A family lunch hosted by an estranged Australian wife that ended with three of her relatives fatally poisoned may have been part of an effort to win back her husband, it emerged Wednesday.
Emmanuelsblog.com.ng earlier this week reported the viral case of a woman feared to have killed three family members by feeding them poisonous mushrooms.
Erin Patterson, 48, who lives in a small town in rural Victoria, is said to have invited her former partner Simon Patterson to her home for the meal with his parents Gail and Tom Patterson, 70, along with Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and husband Ian, 68.
Simon pulled out at the last minute, but Gail, Tom and Heath were dead in a week and Ian remains critical in hospital.
Ms Patterson was interviewed by police, who said the victims’ symptoms were consistent with eating death caps – the most poisonous mushrooms in the world.
The deeply unusual case has gripped Australia, baffled police and left a closely-knit community desperately seeking answers.
READ MORE: Homeless Nigerian man arrested for allegedly beating 61-year-old woman TO DEATH in Italy
And in the latest tragic twist to the story, sources have told Daily Mail Australia that Ms Patterson had invited Simon to their former family home as part of a church mediation involving Ian, a Baptist pastor.
It comes amid reports the deadly dish was a beef wellington. It is not clear when Ms Patterson split with Simon but police said the separation was ‘amicable’.
They have two children who were at the lunch but ate different meals to the adults and did not experience any illness. They’ve reportedly been taken into care.
A source close to Simon, who remains in hiding days after the tragedy on July 29 in the town of Leongatha, told Daily Mail Australia that his friend had no interest in getting back together with the mother of his two children.
‘They went to her house for a mediation to talk to the family. Simon was supposed to go there for lunch but he pulled out in the last minute otherwise he would be in that death bed too,’ the friend said on Thursday.
‘The people who died, Gail, Don and the Wilkinsons, were talking to them because they’re heavily ingrained with the church and they wanted to make sure she was right to resume a relationship with Simon … she was basically petitioning to get back with him and the family didn’t think that was a good move.’
The friend claimed Ms Patterson was desperate to get back together with her estranged husband.
‘She wanted to get back with Simon and the family didn’t want Simon to get back with her,’ he said.
‘They basically didn’t think she was good enough for him in their eyes.’This wasn’t just a lunch, it was an intervention with the pastor as mediator. That’s why this lunch happened.’
It emerged Wednesday that Simon spent 21 days in intensive care after collapsing at his home in May 2022.
However, several of Simon’s friends have told Daily Mail Australia he never once accused his ex-wife of foul play.
On Thursday, Ms Patterson lashed out at a waiting media pack, who she accused of making her a prisoner in her own home.
‘I’ve got tonnes of friends who want to help (me) but I’ve told them to stay away while all the vultures are here because they don’t want to be in the papers either,’ she said.
‘So I can’t get help from my friends who all want to come and help me but they’ll all be subjected to the crap so do I have to move out of my own home?’
Ms Patterson said she was travelling to Melbourne to speak with her lawyers. She has denied any wrongdoing and no charges are expected to be laid at this stage of the investigation.
There is no suggestion Ms Patterson was responsible for Simon’s illness or the three deaths.
Police say the symptoms experienced by the victims were consistent with consuming death cap mushrooms, which can cause kidney and liver failure.
Sole survivor Ian Wilkinson remained in a critical condition on Wednesday night awaiting a liver transplant.
Hours earlier police returned to a rubbish tip in Koonwarra to request CCTV footage after a dehydrator was found discarded at the site.
It was previously revealed detectives are investigating whether a food dehydrator was used to prepare the meal and then disposed of a day after the lunch.
Police are believed to be carrying out forensic testing on the appliance.
Detectives have described the deaths as ‘unexplained’.
Homicide squad investigator Dean Thomas said: ‘It could be very innocent, but we just don’t know.’
