Woman Accused of Killing Ex-Husband’s Family with Poisonous Mushroom-Laced Beef Wellington Is Found Guilty https://t.co/RfDpTPQv9e
— People (@people) July 7, 2025
As some of you noted in the comments yesterday, it’s been a newsy week for Beef Wellington. First we heard from Margaret Cho about how she and John Travolta regularly dined on the delicacy (along with boysenberry pie) while filming Face/Off in 1997. Then the verdict came in for an Australian murder trial where Beef Wellington was the weapon. Or more accurately, the conveyor of the weapon. Two years ago Erin Patterson invited her ex-husband and his family to lunch. The ex declined, but his parents, aunt and uncle accepted. Less than a week later, three of the four lunch guests were dead, with the fourth still hospitalized. It wasn’t the quality of the cooking itself that proved fatal, but an extra ingredient: death cap mushrooms, which, as the name suggests, are lethal. In fact, Amanita phalloides are the deadliest variety of mushroom known to humans. And so on Monday, Erin Patterson was found guilty of murder for the three who perished, and guilty of attempted murder for the one survivor.
The verdict: On Monday, July 7, the Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court in the South-Eastern Victoria town of Morwell heard that Erin Patterson, 50, had been convicted of the murders of her estranged husband Simon Patterson’s parents, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, 9 News reported. She was also found guilty of the attempted murder of Heather’s husband, pastor Ian Wilkinson, 68, who was hospitalized for weeks following the family lunch, the outlet stated. Don, Gail and Heather were taken to the hospital and died within days after consuming the Beef Wellington served by Erin, which had been laced with the deadly mushroom at her Leongatha house in July 2023, PEOPLE previously reported.
The defendant: As Monday’s verdict was read out, Erin didn’t drop her gaze from the jury, per The Guardian. After previously pleading not guilty to the murders, Erin said at a trial date last month that she accepted that there must have been death cap mushrooms in the dish, The Guardian previously noted.
The evidence: Among the evidence used during the trial, the BBC reported on Monday that images of Erin’s dining room table had been shown to the jury, as well as photos of a food dehydrator which she’d initially denied owning. Erin had since admitted that she’d dumped the dehydrator at a landfill a week after the fatal lunch, the outlet noted. The appliance was later recovered by police and Erin’s fingerprints and traces of death cap mushrooms were found on it by a forensic examination team, per the BBC.
The testimony: The weeks-long trial had also heard that survivor Ian had said Erin had served her guests Beef Wellington on grey plates, while she gave herself an orange one, the BBC reported. She had no traces of death cap mushroom poisoning, per the outlet. Erin had told the trial that she wasn’t that ill after the meal because she’d made herself sick after eating too much cake, the BBC stated.
The history: The Associated Press previously reported in May that Erin had also invited her ex-husband Simon to the lunch, but he chose not to attend. The agency noted that Erin had been accused of attempting to murder her ex on three previous occasions dating back to 2021. While previously denying any wrongdoing after the death of her third victim, Erin told reporters, “I’m devastated. I loved them. I can’t believe that this has happened and I’m so sorry,” per the AP.
The real kicker to me in this crime of errors, is the color-coded plates. At that point, a killer is just helping out the detectives, right? Erin Patterson actually left a lot of crumbs for law enforcement to follow, like being caught on CCTV tossing her food dehydrator in the landfill. She also initially denied to police that she even owned that appliance… only she’d posted photos on Facebook of her using the dehydrator — on mushrooms. (Reminder #1: Don’t commit crimes. Reminder #2: Don’t post them on social media.) A sentencing date has yet to be set, but Erin is definitely facing life in prison.
Wishing peace and healing to her ex-husband Simon, and their two children.