A police search of Erin Patterson’s home one week after serving up a toxic dish to her estranged husband’s family has been shown to her triple-murder trial.
The jury was told mushroom cook Erin Patterson asked police “who died?” when they arrived to search her home one week after serving up a poisonous meal to her estranged husband’s family.
The 50-year-old is nearing the end of her triple-murder trial in regional Victoria, over the July 2023 toxic beef Wellington lunch she prepared which led to the deaths of three people, and near death of another.
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Patterson is defending the charges and maintains the deaths were a tragic accident.
Video from a police search seven days after the meal was shown to the jury today as a detective gave evidence.
Detective Sergeant Luke Farrell said he arrived at Patterson’s home in Leongatha, two hours’ drive south-east of Melbourne, about 11.30am on August 5.
The jury was shown photos of dark-coloured, red-coloured and a multi-coloured plate in drawers and a dishwasher at the home, as well as Nagi Maehashi’s RecipeTin Eats cookbook titled Dinner next to the stove.
Farrell said he opened the cookbook and found a beef Wellington recipe on a page that was “spattered” with cooking liquids.
Photos of digital scales, a Sunbeam dehydrator manual, computer hard drives and tablets found in the home were also shown to the jury.
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He said the search concluded about 3.45pm that day but before leaving he sat down with Patterson and asked for her phone.
A video of that interaction was played to the jury, where Farrell sits opposite Patterson at her dining table.
“Thanks for your patience today, with the house search,” he says to Patterson.
He said there was only one outstanding item, her mobile phone, and asked to “have a look”.
Patterson replied “of course”, handed her phone over and he then asked if a pin code was required.
She replied it was either a four-digit code or a six-digit code, but could not remember “which one”, and then leaned over the table to assist him with the phone.
Under cross-examination by defence barrister Colin Mandy SC, the detective confirmed Patterson’s two children and dog were home during the search.
She “expressed surprise” at being told Heather Wilkinson had died when police arrived, he said.
The detective was read transcript of a video from that day, which stated Patterson was told the search warrant was “in connection to the deaths of two people over the last couple of days”.
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“Her response is ‘who died?'” Mandy asked Farrell, to which he agreed.
Earlier today, a public health adviser was cross-examined by defence over alleged changes to the information Patterson had given her during a search of Asian stores for deadly mushrooms.
Patterson had told Victorian Department of Health senior adviser Sally Ann Atkinson she’d purchased dried mushrooms from a store in Oakleigh, Clayton or Mount Waverley in April 2023 for a pasta dish.
The jury heard Atkinson claim Patterson had changed her story, initially stating she had used some of the mushrooms in that dish, and later said she decided not to use them.
“At that time it sounded like she’d given me two conflicting pieces of information,” she said today.
Atkinson said she was involved in public health efforts to track down mushrooms from July 31 to August 4, and said Patterson informed her on August 3 to also look at Asian stores in Glen Waverley.
After the investigation, which formally concluded on August 11, a report was compiled titled “The Patterson Family Outbreak”, the jury was told.
Atkinson confirmed the health department found the poisoning was an “isolated incident” and the risk to public health was “very low” with no recalls of products warranted.
It was “highly unlikely” the commercial supply chain of mushrooms had been contaminated with amatoxin, also known as death cap mushrooms, she said.
Patterson has pleaded not guilty to three counts of murder, over Don and Gail Patterson and Wilkinson’s deaths, and one of attempted murder.
The trial before Justice Christopher Beale continues.
LISTEN NOW: The Mushroom Trial: Say Grace is the latest podcast from Nine and The Age. Join journalists Penelope Liersch and Erin Pearson as they take listeners inside the case that’s grabbed global headlines. You can listen on Apple here and Spotify here.
