at her house in the even smaller nearby town of Leongatha on July 29, 2023. Patterson's parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, died of suspected death cap mushroom poisoning. Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson, also died, while Heather's husband, Ian, survived after spending weeks in the hospital. Patterson's estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was supposed to attend the ill-fated lunch but backed out. Patterson has pleaded not guilty in proceedings expected to conclude early next month. At a time when the United States and much of the world is fixated on another trial — the celebrity-filled case against American rapper Sean 'Diddy' Combs — the story of the Leongatha lunch gone wrong has gripped Australia and even garnered some global attention of its own. Australians suddenly can't stop talking about mycology, the scientific study of fungi. The Latin nomenclature for death cap mushrooms — Amanita phalloides — has become a household name. And Facebook groups are afire with debates over different methods of forensic analysis. 'Everyone has an opinion on this case and we hear it — friends, family, people at the cafe down the road,' said investigative reporter Rachael Brown on a recent episode of 'Mushroom Case Daily,' the most popular of the mushrooming number of podcasts on the mushroom case. Australia averages fewer than 300 homicides per year, and most of those stem from fights, criminal vendettas or domestic violence incidents. Female offenders make up about 13 percent of cases. Those cases often draw more attention because they defy the gender norm of women as caregivers, said Murray Lee, a professor of criminology at the University of Sydney. The accusation that Patterson poisoned her victims with death cap mushrooms adds to the public interest. 'It's the fact that it's so unusual, yet it's also mundane,' he said. 'It could happen to anyone, and yet it doesn't.' Lee likened the case to an episode of 'Midsomer Murders,' the long-running TV mystery series set in a small English country town. Or an Agatha Christie novel, said Jessica Gildersleeve, a literature professor at the University of Southern Queensland who has written about the case. 'It's a family drama and they are alluding to elements of revenge,' she said of prosecutors. 'It's really appealing to those base literary elements that make for a really good story.' Unlike most murder mysteries, however, many of the facts in the case aren't in dispute. Instead, the trial's outcome hinges on the question of intent. Prosecutors have said the poisoning was deliberate and have put forward as evidence that Patterson traveled to known death cap mushroom locations before the lunch; that she disposed of a food processor used to prepare the mushrooms; and that she reset her phone afterward. They also say Patterson told a number of lies, from the false cancer diagnosis she allegedly used to lure people to the lunch to the origin of the mushrooms she served. But Patterson's defense team has called the deadly meal 'a terrible accident' after which she 'panicked.' 'She was overwhelmed by the fact that these four people had become so ill because of the food she'd served to them,' defense barrister Colin Mandy said during opening arguments. The case has weighed heavily on Leongatha, a close-knit town of fewer than 6,000 people, according to Nathan Hersey, a local councillor who was mayor for the area at the time. 'The media interest was like nothing our community had ever seen,' he said, recalling journalists 'stopping people on the street, going to people's homes, going to the church, basically wanting comment from anyone and everyone that was around.' Locals who were shocked by the three deaths were then stunned to see them on the front pages of newspapers in the United States and Britain, he said. As mayor, he received messages of condolences from communities in New Zealand and Africa. 'It was really something that had a much farther reach than anyone would have anticipated,' he said. The current mayor, John Schelling, declined to comment other than to say: 'I hope the trial goes away.' The trial, which began in late April, has renewed the media interest and reopened some wounds, Hersey said. But Leongatha has been partially spared by the fact that it is too small to host the proceedings, and that a mountain range stands between it and Morwell, giving locals some physical and mental distance. For Morwell, whose only other moment in the national spotlight was when the power station closed, the trial has been a much-needed boon, with its streets 'awash with journalists, bloggers, podcasters and more — notebooks and microphones at the ready to capture every detail aired in court,' the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported. 'It's been a positive thing to see the cafes and restaurants and bakeries and shops with a bit of a buzz about them,' said Dale Harriman, the mayor for the area, who is hoping all the media attention leads to more tourism. 'Hopefully, there are a few people sitting in London or over in Europe thinking, 'That looks like a nice spot; we might pay it a visit.'' If they do, it'll probably be because they heard about it on one of the four mushroom case podcasts, three of which are in Australia's top 10. 'I've never seen a trial that has captivated such a wide audience across the country as this one,' said Brooke Grebert-Craig, a reporter at the Herald Sun newspaper and the host of 'The Mushroom Cook.' The daily podcast has been downloaded almost 2 million times in Australia, she said, and listened to 400,000 times in Britain, as well as 120,000 times each in the U.S. and Ireland. 'The international reach and attention on this case is unlike anything I've ever seen before,' said Penelope Liersch, a reporter for 9 News and the co-host of another competing podcast, 'The Mushroom Trial: Say Grace.' For Liersch, who did a podcast on a different trial last year, part of the appeal is to take listeners inside a case as if they were in the courtroom, and to dispel misperceptions that some Australians might have adopted from American pop culture. 'People have this idea that the Australian legal system is like the American legal system, and it really isn't,' she said. Perhaps the biggest difference is the strict rules surrounding media coverage of trials in Australia, which doesn't have an equivalent of the First Amendment. Jurors are usually off-limits for interviews, even years after a trial has ended. And journalists covering trials are instructed not to include details that haven't been put before the jury, such as public statements a person might have made before the trial began. Gildersleeve, the literature professor, said such close coverage can be a double-edged sword, providing transparency into the trial but also empowering listeners to form their own conclusions, which might conflict with the court outcome. Already, details from the trial have worked their way into Australian pop culture, with references to mushroom dishes or the color of plates after Ian Wilkinson, who survived, testified that Patterson ate off a different colored plate than her guests. For some, like cafegoer Thorpe, it's already changing their culinary preferences. 'I don't think I'll ever eat a beef Wellington again,' he said.
