The Lethal Mushroom Luncheon chef has dismissed claims she is an ‘evil witch’ after a picture appeared of ‘disturbing’ scribbles on her dining room wall.
Erin Patterson, 48, hosted the now infamous luncheon at her Leongatha, in the southeast Gippsland region of Victoria, on July 29, which left three of her in-laws dead from suspected mushroom poisoning, while a fourth man remains in a coma.
Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Ms Patterson is responsible for the poisonings.
Now the mother-of-two has broken cover to lament her portrayal in the media and to protest her innocence.
“I lost my in-laws, my children lost their grandparents,” she said. The Australian.
“And I’ve been portrayed as an evil witch. And the media keeps me from living in this town.
Erin Patterson (pictured) broke her cover to complain about her alleged portrayal as an ‘evil witch’
The family tree above shows the links between the Pattersons and the Wilkinsons involved in the unusual poisoning tragedy in Leongatha
“I can’t invite friends. The media is at home where my children are. The media is at my sister’s house so I can’t go there. It is unfair.’
His comments come after a shopkeeper revealed he had taken a picture of a so-called ‘wall of death’ in the house Ms Patterson shared with her now estranged husband Simon.
The shopkeeper, who asked to remain anonymous, said he was paid to remove disturbing graffiti from the interior wall of the house in Korumburra, 15 km from Leongatha, which the couple eventually sold for $545,000 after their separation.
It is believed that they previously lived there with their two children.
The images, which Daily Mail Australia has seen, include images of tombstones and bizarre scribbles with themes of death and destruction drawn in black and red ink – the latter being used to symbolize blood.
‘It was disturbing. We called it the wall of death,” the trader said.
“They were made by their daughter (the Pattersons). It’s quite disturbing for mom to let the children draw on the wall of their dining room.
The poster-sized designs featured two tombstones with daggers and decapitated heads, as well as somber scribbles and quotes, including the words: “You died by the sword”.
Another has the date “August 1, 2021” with the words “you will die in a year” written underneath.
One of the tombstones appears to read “Grandma RIP” while the third reads “ME RIP”
Another person who saw the images described them as “satanic”.
Ms Patterson, a stay-at-home mom who once worked editing a Korumburra newsletter, says she bought the suspected poisonous mushrooms from a supermarket and an Asian grocery store, and was herself hospitalized after eating lunch.
Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson (both pictured) fell seriously ill after eating wild mushrooms. Ms Wilkinson died on Friday while her husband remains in critical condition in hospital
Gail and Don Patterson died after eating the mushrooms
But Daily Mail Australia revealed earlier on Wednesday that she was an experienced mushroom picker known for picking wild mushrooms in the Gippsland region of Victoria, a source close to the family said.
A friend of the Patterson family said Erin was ‘very good at foraging’ and identifying different varieties of mushrooms.
“The Patterson family (including Erin and Simon) used to pick mushrooms every year when in season,” the friend said.
“It’s very common for people to go mushroom picking in this area.”
Ms Patterson had intended to use the meal as a reconciliation with ex-husband Simon, but he backed out at the last minute.
Simon’s parents, Gail and Don Patterson, died after eating the meal – a beef wellington – while his aunt Heather also died.
Simon Patterson was supposed to join his parents for lunch who killed them but pulled out at the last minute
Heather’s husband, 68-year-old pastor Ian Wilkinson, is in a coma at Austin Hospital in Melbourne.
A source close to the police death investigation told the Herald Sun that one of the three people who died had a final conversation with a paramedic.
This paramedic felt it was necessary to pass on what was said to the police, the source claims.
It is not yet known what the lunch guest said to the paramedic.
Ms Patterson, a stay-at-home mom who once worked editing a Korumburra newsletter, says she bought the suspected poisonous mushrooms from a supermarket and an Asian grocery store, and was herself hospitalized after eating lunch.
Her children weren’t at lunch and went to the movies instead. They ate leftovers the next day but the mushrooms were scraped off as they don’t like them.
Ms Patterson told police she also fell ill after eating the meal and while in hospital her ex-husband Simon accused her of poisoning her parents.
She said she was ‘discussing the food moisturizer’ she was using to prepare the meal when her ex-husband asked, ‘Is that what you used to poison them?
Panicking, Erin admitted that she then emptied the dehydrator into a nearby landfill.
The dehydrator was found by police and a source close to the investigation told The Age that police were carrying out forensic tests on the dehydrator – which was found in a nearby landfill.
In a written statement sent to Victoria Police on Friday – and obtained by the ABC – Ms Patterson said she was hurt that people “have been so quick to rush to judgment”.
“I now want to clear things up because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones,” Ms Patterson said.
“I hope this statement could help in some way. I believe that if people understood the context better, they wouldn’t be so quick to rush to judgment.
“I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the disease my loved ones suffer from. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt those people I loved.
She previously gave a no-comment interview to police at the start of their investigations, blaming her decision to stop the cops for being a “terrifying and anxiety-provoking” experience.
