On 29 July 2023, Erin Trudi Patterson murdered three of her relatives and seriously injured a fourth by serving beef Wellingtons containing highly toxic death cap mushrooms, during a lunch at her home in Leongatha, Victoria, Australia.
Within 24 hours, all four victims were admitted to hospital and subsequently diagnosed with severe liver failure. Three died within six days (in one case despite receiving a liver transplant), and one recovered seven weeks after the lunch.
Patterson was arrested on 2 November and charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder of her in-laws and their relatives, including four counts of attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon. After the charges of attempted murder of Simon were dropped, Patterson was tried before a jury in the Supreme Court of Victoria, sitting in Morwell, commencing on 29 April 2025. On 7 July 2025, the jury convicted Patterson on all remaining charges. On 8 September 2025, Justice Christopher Beale sentenced her to life imprisonment with a non-parole period of 33 years. It was the first sentencing hearing in Victoria to be broadcast live.
The case received extensive media coverage, both in Australia and around the world. A book about the murders and the trial published in 2025, titled The Mushroom Tapes, co-authored by Helen Garner, Chloe Hooper, and Sarah Krasnostein, won the 2026 ABIA General Nonfiction Book of the Year.
In August 2026 Patterson's lawyers argued for a retrial on several grounds including jurors mingling with hotel guests while being sequestered, alleged "unfair and oppressive" cross-examination, and evidence claimed to be irrelevant and prejudicial. Prosecutors also appealed the sentence given, calling it "manifestly inadequate" and arguing for the removal of the parole period in Patterson's sentence due to the seriousness of her crimes. Both appeals are ongoing.
Background
Early life and education Erin Trudi Patterson (; born 30 September 1974) grew up in the south-eastern Melbourne suburb of Glen Waverley. Her father was a civil servant and her mother worked as an academic and lecturer.
In 1992, Scutter was accepted for a science course at the University of Melbourne and later switched to accounting. She also trained to be an air traffic controller and graduated in 2001.
Early career Following her graduation, Scutter worked as an air traffic controller with Airservices Australia in Melbourne between February 2001 and November 2002. By 2004, Scutter worked as an animal management employee for RSPCA Australia at the Monash City Council's headquarters. In the same year, she began dating Simon Patterson, who worked as an engineer at Monash City Council.
Marriage and family life In July 2006, Scutter inherited AU$2million from her grandmother, which was paid to her over an eight-year period commencing in 2007. Scutter married Simon Patterson in 2007 and they moved to Western Australia, living in Perth, York, and Pemberton. Scutter, now Patterson, ran a second-hand bookshop in Pemberton while her husband worked for the local council. While living in Western Australia, Patterson gave birth to their son. Patterson subsequently testified that she bonded with Gail and Don Patterson, her parents-in-law, during this period.
Prior to the birth of their daughter, the Pattersons relocated to Koonwarra, Victoria, to be closer to her in-laws. According to Simon Patterson, Erin had bonded with Don over a "shared love of knowledge and learning" and that she liked his "gentle nature". Erin attended a Baptist church whose pastor, Ian Wilkinson, was married to Gail Patterson's sister, Heather.
Patterson's father died from cancer , and, in 2019, her mother also died from cancer. Erin Patterson and her sister inherited her parents' estate, which included a A$900,000 beachfront retirement home in Eden, New South Wales. Patterson's share of her parents' estate allowed her and Simon to provide interest-free loans to his three siblings and their spouses to buy homes.
Family conflict Erin's relationship with Simon began to deteriorate following the birth of their first child. The couple underwent several short-term separations before reaching a financial settlement and long-term split in 2015. Following their separation, Erin and Simon shared custody of their two children and remained on friendly terms, including going on holidays together.
In 2022, Erin and Simon's relationship deteriorated after he filed a tax return which listed himself as single. Due to this change in his relationship status, Erin became ineligible for government child support payments, with Simon being told by a federal government agency to stop paying his children's school fees and medical bills. While Simon claimed that this change in status was the result of a mistake by his accountant, the incident damaged the couple's relationship.
Between November 2021 and September 2022, Simon was hospitalised three times with gastrointestinal symptoms, with the second incident resulting in a coma and requiring life-saving surgery. A medical expert's report commissioned for the trial stated that Simon's symptoms were consistent with the ingestion of barium carbonate, an ingredient in rat poison. These details were suppressed for the duration of Erin's murder trial.
In the two years leading up to the family lunch on 29 July 2023, Erin's relationship with her in-laws had become estranged. According to her brother-in-law Matthew Patterson's court testimony, Erin missed several family events and attended some others only briefly. During her testimony, Erin alleged that she had been snubbed when she received a late invitation to her mother-in-law Gail's 70th birthday celebration around May 2023. Erin had also posted several social media messages to her online friends criticising her estranged husband and her in-laws.
Lunch and deaths
On 29 July 2023, at her home in Leongatha, Erin Patterson cooked individual beef Wellingtons for a lunch for her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, and Heather's husband Ian. Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson (separated around 2020), was invited but did not attend. Patterson claims her two children went to the cinema at the time of the lunch. The meal contained Amanita phalloides death cap mushrooms.
The following day, all four guests were admitted to hospital with suspected gastroenteritis. Erin Patterson went to Leongatha Hospital with reported stomach pains and diarrhoea, but repeatedly refused to be admitted. Doctors were so concerned for her welfare that they called the police. There were further health concerns for Erin and Simon's children, who purportedly ate leftovers of the beef Wellingtons (with the mushrooms and pastry removed), and doctors were adamant that the children should also be checked for any adverse reactions. It was suggested that Erin was initially reluctant to seek medical attention for the children.
On 4 August, five days after the lunch, Gail Patterson (aged 70) and Heather Wilkinson (aged 66) died in hospital and an investigation was launched by Victoria Police. On 5 August, Don Patterson (aged 70) died in hospital, despite receiving a liver transplant.
Ian Wilkinson (aged 69) remained hospitalised for over seven weeks and survived. He was discharged on 23 September. A funeral for his wife was held on 4 October.
Police investigation Police confirmed on 14 August that Erin Patterson had provided them with a detailed statement, in which she said she had bought dried mushrooms from an Asian supermarket in the Melbourne suburb of Mount Waverley (around away from Leongatha) three months before the lunch.
Patterson also said in the statement that she intentionally disposed of the food dehydrator that police found in a skip bin at a transfer station in Koonwarra after, she said, people "began accusing her of intentionally poisoning the meal".
Legal proceedings and trial Patterson was arrested on 2 November and charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder of her in-laws and their relatives, including four counts of attempted murder of her estranged husband Simon.
Patterson appeared in Latrobe Valley Magistrates' Court in Morwell on 3 November 2023. On 7 May 2024, she pleaded not guilty to the three murder charges and five attempted murder charges. Four of the attempted murder charges alleged she had repeatedly targeted her ex-husband Simon, but those charges were subsequently dropped. Patterson was tried in the Supreme Court of Victoria before a jury, presided over by Justice Christopher Beale. At Patterson's request the trial was held in Morwell, rather than Melbourne. The trial began on 29 April 2025 and covered three charges of murder and one charge of attempted murder.
Opening arguments During the trial, Crown prosecutor Nanette Rogers focused on Patterson's dehydrator and told the court that Patterson lied when she told police she had never owned one. The court was shown Patterson's Facebook posts sharing photos of a dehydrator along with dehydrated mushrooms. The Crown detailed Patterson's purchase of the dehydrator and subsequent trips in April 2023 to Loch and Outtrim, known death cap mushroom habitats. The Crown presented CCTV footage of Patterson dumping the dehydrator at the Koonwarra Transfer Station after the lunch. The Crown noted that police had forensically examined the retrieved dehydrator and found Patterson's fingerprints and traces of Amanita phalloides mushroom toxins, which were also detected in urine samples of Patterson's male guests. The Crown suggested that Patterson had not eaten the same meal as her alleged victims; had lied about her cancer diagnosis (the pretext on which she had invited the guests); and had lied about experiencing stomach pains and diarrhoea following the lunch. The Crown also suggested that Patterson had lied about having serious medical issuesto ensure that her children were not present at the lunch. The Crown stated that trying to prove that Patterson had a motive would not be part of their case.
Patterson's counsel Colin Mandy acknowledged Patterson's lie to police about not owning a food dehydrator or foraging for mushrooms. Mandy argued that Patterson panicked after learning that her lunch guests died after eating food she had cooked. Patterson's counsel accepted the Crown's argument that Patterson had never been diagnosed with ovarian cancer. Mandy stated that Patterson was close to her children and Don and Gail Patterson, her parents-in-law, who died after eating the lunch. Mandy said the defence did not dispute that death cap mushrooms had caused the deaths of the lunch guests. Mandy argued that Patterson did not intend to cause harm to anyone that day and that the defence would be arguing that the victims' deaths were a "tragedy and terrible accident."
Trial evidence The Crown presented several witnesses including Patterson's husband Simon Patterson, Ian Wilkinson, child protection practitioner Katrina Cripps, and several medical personnel who attended to Patterson and her family. The court also heard video testimony from her children. In addition, the prosecution presented several expert witnesses including the mycologists Thomas May and Camille Truong, the toxicologist Dr Dimitri Gerostamoulos, Plant Health Australia diagnostics manager David Lovelock, digital forensic science expert Matthew Sorell, and Victorian Police digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Hendry. The court also heard from several Police personnel including Detective Senior Constable Khuong Tran, Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell, and Detective Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall.