One of three lunch guests who died after eating a poison mushroom Beef Wellington had a final conversation with paramedics – details of which have been passed on to police, according to a report.
Gail and Don Patterson, along with Gail’s sister Heather, died earlier this month after going to lunch with daughter-in-law Erin Patterson in Leongatha, Victoria.
Erin has denied deliberately poisoning the trio, as well as Heather’s husband Ian, who is fighting for his life in hospital awaiting a liver transplant. Daily Mail Australia is not suggesting Erin is responsible for the poisonings.
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.
Erin Patterson is pictured outside her home last week and has denied any wrongdoing after the alleged poisonings
Ian Wilkinson and Heather Wilkinson (both pictured) fell seriously ill after eating wild mushrooms. Ms Wilkinson has died as her husband remains in critical condition in hospital
Gail and Don Patterson died after eating the mushrooms. Erin was previously married to their son, Simon
It’s unclear what the lunch guest said to the paramedic.
Mrs. Patterson, a stay-at-home mom, 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 that while she was in hospital her ex-husband Simon accused her of poisoning her parents, Gail and Don.
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.
Food dehydrators are used to dry mushrooms before using them in beef wellingtons.
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”.
The family tree above shows the links between the Pattersons and the Wilkinsons involved in the unusual poisoning tragedy in Leongatha
Simon Patterson was supposed to join his parents for lunch who killed them but pulled out at the last minute
“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.
Ms Patterson had intended to use the meal as a reconciliation with ex-husband Simon, but he backed out at the last minute.
A neighbor of Gail and Don Patterson told Daily Mail Australia that Simon lived with his parents after splitting from his wife but moved out late last year.
“Sunday morning we saw the ambulance pull up in their driveway and we had no idea what was going on,” he said.
“They were very mobile people. They were always out doing their own lawn. They were quite active. Don used to go for a walk every morning.
The neighbour, who did not wish to be named, described his neighbors as kind people, who likely maintained contact with their son’s ex-wife even after the couple split.
“He was a pretty good kind of person who wouldn’t hold those grudges. I don’t know why they were there, but probably to see their grandchildren,” he said.
News of the tragic death caused a stir in the small rural community, with claims that Simon may have suffered a mysterious and serious stomach complaint in June 2022.
He fell into a coma and spent 21 days in intensive care in a case that baffled doctors.
A source at the Austin hospital told Daily Mail Australia that Mr Wilkinson is expected to need an urgent liver transplant and has also likely suffered significant kidney damage.
“I suspect he will be fine because if they thought he was so sick and they just needed the best intensive care, I think he would be at the Alfred. He’s probably going to have a transplant. There’s a chance he already had one, but no one will tell you because it could identify the donor,’ the source said.
