Here is a timeline of key events that led to Erin Patterson being charged with the mushroom murders.
2021-2022: On “three separate incidents” spanning across 2021 to 2022, police say that Erin attempted to kill a 48-year-old Korumburra man. It’s understood this man is Erin’s ex-husband, Simon Patterson.
JULY 29, 2023: Erin gathered her estranged husband’s relatives together for Saturday lunch at her home on July 29. She served up a beef wellington – allegedly containing death cap mushrooms – and soon after her guests became violently ill.
JULY 30, 2023: All four of the mushroom lunch attendees are admitted to hospitals with food poisoning-like symptoms.
AUGUST 4, 2023: Gail Patterson and her sister Heather Wilkinson die in hospital, while Heather’s husband Ian, a local pastor, is left in critical condition.
AUGUST 5, 2023: Don Patterson died in the hospital, becoming the third and final victim of the mushroom dinner. The same day, detectives secured a search warrant to Patterson’s home in Leongatha where the lunch was served. She is interviewed by homicide detectives and then released.
AUGUST 7, 2023: Victoria Police tell the press that Erin is a suspect in the case because “she cooked those meals”.
AUGUST 8, 2023: Cops conduct tests on a food dehydrator that they seized after Erin claimed to have dumped it in a skip.
AUGUST 10, 2023: A close friend of Simon Patterson claims Erin held the lethal lunch in a bid to try and win him back – but that he pulled out at the last minute.
AUGUST 14, 2023: Erin releases another statement to the press explaining her version of events and again denying any wrongdoing. But in a sudden twist, the mum announced that she was in fact very ill after eating her beef wellington dish and was briefly hospitalised. She also confirmed that she had dumped her food dehydrator in a skip.
AUGUST 15, 2023: A tradesman came forward to reveal that he had seen and photographed what he called a “death wall” inside Erin’s former home. The same day, a neighbour of Patterson’s claimed she was an experienced forager, who regularly picked her own mushrooms in the local area.
AUGUST 31, 2023: Hundreds of mourners attend the funeral for Don and Gail Paterson in Korumburra.
SEPTEMBER 22, 2023: Ian Wilkinson, who survived the mushroom lunch, is finally discharged from hospital after making “significant progress”.
SEPTEMBER 28, 2023: Forensic tests reportedly reveal mushroom poisoning was the official cause of death of the three victims.
OCTOBER 4, 2023: Ian Wilkinson is seen for the first time looking frail on a walking frame as he attends the funeral for his wife of 44 years.
NOVEMBER 2, 2023: Police arrested and charged Erin with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder.
MARCH 2024: Detectives were said to be very interested in delving into Patterson’s Facebook accounts in the hopes of taking her to court.
MAY 7, 2024: Patterson pleads not guilty to murdering her in-laws and attempting to murder her estranged husband during a hearing before the LaTrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court.
MAY 23, 2024: Patterson is expected to face the Supreme Court of Victoria
