The night before Erin Patterson was arrested, the so-called ‘mushroom chef’ threw a party at her home – in what may be her final taste of freedom for the rest of her life.
On the evening of Wednesday, November 1, 2023, Patterson held a knees-up at her Leongatha, rural Victoria, property for a group of friends, believed to be her four closest female mates.
Among them was her closest ally, social worker Alison Rose Prior, to whom Patterson had signed over power of attorney to, plus other members of her then-dwindling inner circle.
The weeknight gathering is believed to have been small and included Patterson’s two children, a girl and a boy. But it was still noisy enough that it was noticed by neighbours, who speculated Patterson threw the party in the knowledge that charges were imminent.
The party followed months of pressure and speculation about Patterson’s role in the death cap mushroom deaths of her estranged husband Simon’s parents and aunt after a beef Wellington lunch at her house.
Gail and Don Patterson, both 70, and his aunt, Heather Wilkinson, 66, died after eating Erin’s dish – and the local pastor Ian Wilkinson survived being poisoned only after a brutal battle.
It took a full three months for Patterson to be placed in handcuffs. The morning after the party, she was taken to Wonthaggi police station, some 40km away, and charged with three counts of murder and one of attempted murder.
Erin Patterson’s best friend, Alison Rose Prior, was believed to be at the final party – and has taken care of property matters on her behalf in the wake of the mushroom poisoning
Ali Prior (left) loyally attended Erin Patterson’s murder trial, with both appearing to believe the killer would get off – but the triple murderer now faces possible life without parole
Patterson was finally convicted on Monday of the murders and attempted murder on Monday.
A jury unanimously found her guilty of carrying out all counts at the July 29,2023 lunch and she will be sentenced over the next few months, perhaps to spend the rest of her life in jail.
But back in second half of 2023, Patterson was ‘the woman at the centre of the alleged toxic mushroom case’ who, intentionally or not, had made the dish Beef Wellington into death on a plate.
It would only later emerge that on August 2, before anyone had died, Erin had dumped the food dehydrator, which had traces of Amanita Phalloides mushrooms on it, at the local tip, the Koonwarra Transfer and Landfill Station.
On August 4, the same day that Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson both died, police discovered the dehydrator at the tip and photographed it, while seizing CCTV records.
On August 5, police formally interviewed Patterson for the first time, and the media began gathering at her home, which she fled on August 7, telling reporters, ‘I didn’t do anything wrong.
‘I loved them and I’m devastated they are gone. They were some of the best people I’ve ever met.’
Erin Patterson clearly thought she was returning to her Leongatha home in the days as the jury deliberated, shrouding it in plastic from the eyes of the media as she contemplated a paid for TV interview
Patterson lied to the cameras when, in the days after she murdered her husband’s family (above, his aunt Heather Wilkinson, who died, and uncle Ian Wilkinson, the only survivor), she said, ‘I loved them and I’m devastated they are gone’
Patterson told reporters that her mother-in-law Gail Patterson (pictured with Don Patterson) had been like a mother to her in the wake of her own mother’s death, but it was a lie
In her ensuing panic, on August 8, Patterson returned to the house and left with a giant white suitcase.
Before departing the scene, she told reporters: ‘I’m going shithouse, thanks for asking. What happened is devastating, I’m grieving too.’ (Shithouse is an Australian colloquialism for having a terrible time.)
It is believed she headed to a meeting with Ms Prior and three other Victorian women at which they discussed the lunch, and Erin signed over her power of attorney.
On August 11, she released a written statement to Victoria Police, which the ABC obtained two days later. In it, she said: ‘I am now wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones.
‘I am hoping this statement might help in some way. I believe if people understood the background more, they would not be so quick to rush to judgement.
‘I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved.’
Patterson said it had not been previously reported that she was also hospitalised after the lunch with bad stomach pains and diarrhoea. She claimed she was put on a saline drip and given a ‘liver protective drug’.
In the statement, Patterson admitted she lied to detectives about disposing of the dehydrator at the tip ‘a long time ago’, and that she had been so worried she might lose custody of her children, she had panicked and dumped it.
Ali Prior posted the CCTV on local community groups trying to identify the masked burglars but someone recognised the house as Erin’s
Alison Prio attended best friend Erin Patterson’s murder trial but the acquittal they had both hoped for never came, and the triple murderer is now facing decades behind bars
In late December 2023, Alison Prior posted images on Facebook of a masked man captured on CCTV at the Leongatha house
Erin Patterson’s dance with the truth was well underway, Gippsland was crawling with homicide detectives and speculation on crime talk forums like Mumsnet and Websleuths swung between theories that she was completely innocent to being as evil as one of the witches from Shakespeare’s Macbeth.
On Paterson’s last morning of freedom she was placed under arrest at home and driven to Wonthaggi, while detectives painstakingly picked apart her house.
But that wasn’t the last of the strange happenings at her five-bedroom home.
The following month, in late December, Alison Prior posted images on Facebook of a masked man captured on CCTV at Patterson’s house.
Thieves had allegedly stolen televisions and vacuum cleaners, and Erin’s red MG, which she was caught on CCTV driving to the local tip to dump the food dehydrator and other items.
Ms Prior’s social media post after the final alleged burglary said: ‘This time they stole a car, TVs, vacuums. I have finally been able to retrieve CCTV footage from the second time they broke into the property and removed all the outside cameras.
‘Police caught a couple of offenders from the first burglary where they stole a heap of things and we are now thinking they took all spare keys, car keys etc and were not retrieved by the police at the time.
In December 2023, after Patterson had been arrested, thieves allegedly stole TVs, vacuum cleaners and her red MG. She was caught driving the car to the local tip to dump the food dehydrator and other items on CCTV
‘They have obviously passed the keys on to mates to come and go from the house as they please.’
Ms Prior posted the CCTV on local community groups trying to identify the burglars but someone recognised the house as Erin’s.
The Nine Network attended the house and filmed Ms Prior rapidly closing the gates as their cameras approached.
Ms Prior alleged the home had been broken into three times since Ms Patterson’s arrest and that an intruder had tried to tear down security cameras, before attempting the break-in.
Victoria Police subsequently arrested and charged two people for the alleged break-in.
A woman, 23, and a man, 18, from the Melbourne suburb of Cheltenham were arrested in Patterson’s allegedly stolen car at 1am on December 28.
‘The pair are expected to be charged on summons to appear at a magistrates’ court at a later date,’ Victoria Police said at the time.
Daily Mail Australia has asked Victoria Police if the accused thieves were convicted.
Erin Patterson was in the process of leaving the hospital where her husband’s family members were desperately clinging to life in the wake of her lacing their lunch with one of the planet’s most poisonous plants
Early on, crime forums were abuzz with talk of Erin Patterson, with some saying her performance in front of TV cameras – of tears and emotion – was unconvincing
Alison Prior was the one supporter who attended court for the entirety of Erin Patterson’s trial, telling reporters following the verdict that she was ‘saddened’ by what had happened.
‘I don’t have any expectations, it’s the justice system and it has to be what it is,’ she said.
She declined to answer whether Patterson, whose home had been shrouded with black plastic tarpaulins in the days before the verdict, had anticipated she’d be found not guilty.
Ms Prior has regularly visited Patterson at the Dame Phyllis Frost Women’s Correctional Centre since her incarceration following her November 2023 arrest.
After hearing her fate, an emotionless Patterson told Prior before being taken back to prison, ‘See you soon’
