THE bewildering case of the Leongatha 'mushroom murders' which so captivated the world in 2023, 2024 and 2025 started with the first of two credible discoveries of death cap mushrooms growing in the Leongatha-Korumburra area, at the Loch Recreation Reserve and in a remote location at nearby Outtrim in April and May 2023.
These discoveries are documented on the iNaturalist website, which Erin Patterson had been familiar with since May 2022 when she accessed information about the sighting of death cap mushrooms in Moorabbin, a suburb of Melbourne.
The first step on the deadly path to murder was taken, and while Erin might have pulled out any step of the way, she followed through. Here's part of the timeline to murder and the twists and turns that followed in the police investigation and trial that followed:
Friday, April 28 2023
Erin Paterson’s mobile phone pings on a communication tower near the Loch Recreation Reserve where 10 days earlier former poisons expert Christine McKenzie made a credible sighting of death cap mushrooms. Ms Patterson purchased a new Sunbeam food dehydrator from Hartley Wells in Leongatha that same day.
Sunday, July 16, 2023
Erin Patterson surprises her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson and Ian and Heather Wilkinson at church with an invitation to lunch in two weeks’ time. She also asks her estranged husband Simon claiming she wants to discuss some important medical news, but he ultimately declines on the evening before the lunch date.
Saturday, July 29, 2023
Erin Patterson welcomes her in-laws; Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather and Ian Wilkinson to lunch at her Gibson Street home in Leongatha and watches as they eat their deadly meal of beef Wellington, laced with enough death-cap mushrooms, in each individual pastry package, to kill them.
Monday, July 31, 2023
Erin Patterson attends Leongatha hospital complaining of gastro-like symptoms where nurses observe she wasn’t as sick as her lunch guests. Here she is first made aware that authorities are on to the existence of death cap mushrooms in the meal she served her guests.
Friday, August 4, 2023
Erin Patterson’s home raided by police, she hands over the “dummy phone” and lies to police during an interview at Wonthaggi later about ever foraging for wild mushrooms or owning a food dehydrator. Police had already recovered the dehydrator from the Koonwarra tip as well as a receipt and CCTV footage of Erin Patterson dumping what will later be called “the murder weapon”. By that time two of her lunch guests, sisters Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson have already died in horrendous circumstances.
Monday, August 7, 2023
Homicide Inspector Dean Thomas fronts the media revealing police have interviewed a 48-year-old “suspect” in relation to the poisoning death of three people and the hospitalisation of a fourth, displaying symptoms consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning. Public interest in the mushroom case expands worldwide.
Friday, August 11, 2023
Erin Patterson issues a statement to police and the ABC, “wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved one”, claiming she had no reason “to hurt these people whom I loved”.
Thursday, November 2, 2023
Erin Patterson arrested and charged at Wonthaggi Police Station with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder, but four of the attempted murder charges, relating to allegations of historic efforts to poison her husband Simon Patterson, are later dropped after a failed Court of Appeal application.
Tuesday, May 7, 2024
Erin Patterson formally pleads “not guilty” to all charges in the Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court and elects for her case to be fast-tracked to the Victorian Supreme Court.
Wednesday, August 21, 2024
Pre-trial hearing commence in the Supreme Court in Melbourne running through to February 13, 2025. Much of the detail of what transpired in those sessions remained supressed until after the verdict was delivered in the trial proper.
Tuesday, April 29, 2025
Erin Patterson’s trial starts in the Supreme Court sitting at the Latrobe Valley Law Courts in Morwell, with her estranged husband Simon Patterson among the first to appear as a witness. It continues for 40 days, through until Monday, June 30 when the jury retires to consider its verdict.
Monday, July 7, 2025
Erin Patterson is found guilty of all charges, three or murder where Gail and Don Patterson and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson are the victims and one of attempted murder against Heather’s husband of 44 years, Ian Wilkinson, the only guest to survive the deadly lunch.
Monday, August 25, 2025
Erin Patterson appears in court to face her victims with Pastor Ian Wilkinson delivering a stunning account of the severe impacts of Erin’s actions on his extended family and the wider community. The restrictive nature Ms Patterson’s incarceration in the 20-cell Gordon Unit of the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre is also described.
Monday, September 8, 2025
Erin Patterson is sentenced to life for the murders of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson and 25 years for the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson, with a minimum of 33 to serve. She will now have 28 days to consider lodging an appeal, against her conviction and/or the nature of the sentence.