Australian police on Thursday arrested a woman who organized a lunch where she allegedly served mushrooms that poisoned three diners to deathtwo of them are his father-in-law.
The capture of Erin Patterson49, is the latest twist in a saga that has kept the country in suspense over what happened in the small rural town of Leongatha, 110 kilometers southeast of Melbourne.
“Homicide detectives arrested a woman this morning as part of their investigation into the deaths of three people following an incident in Leongatha this year,” Victoria state police said.
The case began on July 29, when the woman he invited his in-laws to his houseDon and Gail Patterson, from whose son he lives separatelyBaptist pastor Ian Wilkinson and his wife, Heather.
He served them a Wellington sirloin, accompanied by some mushrooms. On the same night, both couples were hospitalized due to poisoning symptoms.
Their health quickly weakened and within a week, three of them died. Only the shepherd survivedwho was released from the hospital in September after two months of being seriously ill.
Police believe the symptoms are consistent with drinking Mushrooms are considered the deadliest in the world and which grew near Leongatha.
The police immediately identified Patterson as one of the suspects, but he admitted that he had bought mushrooms in an Asian supermarket and the poisoning. It was an accident.
“I was devastated when I thought that these mushrooms could be contributing to the disease that my loved ones suffered,” he explained in a statement in August. “I want to repeat that I have no reason to hurt these people I love,” he added.
