WOMAN CHARGED WITH KILLING IN-LAWS WITH POISONOUS MUSHROOMS
A 49-year-old Australian woman is being accused of killing her former in-laws after serving them a dish which contained deadly mushrooms.
Erin Patterson made Beef Wellington and served it at a family lunch in the town of Victoria.
Her former husband was also invited to the lunch, but couldn’t make it at the last minute. His parents then attended with a few other guests.
After the meal, three of the guests fell ill with only one surviving. The other two died in hospital. After an autopsy was carried out on them, it was established that Erin’s former in-laws died after consuming deathcap mushrooms.
The surviving guest spent two months in hospital recovering.
Erin now faces two charges of murder and one of attempted murder. Erin’s kids weren’t present at the lunch but had some of the Beef Wellington the day after the lunch. She said she scraped off the mushrooms before serving them to her children because they didn’t like the fungi.
In a statement, she maintained her innocence.
“I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people, whom I love.”
Image credit: Perth Now