An Australian woman suspected of poisoning her former in-laws and others with deadly mushrooms at a lunch she served has been charged with multiple counts of murder and attempted murder.
Three people died after Erin Patterson, 49, served beef Wellington, a dish that includes mushrooms, to guests in July.
While three murder charges relate to the lunch, three of five attempted murder charges are linked to separate incidents between 2021-22, police say.
Ms Patterson maintains she is innocent.
She has said she did not intentionally poison her guests at the family lunch at her home in the Victoria town of Leongatha on 29 July.
Toxicology reports suggest the victims consumed deathcap mushrooms.
Her former husband Simon Patterson had also been invited to the meal, but was unable to make it at the last minute.
Along with the three murder charges, Ms Patterson has been charged with two attempted murder charges relating to the July lunch.
The police have not provided details of the two attempted murder charges. However it is known that one of the guests at the meal fell critically ill but survived.
Ms Patterson has also been charged with three counts of attempted murder linked to what police said were three separate incidents where it is alleged a 48-year-old man became ill following meals between 2021 and 2022. No further details have been given.
Ms Patterson was named as a suspect by police after she and her two children appeared unharmed after the lunch.
She was taken into custody on Thursday and police spent hours searching her home in Leongatha, around 125km (78 miles) south-east of Melbourne.
Specialist technology detector dogs, which are trained to look for items like laptops and Sim cards, were at the scene.
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Homicide squad Inspector Dean Thomas stressed the complexity of the case in a press conference, describing it as a tragedy that may “reverberate for years to come”.
“I cannot think of another investigation that has generated this level of media and public interest, not only here in Victoria, but also nationally and internationally,” he added.
Gail and Don Patterson – the parents of Ms Patterson’s ex-husband – were guests at the lunch along with Gail Patterson’s sister Heather Wilkinson and brother-in-law Ian Wilkinson.
The four were taken to hospital on 30 July reporting violent illness, police say.
Within days the Patterson couple, both 70, and Ms Wilkinson, 66, had died. Mr Wilkinson, 68, was taken to hospital in a critical condition but later recovered after two months of treatment.
Erin Patterson has said she herself was taken to hospital after the meal due to stomach pains, and was put on a saline drip and given medication to guard against liver damage.
She has said she served the beef Wellington using a mixture of button mushrooms bought from a supermarket, and dried mushrooms purchased at an Asian grocery months earlier.
“I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones,” she wrote in a statement in August.
“I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people, whom I loved.”
Her children, who were not present at the lunch, ate some of the leftover beef Wellington the next day. However the mushrooms had been scraped off the dish as they do not like the fungi, she said.
Ms Patterson has also addressed questions concerning a food dehydrator found by police at a local tip. She has admitted to having owned it, explaining that she got rid of it in a state of panic following the deaths.
She has been remanded in custody and will appear at Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
SOURCE: BBCNEWS
