The eerie final words of the victims of a suspected mushroom poisoning reportedly caused the paramedics called to the scene to contact the police immediately. An Australian woman is being investigated after allegedly using “poisonous” mushrooms to maim and kill her ex-husband’s family.
The family of Erin Patterson’s ex-husband, including parents Gail and Don Patterson, as well as Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian, attended the woman’s party on July 29, despite her former partner declining to join.
After eating Ms Patterson’s beef wellington, the two parents, both 70, as well as Heather, 66, tragically died, while Ian was left in critical condition.
The investigating authorities believe the cause of their death may be related to the presence of death cap mushrooms, which are indigenous to the nearby forests of Leongatha, in the dish.
The undisclosed eerie last words of one of the victims are said to have made paramedics call police immediately, sparking an investigation.
Ms Patterson is yet to be charged with anything and denies any wrongdoing. She claimed that guests chose their own plates and she ate the same beef wellington.
But despite initial reports she didn’t fall ill, she later claimed that she was hospitalised with bad stomach pains and diarrhoea.
When she was in hospital, her ex-husband allegedly asked if she had “poisoned” his mother, father, auntie and uncle.
It was later reported that Ms Patterson lied about dumping a food dehydrator “a long time ago” that she may have used to make the meal.
The police later found the kitchen equipment. When alerted to the discovery, the bereaved ex-husband asked his former partner: “Is that what you used to poison them?”
The mother said that the mushrooms in the meal were from a major supermarket chain and an Asian grocery store in Melbourne, bought months before but there have been no health alerts from Victoria’s Health Department for any mushroom sales.
The Australian Mushroom Growers Association, responding to the claims, said: “Given the recent focus on mushrooms, the AMGA feels it necessary to inform the public that commercially grown mushrooms, produced in Australia, are safe and high quality. The only poisonous mushrooms are those picked in the wild.“
Ms Patterson, who has not been since Thursday (August 10), is now feared missing and lawyers acting on her behalf have camped outside her home to deliver her legal instruction.
