Eerie dying words of mushroom lunch victim made paramedic call cops immediately

15 August 2023 , 20:27

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Erin Patterson hosted the fatal lunch (Image: 10 News First)

The eerie last words of one of the victims of the poisonous mushroom lunch are said to have made paramedics call police immediately.

Erin Patterson invited her estranged ex-husband over for food, along with his parents, aunt and uncle, to her home in Victoria, Australia.

Her former partner Simon cancelled at the last minute but Erin fed his parents Gail and Don Patterson - as well as Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian. She gave them beef wellington and the meal left three of them dead and Ian fighting for his life in hospital.

Police said their symptoms were consistent with those caused by death cap mushrooms - which grow in the forests around Leongatha, in the region. However, mum Erin didn't become unwell and neither did her children. She said they ate a different meal to the adults.

Gail and Don Patterson both died after the meal (Nine)

There are claims the 48-year-old organised the lunch on July 29 in a bid to win back her husband. But after her guests ate her beef wellington, they became violently ill and Gail and Don, both 70, and Heather 66, died.

Baby boy has spent his life in hospital as doctors are 'scared' to discharge him

A friend of Simon's says he was also left extremely ill after eating one of Erin's meals just months before the shocking incident. A family friend told the Herald Sun: “Simon suspected he had been poisoned by Erin. There were times he had felt… a bit off and it often coincided when he spent time with her."

News.com.au reported that one of the ambulance workers who responded to the tragedy alerted police after hearing the dying words of one victim. They reported the guest’s last whispers were so alarming that they felt obliged to pass them on to investigators. However their exact words have not been made public.

Heather Wilkinson who also died from the suspected fatal mushrooms (Nine)

Church pastor Ian is fighting for his life in hospital (Nine)

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. Despite initial reports she didn’t fall ill, she claimed that she was hospitalised with bad stomach pains and diarrhoea.

The mum said that the mushrooms in the meal were from a major supermarket chain and an Asian grocery store in Melbourne, bought months before. There have been no health alerts from Victoria’s Health Department for any mushroom sales.

The Australian Mushroom Growers Association 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.“

Simon cancelled on the lunch at the last minute

But the mum already confessed to lying to the police once, when she told them she had dumped a food dehydrator “a long time ago” - but it was later seized by police. When she was at the hospital with her children talking about the food dehydrator her ex-husband reportedly asked: “Is that what you used to poison them?”

However, Ms Patterson is now feared missing, and lawyers acting for her have camped outside her home to deliver her legal instruction after she was last seen last Thursday. Ms Patterson told reporters just before 10am local time today that she was en route to visit her lawyers in Melbourne, Australia.

But a representative of the law firm was then seen waiting outside Ms Patterson's home around 5pm to hand deliver a letter from the firm. However, after she didn’t show before nightfall, the lawyer was forced to leave.

Kieren Williams