An Australian woman was arrested over the deaths of three people and leaving another one fighting for life in August after they consumed food which contained poisonous mushrooms at a lunch gathering hosted by her. Erin Patterson, aged 49, was arrested at her residence in Leongatha, located in the Gippsland region, around 8 am on Thursday and subsequently transported to a nearby police station. As of now, no charges have been filed against her.
"Homicide squad detectives have arrested a woman this morning as part of their investigation into the deaths of three people following an incident in Leongatha earlier this year," Victoria police said in a statement.
According to an Associated Press (AP) report, Patterson served the mushrooms as part of a beef Wellington dish on the afternoon of July 29 to her estranged parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, Gail Patterson’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and her husband Ian Wilkinson, 68.
Later that night, both the couples were taken to the hospital with food poisoning symptoms as their health rapidly deteriorated. Within a week, three of them were dead. Police believe their symptoms were consistent with those caused by eating highly toxic death cap mushrooms. Of the four, only Wilkinson survived after spending nearly two months gravely ill in the hospital. Wilkinson, a Baptist pastor, was released from hospital in late September and police say he continues to recover.
According to AP, Patterson was interviewed earlier about the fatal lunch, however, no charges were filed. She had also publicly denied any wrongdoing. Patterson always insisted she was innocent, reportedly saying that she had unwittingly bought the mushrooms from an Asian grocery store and that the poisonings were accidental.
Police Search Erin Patterson’s House
According to Reuters, the police said they were searching the Patterson’s house using technology detector dogs that are trained to sniff out tiny electronic devices such as USBs and SIM cards, which are easy to hide.
"Today's arrest is just the next step in what has been a complex and thorough investigation by homicide squad detectives and one that is not yet over," Dean Thomas, the detective in charge of the investigation, told a news conference on Thursday, Reuters reported.
Police will interview the woman once the search is complete, he added.
Earlier, Patterson in a statement said that she had prepared a Beef Wellington steak dish for the lunch using mushrooms bought from a major supermarket chain and dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery store. She also added that after she had also eaten the meal herself, she suffered stomach aches and diarrhea.