Deadly mushroom cook weighed fatal dose on kitchen scales, says prosecutor
Summary
Erin Patterson, a 50-year-old Australian woman, is accused of using toxic mushrooms to kill three relatives and harm another person in July 2023. Prosecutors claim she measured a deadly amount of mushrooms using kitchen scales. Patterson denies any intention to harm and says it was an accident, insisting she did not know the mushrooms were poisonous.Key Facts
- Erin Patterson is accused of killing three people and trying to kill another with toxic mushrooms in July 2023.
- Photos on her phone allegedly show her weighing mushrooms that prosecutors say were death caps, a type of toxic mushroom.
- Patterson's in-laws and another relative died after eating a meal at her home, and a fourth person was hospitalized but recovered.
- The trial has involved over 50 prosecution witnesses in nearly six weeks.
- Patterson admitted to gathering wild mushrooms in the months before the event but denied intending to pick poisonous ones.
- She said she deleted data from her phone after the incident because she feared being blamed.
- Prosecutors allege she practiced using poisonous mushrooms in different foods, which she denies, claiming she meant to add more vegetables to her children's meals.
- CCTV footage shows her disposing of a food dehydrator, which prosecutors say was used to prepare the toxic meal; she denies this accusation.
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