An Australian woman has been convicted after a deadly 2023 meal.
Erin Patterson was found guilty on three counts of murder July 7 for the deaths of her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s family, including his mother Gail Patterson, father Don Patterson, and aunt Heather Wilkinson as well as one count of attempted murder of Heather’s husband Ian Wilkerson, per court transcripts obtained by CNN.
Patterson, 50, had invited her in-laws—as well as her estranged husband who declined—to lunch in July 2023, per Reuters, at her Leongatha home where she served a beef wellington dish that included death cap mushrooms, a toxic fungi that can cause liver and kidney damage and, in extreme cases if left untreated, death, per British Columbia’s center of disease control.
After a 10-week trial and a week of deliberation, the jury in Patterson’s case found her guilty, though she had pleaded not guilty to all charges, maintaining that the deaths were an accident, per Reuters. She will be sentenced at a later date, and faces up to a maximum life sentence.
