Woman Convicted Of Mushroom Murder After Deadly Family Lunch
An Australian woman has been convicted of murdering three family members by serving them a meal containing poisonous mushrooms. Erin Patterson was found guilty Monday on three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder following a 10-week trial in Morwell, a regional town approximately 152km east of Melbourne. The 50-year-old displayed no visible reaction as the verdicts were delivered in court. Patterson's estranged in-laws, Donald and Gail Patterson, along with Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, died after consuming beef Wellingtons containing death cap mushrooms during a lunch on July 29, 2023. Heather's husband Ian Wilkinson was also poisoned but survived after a seven-week hospitalization. Patterson had entered not guilty pleas to all charges. Her defense team argued that she had accidentally served the contaminated food to her relatives in what they characterized as a "terrible accident." Prosecutors did not […]