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Police investigating the suspected mushroom poisoning deaths of three people and the serious illness of a fourth have spent the day combing a local tip after finding a food dehydrator.
Heather Wilkinson, her sister Gail Patterson, and Patterson’s husband Don Patterson died after eating toxic wild mushrooms during a lunch in Leongatha, in Victoria’s Gippsland region, on July 29.
A fourth person, Reverend Ian Wilkinson, who is a pastor at Korumburra Baptist Church and is Heather Wilkinson’s husband, is fighting for life in hospital and awaiting a liver transplant after eating the same meal.
Police are forensically testing the dehydrator, which was first seized from the Koonwarra transfer station.
9News understands the dehydrator was seized by police from a bin on Friday.
Detectives returned to the site today to speak with employees and ask for CCTV footage.
It’s understood the two couples were dining at the home of Erin Patterson, the Pattersons’ former daughter-in-law, when they were served the meal.
In a social media post from June 2022, Erin’s ex-husband Simon Patterson said he almost died last year from gut problems that left him in intensive care.
In the Facebook post, 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.
Homicide Detective Inspector Dean Thomas told media earlier this week police were yet to determine if the incident was suspicious.
Patterson was questioned by police but has been released without charge.
“She is (a suspect) because she cooked those mushrooms,” Thomas said.
Police are testing the dehydrator, which was found at a local tip, to see whether it was used to prepare the meal.
Thomas said the matter is “very complex” but the symptoms suffered by the victims match those caused by death cap mushrooms.
Parishioners at the Korumburra Baptist Church gathered yesterday to pray for their beloved local pastor who is fighting for life in hospital.
Anglican minister, Fran Grimes, who has worked closely with Ian Wilkinson, told Today the close-knit community was reeling.
“We haven’t had a lot of the questions here in the community about, you know, ‘how’ and ‘who’ and all those things,” she told Today.
“It’s just a terrible tragedy that is here, and I think there’s a lot of just wanting to love and care and support.”
