The Erin Patterson story reads like it was ripped straight from the pages of a gripping crime novel.
A small country town. A family gathering. A home-cooked meal. And three dead guests.
Could Patterson’s evil actions have been inspired by a classic British TV crime drama?
A 2001 episode of the long-running and much-loved Midsomer Murders titled Destroying Angel has eerie parallels with Patterson’s case, blending the worlds of mushroom foraging and her true crime obsession in a chilling way.
On Monday, a jury in Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court found Patterson guilty of killing three relatives and the attempted murder of a fourth.
Her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, died, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, following an ill-fated beef Wellington lunch laced with death cap mushrooms.
Patterson hosted the lunch at her home in Leongatha, a quiet town surrounded by farmland and forest, 135km south-east of Melbourne, on July 29, 2023.
Mrs Wilkinson’s husband, local church pastor Ian Wilkinson, 70, miraculously survived but spent weeks fighting for life in hospital hospital, where he was in an induced coma and underwent a liver transplant.
Destroying Angel’s haunting parallels
Although the Midsomer Murders episode Destroying Angel aired 24 years ago, its plot has a striking resemblance to the Patterson case that has shocked and the world.
Is this what inspired her?
In the episode, hotel manager Gregory Chambers goes missing while out foraging in the woods for wild mushrooms.
The gruesome discovery of his severed, partially buried hand sparks the complex investigation.
Detectives Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) and Troy (Daniel Casey) follow a trail of secrets that involves a dispute over a will, the inheritance of a hotel, and even performances of Punch and Judy coded with secret messages.
There are failed relationships and deadly motives, mirroring Patterson’s fractured relationship with her estranged husband and in-laws.
As usual in a Midsomer Murders episode, the body count is high – with five murders, including one that is particularly gruesome.
The weapon?
Highly poisonous mushrooms: Amanita virosa, known as destroying angel.
This deadly fungus is almost identical in effect to the death cap mushrooms that were Patterson’s weapon of choice.
Liver failure. Excruciating symptoms. A slow, irreversible death.
Poisoning by lethal mushrooms is particularly cruel. The victim initially recovers, giving them false hope, before their liver begins to shut down, and by then it is too late.
This is depicted in graphic detail in Midsomer Murders, when Chambers’ killer Tristran Goodfellow (Tom Ward) is poisoned after eating a meal he prepared containing deadly destroying angel mushrooms.
Evelyn Pope (Rosemary Leach) sent the mushrooms to Goodfellow via a gardener in a very nasty revenge killing.
Both of these mushrooms, death caps and destroying angel look harmless, even beautiful. Destroying angel are named for their pure-white, angelic appearance.
But both are among the most lethal fungi on Earth.
In the Destroying Angel episode, Evelyn Pope knew exactly what she was doing.
So, prosecutors argued, did Patterson.
A passion for mushrooms and true crime
Patterson’s fascination with mushrooms was well known among her friends and in online circles.
She was an avid forager and would often spending long hours seeking out wild fungi.
She often foraged in the surrounding bushland, learning the subtle differences between species – which were edible, which were deadly.
Her knowledge wasn’t casual. It was detailed, deliberate, and far beyond that of a weekend hobbyist.
She knew the dangers of misidentifying fungi, she knew the consequences.
Patterson was equally captivated by the darker side of life, true crime.
She followed criminal cases and joined discussions in online groups.
Patterson dived deeply into the psychology of killers. Not unusual, but combined with her mushroom knowledge, it took on a darker edge.
There’s no direct evidence she watched the Destroying Angel Midsomer Murders episode, but the frightening similarities are hard to ignore.
A female killer with an intense interest in mushrooms, a quaint setting, and death by mushroom.
Patterson’s life mirrored the Destroying Angel episode in uncanny ways.
Like the character Evelyn Pope, she used mushrooms to kill.
Like Evelyn Pope, Patterson was surrounded by fractured relationships.
Her marriage had broken down and her relationship with her in-laws was strained.
Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited to the fatal lunch, but luckily didn’t attend, fuelling speculation he may have been the intended target.
The ending- fiction vs reality
The Destroying Angel episode ends with justice. The killer is revealed and the village returns to peace and tranquility.
But in Leongatha, regional Victoria, the wounds are still raw and will be forever.
The Patterson case will be remembered for years.
Not just for the horror of the crime, but for the eerie way life imitated art.
Sometimes, truth really is stranger, and darker than fiction.