July 9, 2025

Erin Patterson’s Mushroom Murder Motive - She’s Just Like Chris Watts

Erin Patterson’s Mushroom Murder Motive -  She’s Just Like Chris Watts
The player is loading ...
Erin Patterson’s Mushroom Murder Motive -  She’s Just Like Chris Watts

 Erin Patterson is guilty and the hidden truth of her coercive controlling behaviour is finally revealed, highlighting disturbing parallels with other family annihilators like Chris Watts. 

• Former Air Services Australia colleagues dubbed her "Scutter the Nutter" and "Crazy Erin" for pathological lying and manipulation
• Patterson used deadly death cap mushrooms as her murder weapon, killing three people at a family lunch
• Her crimes represent classic coercive control - punishing her ex-husband Simon by eliminating his family
• Journalist Claire Harvey describes Patterson's controlling behaviours as domestic violence often missed because she's female
• Patterson's coldly calculated plan included discarding evidence at the tip while being caught on CCTV
• Former colleagues report Patterson had "guys wrapped around her little finger" despite her strange behaviour
• The triple murderer faces upcoming pre-sentencing hearings with 28 days to launch a potential appeal

Chris Watts episode

Visit mushroommurdertrialcom to subscribe to the newsletter for case updates. Follow the podcast on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, and consider supporting this work through the Buy Me a Coffee membership.


Support the show

Instagram @Erin_Podcast
Twitter @lisapodcasts
Mushroom Murder Trial Website

Erin Patterson Mushrooms

.

Erin Patterson Mushrooms

Here it is in summary.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

00:00 - Intro to Mushroom Murder Trial

01:49 - Familicide: Comparing Erin to Chris Watts

04:31 - Coercive Control as Erin's Motive

09:33 - "Scutter the Nutter": Erin's Work History

11:47 - Trial Conditions and Court Behavior

14:12 - Upcoming Events and Closing Remarks

WEBVTT

00:00:01.340 --> 00:00:03.665
This is the Mushroom Murder Trial Podcast.

00:00:03.665 --> 00:00:06.091
My name is Lisa and welcome to my show.

00:00:06.091 --> 00:00:12.961
So get yourself a coffee, a tea or a Diet Coke, because we have a lot to talk about, especially now.

00:00:12.961 --> 00:00:22.567
I can tell you really what I think about Erin Patterson, triple murderer and now full-time resident of Dame Phyllis Frost Detention Centre in Melbourne.

00:00:22.567 --> 00:00:33.420
Now I just have some housekeeping to start, just to let you know, one of the journalists on this case, duncan McNabb, has a book coming out very, very soon.

00:00:33.420 --> 00:00:37.329
He is the best-selling author of Roger Rogerson.

00:00:37.329 --> 00:00:38.752
You may have heard of him.

00:00:38.752 --> 00:00:45.133
He was the, I suppose, the most corrupt and most vicious police officer New South Wales has ever had.

00:00:46.000 --> 00:00:53.747
So Recipe for Murder will give you the poisonous truth behind Erin Patterson, the mushroom murderer of Leangatha.

00:00:53.747 --> 00:00:55.264
I've seen the cover.

00:00:55.264 --> 00:00:56.488
It looks fabulous.

00:00:56.488 --> 00:01:00.789
It's out very soon and he's also going to come on the show.

00:01:00.789 --> 00:01:13.180
So we're going to do a live show and talk about our experiences covering the case, because we've been in this from the start, through the pre-trial and the trial and now post trial.

00:01:13.180 --> 00:01:16.206
Now I'm also going to talk to John Ferguson.

00:01:16.206 --> 00:01:21.304
He's the reporter who broke the story of the tragic lunch for the Australian.

00:01:21.304 --> 00:01:26.260
So we've just got to make sure we can get a ton together and you can listen to him.

00:01:27.242 --> 00:01:32.352
Now, before we start, make sure you subscribe to my newsletter at mushroommurdertrialcom.

00:01:32.352 --> 00:01:35.885
It's full of updates and information about the trial.

00:01:35.885 --> 00:01:49.087
I hope everyone got their email about the jury that I sent through recently that they were about to make a decision, so let me know if you didn't, because I don't trust the internet Now.

00:01:49.087 --> 00:01:55.608
I also would love you guys, if you could, to subscribe and review the Mushroom Murder Trial podcast.

00:01:55.608 --> 00:02:08.804
So, since I've been covering this case, I've been doing a lot of thinking, and it's about the concept of familicide, which is where a killer annihilates members of his or her own family.

00:02:09.646 --> 00:02:14.905
I'm very interested in this subject due to the shocking Chris Watts crimes from the USA.

00:02:14.905 --> 00:02:21.604
Now, he was someone quite like Aaron that you never could have predicted was a budding murderer.

00:02:21.604 --> 00:02:28.223
He was very introverted as well, and he lurked in the background just like the cook of Langatha.

00:02:28.223 --> 00:02:42.161
I describe Chris Watts as a human weasel because in 2018, he annihilated his beautiful wife, shanann, and their two darling little toddlers, bella and Celeste.

00:02:42.161 --> 00:02:47.943
He'd been having an affair and he wanted to start a new life, so that was his solution.

00:02:47.943 --> 00:02:50.367
It's ridiculous, isn't it?

00:02:50.367 --> 00:02:52.913
You just leave someone, you don't kill everyone.

00:02:52.913 --> 00:03:06.490
So this monster stuffed his girl's bodies into oil tanks on the company facility where he worked and he buried his wife face down in a hastily dug ditch.

00:03:06.490 --> 00:03:12.608
Like Erin, he maintains he's innocent, even though he's on camera driving away with the bodies.

00:03:12.608 --> 00:03:14.913
Sound familiar anyone?

00:03:14.913 --> 00:03:18.929
Let's go and ditch the dehydrator at the tip in front of all the cameras.

00:03:18.929 --> 00:03:20.192
Have you seen that?

00:03:20.192 --> 00:03:24.448
I will be getting those exhibits as well and putting them on the website.

00:03:24.748 --> 00:03:28.406
So Watts also did bizarre media interviews.

00:03:28.406 --> 00:03:32.860
You might have seen the episode I put through yesterday about Erin versus the media.

00:03:32.860 --> 00:03:33.682
Check it out.

00:03:33.682 --> 00:03:38.212
There's a link in the show notes and Watts is in there as well.

00:03:38.212 --> 00:03:46.151
But both of their cover-ups were blundersome and full of some extremely bizarre lies.

00:03:46.151 --> 00:03:53.211
These crimes were shocking in their cruelty and I believe Erin, as I said, is no different to Watts.

00:03:53.312 --> 00:04:08.544
But at the end of the day, someone that's Erin who was so desperate to keep the love and attention of the Patterson family, ended up killing some of them in a domestic setting, her kitchen, essentially the heart of her home.

00:04:08.544 --> 00:04:17.069
This is the same woman who says she had a terrible, neglectful childhood, but she targeted a happy family.

00:04:17.069 --> 00:04:19.454
So there's so much to think about.

00:04:19.454 --> 00:04:31.564
There's an article that was in the Australian on July 8th and it is by Claire Harvey, and it says what on earth was Erin Patterson's motive?

00:04:31.564 --> 00:04:35.192
It's obvious domestic violence, coercive control.

00:04:35.192 --> 00:04:52.411
Yes, someone's finally said it Patterson is like every man who slaughters his children to punish his wife, every DV monster who terrorizes a woman who tries to get away her patterns of behavior control, withholding affection.

00:04:52.411 --> 00:05:06.406
I have to tell you something when we were in that Facebook group Erin this is like 2019, 2020, she all gave us the impression that Simon was living with her and they were married and living as man and wife.

00:05:06.406 --> 00:05:08.588
That is weird, don't you think?

00:05:08.588 --> 00:05:16.153
So it makes me wonder about the truth, about how she got the secret cleaner and Simon didn't know about it.

00:05:16.153 --> 00:05:20.473
Why would he care whether her house is cleaned or not?

00:05:20.473 --> 00:05:23.338
I just have so many questions.

00:05:23.338 --> 00:05:44.045
Patterson is like every man who slaughters his children and she goes on to say her patterns of behavior control, withholding affection, isolating husband, simon Patterson are signs of abuse we're used to diagnosing when men are the perpetrators, yet because she's a woman, our society struggles with it.

00:05:44.045 --> 00:05:45.750
Well, not me.

00:05:46.552 --> 00:05:51.867
The dominant partner frequently excludes and marginalises their spouse who spends time.

00:05:51.867 --> 00:06:02.197
Yes, simon spent time in caravan parks and rented flats and who idolise the dominant partner, hoping in vain for a permanent resolution.

00:06:02.197 --> 00:06:11.444
The dominant partner uses emotional blackmail, claims of illness suffered by themselves and the children to create a sense of drama and suspense.

00:06:11.444 --> 00:06:18.444
That's what Erin was like in the group dramatic, seeking attention and wanted to be in everyone's business.

00:06:18.444 --> 00:06:41.038
When the dominant partner wrong foots the submissive partner by choosing moments to suddenly walk away, like on a family holiday drive around Australia, just like Erin, and then returns with the cool expectation of being restored to their dominant position, the dominant partner demeans and mocks the submissive partner's faith and family.

00:06:41.038 --> 00:07:01.204
So when the powerless partner makes a step, a first step, towards independence, self-describing as separated on a tax return, something so little that it set her off, the dominant partner is enraged and begins a campaign of abuse, belittlement, rage and disparagement.

00:07:01.204 --> 00:07:08.988
So yes, we heard in the court Erin's son say that Dad had been doing a lot of bad things to Mum.

00:07:08.988 --> 00:07:19.588
Well, how would he know, other than Erin told him that there's trying to unsuccessfully draw extended family into the dispute.

00:07:20.535 --> 00:07:27.149
The dominant partner organises a showdown where a made-up dramatic story of a serious illness is to be told.

00:07:27.149 --> 00:07:28.418
That's the cancer story.

00:07:28.418 --> 00:07:29.420
We know that, don't we?

00:07:29.420 --> 00:07:35.817
So when the crime is discovered, the dominant partner lies blames.

00:07:35.817 --> 00:07:39.363
The spouse claims to be the real victim.

00:07:39.363 --> 00:07:43.899
That's what Erin Excels at is claiming to be the victim.

00:07:43.899 --> 00:07:51.665
She did it in the group and those emails like I wasn't close with Erin but I annoyed her a couple of times I think.

00:07:51.665 --> 00:07:59.935
And I got these emails and when I saw them in court I was just like, oh my God, because it's just so, what's the word I'm looking for?

00:07:59.935 --> 00:08:00.437
Just so.

00:08:00.437 --> 00:08:03.978
Self-satisfied, but you're also the victim.

00:08:03.978 --> 00:08:06.100
Dissatisfied, but you're also the victim.

00:08:06.100 --> 00:08:07.442
Mate, you're not the victim.

00:08:07.442 --> 00:08:10.124
As we know, it's coercive control.

00:08:10.124 --> 00:08:12.865
She wiped out his family and that's the motive.

00:08:12.865 --> 00:08:14.728
I agree with Claire Harvey.

00:08:14.728 --> 00:08:29.983
One partner in the marriage was independently wealthy and dominant in every way intellectually, financially and in terms of the time they can devote to controlling the house, the children, access to extended family.

00:08:30.002 --> 00:08:38.682
Okay, so now let's move on to the errand I knew in the Keep Kelly Lane Behind Bars Facebook group, the Herald Sun.

00:08:38.682 --> 00:08:42.418
I've got to say they're bringing out the exclusives at the moment.

00:08:42.418 --> 00:08:45.926
I've even subscribed because they've been incredible.

00:08:45.926 --> 00:08:54.240
So Brooke Crabbett-Craig has got an article that says the lies that got quote, crazy errands sacked from an air traffic control gig.

00:08:54.240 --> 00:09:01.638
My friend was over here yesterday and she said to me Lisa, you told me she was an air traffic controller.

00:09:01.638 --> 00:09:04.342
When, yeah, she said that's so disturbing.

00:09:04.342 --> 00:09:07.929
I agree, I'm sure you do too.

00:09:07.929 --> 00:09:10.499
This is just an amazing story.

00:09:10.499 --> 00:09:12.844
It's just got so many colours of grey.

00:09:12.844 --> 00:09:22.719
So former colleagues of triple murderer Erin Patterson have described her as a quote pathological liar who managed to get guys wrapped around her little finger.

00:09:22.719 --> 00:09:24.562
That's fascinating.

00:09:24.562 --> 00:09:25.947
We must get to the bottom of that.

00:09:25.947 --> 00:09:27.750
Wrapped around her little finger, that's fascinating.

00:09:27.750 --> 00:09:29.615
We must get to the bottom of that.

00:09:32.975 --> 00:09:36.644
So she was known as Scutter the Nutter by her air traffic controller course mates before she was sat for lying about her working hours.

00:09:36.644 --> 00:09:43.159
So she worked at Air Services Australia between February to November 2001.

00:09:43.159 --> 00:09:46.745
Wow, she made such an impression in such a short time.

00:09:46.745 --> 00:09:48.596
So her maiden name was Scutter.

00:09:48.596 --> 00:09:54.048
Back then A course mate who asked not to be named said she was also called Crazy Erin.

00:09:54.048 --> 00:09:56.460
Quote something was not quite right.

00:09:56.460 --> 00:09:57.802
She was a bit strange.

00:09:57.802 --> 00:10:00.457
She would say some weird off-the-cuff things.

00:10:00.457 --> 00:10:04.467
She wasn't a nice person, she just wasn't someone you connected to.

00:10:04.467 --> 00:10:06.312
The course mate said Patterson was super secretive about her life.

00:10:06.312 --> 00:10:06.782
She didn't engage nice person, she just wasn't someone you connected to.

00:10:06.782 --> 00:10:06.836
The course.

00:10:06.836 --> 00:10:09.129
Mate said Patterson was super secretive about her life.

00:10:09.129 --> 00:10:10.791
She didn't engage with anyone.

00:10:10.791 --> 00:10:13.092
She had no friends, she was a loner.

00:10:14.176 --> 00:10:19.355
Another colleague said Patterson's time at Air Services Australia ended under a cloud.

00:10:19.355 --> 00:10:29.438
They said management became sceptical that she was regularly leaving work early but claiming the time After checking the CCTV.

00:10:29.438 --> 00:10:30.381
There you go, erin.

00:10:30.381 --> 00:10:33.532
You should have learnt the first time from the car park.

00:10:33.532 --> 00:10:36.158
They were able to confirm their suspicions.

00:10:36.158 --> 00:10:43.647
The air traffic controller said it was put to Patterson who lied until she was shown the timestamp footage of her leaving.

00:10:43.647 --> 00:10:46.072
Ah, you got me.

00:10:46.072 --> 00:10:48.116
There was what she said.

00:10:48.116 --> 00:10:51.510
They recalled she was also described as manipulative quote.

00:10:51.510 --> 00:10:53.437
She was not a gregarious person.

00:10:53.437 --> 00:10:54.519
She was aggressive.

00:10:54.519 --> 00:10:59.914
In many ways she was ritual, habitual and pathological liar.

00:10:59.914 --> 00:11:03.462
She would say just about anything just to get away with anything.

00:11:03.462 --> 00:11:04.951
Wow.

00:11:04.951 --> 00:11:14.836
Now the former colleague said, despite some personality issues, a number of men on staff had pursued Patterson and became quote smitten.

00:11:14.836 --> 00:11:22.139
One was a married man who turned up at her house in the early hours saying he wanted to leave his wife for her.

00:11:22.139 --> 00:11:23.360
I have no words.

00:11:23.360 --> 00:11:26.635
She managed to get guys wrapped around her little finger.

00:11:26.635 --> 00:11:28.581
They said there you go.

00:11:28.581 --> 00:11:31.951
Erin Learned a lot of things about you there.

00:11:31.951 --> 00:11:32.974
Scutter the nutter.

00:11:32.974 --> 00:11:36.543
And then we've got crazy Erin but love machine as well.

00:11:36.543 --> 00:11:38.192
That's fabulous.

00:11:38.192 --> 00:11:41.884
Okay, this is from AAP Mushroom killer.

00:11:42.024 --> 00:11:47.840
Erin Patterson spent the first few nights of her trial cold and sleepless inside a police cell.

00:11:47.840 --> 00:11:57.461
She had requested the trial to be held in the small Victorian town of Morwell, where she was held underneath the local police station.

00:11:57.461 --> 00:12:13.144
Had the trial been conducted in Melbourne, she may have been afforded more comforts inside the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre, a maximum security women's prison, where she was driven back and forth every weekend over the 11-week trial.

00:12:13.144 --> 00:12:23.980
Now, on the first day, patterson's lawyers complained that she wasn't giving him a doona nor access to a computer and writing materials in herself.

00:12:23.980 --> 00:12:35.982
Well, that's fair enough, but there had been some suggestion to her that she wasn't going to get special treatment by custody officers, that's her barrister, colin Mandy, on April 29.

00:12:35.982 --> 00:12:49.003
Someone who was in police cells for five weeks facing a murdered child with a massive brief of evidence should be afforded some accommodation, he said, because in some ways she requires special treatment.

00:12:49.003 --> 00:12:58.815
I'm sure Erin would agree with you, mr Mandy, so we can do our job properly, so she can provide us with proper instructions, so that she's not uncomfortable.

00:13:00.197 --> 00:13:14.452
So there were media seats directly in front of Patterson while she was in the dock, but reporters had to turn around to get a glimpse of her and they had to actually physically swivel and face her.

00:13:14.452 --> 00:13:24.995
She would often turn her head on an angle and stare directly into the eyes of the reporters, leaving a menacing impression.

00:13:24.995 --> 00:13:32.571
Do, do, do, don't menace reporters, erin, we don't agree.

00:13:32.571 --> 00:13:44.881
Okay, photographers and camera operators outside the court were banned from photographing Patterson during the trial, with a prohibition on quote any images of the accused which suggest, expressly or impliedly, that she is in custody.

00:13:44.881 --> 00:13:48.034
Well, we all know she's in custody now, don't we?

00:13:48.034 --> 00:13:55.980
She's got 28 days to launch an appeal, but as far as I understand, when it comes to an appeal, it's very narrow.

00:13:55.980 --> 00:13:57.350
You don't have a lot of scope.

00:13:57.350 --> 00:13:59.034
So we'll see what happens there.

00:13:59.034 --> 00:14:10.611
There's more suppression orders and then we will have another hearing for Erin, her pre-sentencing hearing I don't know when that is yet and then following that will be the sentence.

00:14:10.611 --> 00:14:12.696
So I'm going to one of those.

00:14:13.677 --> 00:14:14.820
So thank you for listening.

00:14:14.820 --> 00:14:16.403
I appreciate it so much.

00:14:16.403 --> 00:14:19.035
For more information, visit my website.

00:14:19.035 --> 00:14:24.514
Make sure you subscribe to the newsletter on mushroommurdertrialcom Plus.

00:14:24.514 --> 00:14:32.750
I'm on Instagram and I'm also on YouTube and Twitter, and those links are in the show notes as well.

00:14:32.750 --> 00:14:45.413
And if you're feeling like rewarding me for the thousands of hours I've spent on this work, I have a buy me a coffee membership where you can one-off pay me five dollars as a thank you, but only if you can afford it.

00:14:45.413 --> 00:14:48.879
I mean you giving me your time is the greatest honour.

00:14:48.879 --> 00:14:50.001
I really appreciate it.

00:14:50.001 --> 00:14:50.764
So thank you.

00:14:50.764 --> 00:14:54.238
Now, those people who are waiting for their stickers.

00:14:54.238 --> 00:15:00.230
Right forager of facts, you'll be able to get your sticker very, very soon.

00:15:00.230 --> 00:15:06.596
I just haven't got to the post office, even though it's less than 100 metres away from my house.

00:15:06.596 --> 00:15:10.119
But that's what happens when you're covering the mushroom trial.

00:15:10.119 --> 00:15:12.855
So have a fabulous day.

00:15:12.855 --> 00:15:16.186
I will talk to you very, very soon.

00:15:16.186 --> 00:15:17.249
Thanks, bye.