She had vented to online friends about it, saying she wanted nothing to do with them and that she was “sick of this shit”. “This family, I swear to f—ing God,” Patterson told them.
The prosecution successfully argued that Patterson used a website for flora, fauna and fungi observations to find where death cap mushrooms were growing in Gippsland before picking, dehydrating, blitzing and adding the highly toxic mushrooms into individual beef Wellingtons she served to her guests on different coloured plates.
Don Patterson, Gail Patterson, Heather Wilkinson and Ian Wilkinson were poisoned.
Present at the lunch were her in-laws, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and her husband, Ian Wilkinson – the only guest to survive.
After Don, Gail and Heather fell gravely ill, Patterson engaged in a campaign to attempt to cover up her crimes by dumping the dehydrator, leading health authorities astray, and factory-resetting her electronic devices a number of times.
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On July 7, 2025, a jury of seven men and five women returned guilty verdicts in the Supreme Court at Morwell for the murders of Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather Wilkinson. They also found Patterson guilty of the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.
Patterson was later sentenced to life in prison with a non-parole period of 33 years in September, becoming one of Victoria’s longest-serving female inmates.
She has since lodged an appeal of her guilty verdicts. The Director of Public Prosecutions has separately appealed Patterson’s sentence arguing it was “manifestly inadequate”.
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