A mountain of evidence saw mushroom killer Erin Patterson convicted of murdering her ex-husband’s parents and aunt, but one item was noticeably missing from the prosecution’s case.
Despite hunting down Patterson’s deadly beef Wellington, dehydrator and photos of death cap mushrooms, officers were unable to find the 50-year-old’s main phone.
Patterson on Monday was found guilty of killing her parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson. She was also found guilty of attempting to murder Heather’s husband, Pastor Ian Wilkinson.
She had pleaded not guilty to the deaths and claimed the poisoning was accidental.
Patterson had invited the group to her Leongatha home on July 29, 2023, where she served them individually wrapped beef Wellingtons containing lethal mushrooms.
The killer initially feigned grief as the fatal lunch made headlines around Australia and Victoria Police charged her over the deaths in November 2023.
However, concerns soon grew that one of Patterson’s phones was missing, and investigators believed they’d been given a dud device.
CCTV vision from July 31, 2023 – released by the Victorian Supreme Court on Monday – showed the murderer in hospital after the incident with a Samsung phone in a pink case.
Erin Patterson was seen using a pink Samsung phone during her hospital visit following the fatal mushroom lunch in July 2023
Patterson later handed a different phone to police (pictured) during a search of her home in August 2023
Police were still able to gather large amounts of digital evidence, including a photo of death cap mushrooms on a scale (pictured) discovered on Patterson’s tablet device
That phone, dubbed Phone A, was never found.
Instead, when officers searched Patterson’s home on August 5, 2023, she handed them Phone B.
Police claimed Patterson had primarily used Phone A from February 2023 until August 2023, which Patterson agreed with.
She argued she gave officers Phone B as she was in the process of switching devices because she didn’t want her estranged husband, Simon, to reach her.
As for why two factory resets had been performed on Phone B before it was surrendered, Patterson told the court, ‘I knew that there were photos in there of mushrooms and the dehydrator and I just panicked’.
However, the prosecution believed the phone swap was a poorly executed attempt at hiding evidence.
It’s understood the killer may have gone as far as swapping the devices’ SIM cards while detectives were searching her property in August 2023.
Despite missing a key piece of evidence, detectives were still able to track down a large amount of other damning proof from her electronics.
Patterson (pictured on May 12) on Monday was found guilty of murdering her ex-husband’s parents and aunt
Patterson served the group a deadly beef Wellington (pictured) containing lethal death cap mushrooms
Patterson will return to court later this year for a pre-sentencing hearing (pictured, the truck transporting Patterson from court on Monday)
That evidence included a photo of death cap mushrooms on a scale and her online history of accessing the plant database and networking site, iNaturalist.
Internet history showed Patterson had viewed an iNaturalist post flagging death cap mushrooms in two areas of Victoria on at least one occasion.
Her mobile phone location later tracked her visiting both locations and buying a food dehydrator on her way home.
A photo of death cap mushrooms being weighed on a scale was discovered by investigators on Patterson’s tablet device.
The prosecution claimed Patterson was weighing the poisonous mushrooms to ensure she could deliver a fatal dose to her ex-husband’s family.
It’s believed Patterson then put the mushrooms in her dehydrator, which was found by police at Koonwarra Transfer Station, so they’d be undetectable in the lunch.
A 12-person jury found Patterson guilty of three murders and one attempted murder at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court on Monday afternoon following a week of deliberation.
She now faces a maximum sentence of life behind bars.
Patterson will return to court for a pre-sentence hearing later this year.
