On July 29th multiple people fell ill and three died leaving one fighting for his life in intensive care hoping for a liver transplant.
Erin Patterson in Leongatha, Victoria's Gippsland region, on July 29 Invited her in-laws and ex-husband to dinner with her current husband. The ex-husband pulled out last minute but his mum, dad and Gails sister still joined Erin and Ian. The guests fell ill around midnight with food poisoning type symptoms and were taken to hospital where Gail, Don and Heather sadly passed away and Ian remains in Intensive care waiting on a liver transplant. The symptoms are consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning, The children present had eaten a different meal and they are fine no symptoms or concerns.
Erin is not showing any symptoms and has been named as a suspect but police caution that they do not know for sure if this was intentional or accidental and are trying to get to the bottom of what happened. Detectives have searched Erin’s house and taken some items to be tested also a food dehydrator that they found at the tip has been taken in for forensic testing.
Social media posts from Simon Patterson (Erin’s ex-husband) describe a time he spent in intensive care and his family was even brought in to say goodbye to him as he was suffering from stomach issues, though the cause is not in these posts and it's unclear if this could somehow be linked to the ongoing case.
Hopefully the tests will be able to clear up what happened.
