Source : Perth Now news
TRIPLE DEADLY MUSHROOM POISONING KEY EVENTS
* 2015: Erin and Simon Patterson separate but continue an amicable relationship with shared custody of their two children
* November 2022: Simon notices a change in their relationship after he changes his tax return to “separated”, and Erin asks for child support
* June 24, 2023: Erin Patterson hosts her former in-laws, Don and Gail, for lunch with her children at her home in Leongatha; no one falls ill
* June 28, 2023: Erin Patterson tells Don and Gail about a lump on her elbow that requires testing
* July 16, 2023: At a Sunday service held at Korumburra Baptist Church, where Simon’s uncle Ian Wilkinson is pastor, Erin Patterson invites Simon, Don, Gail, Ian and his wife Heather to another lunch at her home
* July 28, 2023: Simon texts Erin to decline her invitation and says he feels too uncomfortable to attend the lunch
* July 29, 2023: Don and Gail Patterson, Heather and Ian Wilkinson gather at Erin Patterson’s home in Leongatha, where they eat beef Wellington laced with death cap mushrooms cooked by Erin. All four become sick in the late evening
* July 30, 2023: All four go to local hospitals in Leongatha and nearby Korumburra before being transferred to Dandenong and then the Austin Hospital in Melbourne
* July 31, 2023: Erin Patterson taken by ambulance from Leongatha Hospital to Monash Medical Centre with stomach pains; a toxicologist notifies Victoria’s health department about the suspected poisoning event
* August 1, 2023: Health Department speaks to Erin Patterson for four-and-a-half hours before she is discharged from Monash; she says she bought some of the mushrooms for the beef Wellington from Leongatha Woolworths and used dried mushrooms from an Asian grocer in Melbourne’s southeast
* August 2-3, 2023: Monash Council investigators visit 14 Asian-style and Indian-style stores, as well as fruit and vegetable sellers in Oakleigh, Clayton and Mount Waverley but fail to find dried mushrooms fitting Patterson’s description
* August 3, 2023: Victoria Police launches its investigation into the lunch
* August 4, 2023: Gail Patterson, 70, and her sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, die in hospital after being diagnosed with Amanita phalloides, death cap mushroom poisoning, the same day police find a dehydrator at Koonwarra Transfer Station
* August 5, 2023: Don Patterson, 70, dies in hospital after also being diagnosed with death cap mushroom poisoning, the same day police search Patterson’s Leongatha home and take her to the station for an interview
* September 23, 2023: Ian Wilkinson released from hospital
* April 29, 2025: Trial against Erin Patterson starts in Morwell with a jury of 15 empanelled, openings begin the following day
