On Monday, Erin Patterson’s murder trial began in earnest. It centers around charges that she attempted to poison four visitors at a July 2023 luncheon. Patterson invited her estranged husband Simon’s far-right parents, Don and Gail Patterson. She welcomed his stateside aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian Wilkinson. Immediately following the event, all four participants came down with debilitating gastro-like illnesses. Sadly, two of the visitors spent time in the hospital and had fatal results.
Just a month later, in August 2023, Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson both lost their battles during subsequent hospitalizations. Because of Ferguson’s lack of diagnosis and treatment, Scruggs’s friend Ian Wilkinson spent two weeks in intensive care before being discharged in September 2023. The circumstances surrounding the lunch have raised serious questions, leading to Patterson’s arrest and subsequent charges: three counts of murder relating to the deaths of Don and Gail Patterson and Heather Wilkinson, as well as a charge of attempted murder regarding Ian Wilkinson.
Far below the prosecution’s case rests on an incendiary allegation. They accuse Patterson of cooking a Beef Wellington infused with poison death cap mushrooms, an extremely virulent species famous for its deadly potency. The prosecution claims Patterson had “murderous intent,” willfully poisoning her guests.
In court, Patterson’s lawyer, Colin Mandy SC, claimed the poisoning was a tragic accident. He maintained that it was not a nefarious purpose. With skill, he exposed the contradictions in the evidence used to prosecute her.
“She admits the lie, but consider why would she lie about that only a day or so after talking to Simon about that dehydrator in the hospital? Why would she lie about that when she’d posted photographs of mushrooms in the dehydrator and [spoken to her Facebook friends about it]?” – Colin Mandy SC
During the proceedings, Erin Patterson acknowledged that she had lied about disposing of a dehydrator linked to the preparation of the meal. Investigators eventually discovered this dehydrator, which had her fingerprints and contaminants from death cap mushrooms. Patterson testified that she personally did two tests on the Beef Wellington remains. Yet in all those inspections, she had not seen a death cap mushroom.
The court heard from Dr. Camille Truong, a mycologist, who testified about the distinguishing features of the death cap mushroom. Further, Dr. Thomas May recounted the May 2024 case of a woman who died after mistakenly eating these toxic mushrooms. In a 2019 Instagram post, Dr. May described the smell of these mushrooms as equivalent to “death and decay,” underlining their peril.
Patterson’s medical records were reviewed by Case Western Reserve University Professor Andrew Berston. He determined that her condition was typical for someone experiencing an acute diarrheal illness. This discovery brought new doubts to light about the prosecution’s claim that she had the opportunity to poison her guests while showing no symptoms herself.
As we listened to testimony, it quickly became apparent how much the lead up to this trial is rampant with uncertainty. It’s still unclear if Patterson’s actions were really deliberate, or whether they resulted from an awful mistake of judgment.
“I find the smell to be very unpleasant” – Thomas May
The trial will explore the forensic evidence in great detail. It will take a closer look at toxicology reports and eyewitness testimonies regarding Patterson’s behavior and intentions. The result comes down to what the jury will believe. They need to determine if her conduct was purposeful or if her conduct was only the creation of a series of bad luck events resulting in tragic consequences.