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The woman at the centre of the suspected mushroom poisoning in Victoria has travelled to Melbourne to speak with her lawyers today.
Erin Patterson, 48, was questioned and released without charge by detectives from the Homicide Squad after three of her guests died and another fell seriously ill after eating toxic wild mushrooms during a lunch in the Gippsland region on July 29.
Don Patterson, his wife Gail – Erin Patterson’s in-laws – and Heather Wilkinson died a week after the lunch in Leongatha on July 29.
A fourth person, Reverend Ian Wilkinson, who is a pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church and Heather Wilkinson’s husband, is fighting for life in hospital and awaiting a liver transplant after eating the same meal.
Patterson initially told police she bought the mushrooms at the local shops.
9News has contacted all local grocery stores in Leongatha and a farmers’ market. All say they haven’t had any recalls on mushroom products.
The major supermarkets also say there have been no products taken off the shelves and there’s no concern for customer safety.
The dish at the centre of the suspected poisoning has been revealed to be a beef Wellington, according to numerous media reports.
Victoria Police told 9News they could not confirm or deny those details and conceded it would take some time for answers.
Patterson remains a suspect, Detective Inspector Dean Thomas told media earlier this week.
“She is (a suspect) because she cooked those mushrooms,” Thomas said.
Police spent yesterday searching a Koonwarra rubbish transfer station after seizing a food dehydrator.
9News understands the dehydrator was seized by police from a bin on Friday.
There have also been reports in News Corp alleging that Erin’s ex-husband Simon Patterson had told a friend he believed he had been poisoned by Erin in the past.
In a social media post from June 2022, Simon said he almost died last year from gut problems that left him in intensive care.
In the Facebook post, which has now been deleted, he revealed his family were asked to say goodbye to him twice in hospital due to fears he would not survive the gut illness, which required three emergency operations.
The post does not state the cause of his illness and there is no suggestion it is related to the current investigation.
Police have yet to determine if the illness was suspicious, calling it “unexplained”.
