ERIN Patterson, the cook behind the toxic beef wellington, is said to be an experienced forager who collected wild fungi.
A friend of the Patterson family has claimed Erin, 48, was known to pick wild mushrooms around Victoria’s Gippsland region and was able to identify different varieties of the fungi.
News.com.au.Erin Patterson has denied any wrongdoing over the deaths[/caption]
NineErin’s in-laws are thought to have died from eating poisonous death cap mushrooms in a beef wellington[/caption]
Erin’s former parents-in-law Don, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, and her husband Ian all became ill following a family lunch at her home in Leongatha, Australia, on July 29.
Don, Gail and Heather have since died.
Ian is currently fighting for his life in Melbourne’s Austin hospital where he is in a critical but stable condition and he is waiting for a liver transplant.
The family friend, who has not been identified, told Daily Mail Australia: “The Patterson family (including Erin and Simon) would pick mushrooms each year when they were in season.
“It’s very common for people to go mushroom picking around that area.”
The friend added: “The family would go foraging regularly and knew what to pick.”
Erin’s estranged husband Simon Patterson had also been invited to the lunch but pulled out beforehand.
Detectives are currently investigating the “unexplained” deaths which are thought to have been caused by death cap mushrooms, which are one of the most poisonous in the world.
Erin has denied any wrongdoing and in a statement to the cops she said the mushrooms used were a mixture of button mushrooms purchased from a supermarket and dried mushrooms she had bought months before from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne.
She said she kept some of the lunch and gave it to toxicologists for examination.
Erin said: “I am now wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones.
“I am hoping this statement might help in some way.
“I believe if people understood the background more, they would not be so quick to rush to judgement.
Police have said Erin is a ‘person of interest’
“I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones.
“I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved.”
In the statement she also admitted lying to police when she told them she had dumped a food dehydrator at a local tip “a long time ago” – which was later seized by cops.
Erin said she was at the hospital with her kids “discussing the food dehydrator” when her ex-husband asked: “Is that what you used to poison them?”.
Worried she might lose custody of the couple’s children, Erin said she then panicked and dumped the dehydrator at the tip.
The police investigation is ongoing with Detective Inspector Dean Thomas saying last week that Erin was a “person of interest” because she had cooked the meal but emphasised cops were working to determine of the tragedy was accidental or suspicious.
Erin has also paid tribute to her former in-laws and said she had a positive and amicable relationships with them despite her marriage to their son having fallen apart.
She said: “I had been close with Simon’s parents for a long period of time. Our relationship had continued in a fairly amicable way after I finished the relationship with their son Simon.
“’Our relationship was affected to some degree by seeing them less after my marriage breakdown with Simon however I have never felt differently towards his parents.
“I had a deep love and respect for Simon’s parents and had encouraged my children to spend time with their grandparents as I believed they were exceptional role models.”
Gail Patterson, Erin’s former mother-in-law, died after eating the meal at Erin’s home
Don Patterson also died
Heather Wilkinson (left) died after the lunch while her husband, Ian, is fighting for his life
Erin’s estranged husband Simon Patterson pulled out of the lunch