MELBOURNE — An Australian woman murdered her husband’s parents and aunt by lacing their beef Wellington lunch with toxic mushrooms, a jury found today at the climax of a trial watched around the world.
Keen home cook Erin Patterson hosted an intimate meal in July 2023 that started with good-natured banter and earnest prayer—but ended with three guests dead.
Throughout a trial lasting more than two months, Patterson maintained the beef-and-pastry dish was accidentally poisoned with death cap mushrooms, the world’s most-lethal fungus.
But a 12-person jury on Monday found the 50-year-old guilty of triple murder.
She was also found guilty of attempting to murder a fourth guest who survived.
The trial has drawn podcasters, film crews and true crime fans to the rural town of Morwell, a sedate hamlet in the state of Victoria better known for prize-winning roses.
Newspapers from New York to New Delhi have followed every twist of what many now simply call the “mushroom murders”.
On July 29, 2023, Patterson set the table for an intimate family meal at her tree-shaded country property.
Her lunch guests that afternoon were Don and Gail Patterson, the elderly parents of her long-estranged husband Simon.
Places were also set for Simon’s maternal aunt Heather and her husband Ian, a well-known pastor at the local Baptist church.
Husband Simon was urged to come but he declined because he felt “uncomfortable”.
In the background, Patterson’s relationship with Simon was starting to turn sour.
The pair—still legally married—had been fighting over Simon’s child support contributions.
Patterson forked out for expensive cuts of beef, which she slathered in a duxelles of minced mushrooms and wrapped in pastry to make individual parcels of beef Wellington.
Guests said grace before tucking in—and prayed once more after eating—with Heather later gushing about the “delicious and beautiful” meal.
Death cap mushrooms are easily mistaken for other edible varieties, and reportedly possess a sweet taste that belies their potent toxicity.
