Accused Killer Blasted In-Laws Ahead of Poisoned Lunch

An Australian woman accused of murdering three of her estranged husband's relatives with poisonous mushrooms resumed the stand in her murder trial on Tuesday, detailing her habit of foraging for fungi, per the AP. Erin Patterson, 50, told the court she began foraging for fungi during the COVID-19 lockdown, witnessed only by her children. "I cut a bit of one of the mushrooms, fried it up with some butter and ate it," she said. "They tasted good and I didn't get sick." Patterson said she also fed foraged mushrooms to her children, chopped up "very, very small" so they couldn't pick them out of curries, pasta, and soups. She developed a taste for exotic varieties, joined a "mushroom lovers" Facebook group, and bought a dehydrator to preserve her finds, Patterson said.

Her lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, asked if she accepted that the beef Wellington pastries she had served to her parents-in-law and her estranged husband's aunt and uncle at her home in July 2023 contained death caps. "Yes, I do," said Patterson. The accused told her lawyer most of the mushrooms she used that day came from local supermarkets. She agreed she might have put them in the same container as dehydrated wild mushrooms she had foraged weeks earlier and others from an Asian food store. Mandy in April told the court his client had lied when she initially told investigators that she had never foraged before. But he denied that she had deliberately sought out death cap mushrooms and said she disposed of her dehydrator in a panic about the accidental deaths.

Earlier Tuesday, Patterson became tearful when she was asked about expletive-filled messages she had sent about her in-laws in December 2022 in a Facebook group chat that she described as a "safe venting space" for a group of women. "I wish I'd never said it. I feel very ashamed for saying it and I wish that the family didn't have to hear that I said it," said Patterson. "They didn't deserve it." She said she remained close to her parents-in-law after separating from her husband, Simon, in 2015. "I was just their daughter in law," said Patterson, through tears. "They just continued to love me." Patterson, due to continue giving evidence on Wednesday, has yet to give her account of the day of the lunch. (One victim claimed Patterson ate off a different plate than the others.)