Australian mushroom mystery case: Lone survivor released from hospital. Here is how three people died
Erin Patterson. Three people, including Wilkinson's wife, died after the meal.
Erin Patterson said that it was an accident and she had no reason to harm his relatives, whom she had invited for lunch. She too fell sick and was admitted to a hospital. The police believe that the food contained death cap mushrooms, which are lethal if consumed. Patterson is not facing charges.
Fatal lunch
Patterson hosted the fatal lunch on July 29 in the small town of Leongatha in the Australian province of Victoria. She invited her former in-laws Gail and Don Patterson, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, and Heather's husband Ian. Her estranged husband failed to attend the lunch at the last moment. All four guests fell ill hours after the lunch and were admitted to a hospital.
Initially, it was considered to be a case of severe food poisoning, but Heather, Gail, and Don died within days. Ian was hospitalised in a critical condition.
Suspicion fell on Patterson
Suspicion fell on Patterson because she had invited the guests and she had cooked the food. But she said that she too was admitted to a hospital on July 31. Patterson also said she was devastated to think that the mushrooms cooked by her might have contributed to the illness suffered by her loved ones. She also said that she loved these people and she had no reason to hurt them.
Mixture of mushrooms
Explaining the food she served to her guests, Patterson said that the mushrooms used to prepare the meal were a mixture of button mushrooms purchased at a supermarket, and the dried mushrooms that she bought in Melbourne several months ago. She also said that her children ate some of the leftover beef Wellington the next day, but they did not like fungi and so left the food.
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