May 14, 2025
The Landfill Evidence: New Developments in the Erin Patterson Case
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Court hears testimony from a tip manager who found a food dehydrator in an e-waste bin days after CCTV showed a woman disposing of a similar item. Prosecutors allege Erin Patterson dumped the dehydrator, which contained her fingerprints and traces of death cap mushrooms, to conceal evidence after serving poisoned beef wellingtons that killed three people.
• Erin Patterson faces three murder charges and one attempted murder charge
• Don and Gail Patterson (both 70) and Heather Wilkinson (66) died after the lunch
• Ian Wilkinson survived after critical hospitalization
• Tip manager Darren Canty testified about finding a Sunbeam dehydrator in an e-waste bin
• CCTV shows a woman in a red vehicle disposing of an item at the transfer station
• Defence acknowledges Patterson disposed of the dehydrator but claims it was due to panic
• Patterson admits lying about the dehydrator but denies deliberately seeking death cap mushrooms
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Erin Patterson Mushrooms
Here it is in summary.
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Hello and welcome to the Mushroom Murder Trial podcast, your go-to source for updates on this gripping Erin Patterson legal case.
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I'm Lisa, your host and podcaster, and I've been following this case closely since 2023.
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Today's story concerns the evidence of a manager of a South Gippsland tip who told the trial.
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A food dehydrator was found in an e-waste bin at the transfer station two days after closed circuit TV images showed a woman in a red car dropping off an item.
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But before we get in today's update, don't forget to subscribe to this podcast and sign up for our newsletter at mushroommurdertrialcom Plus.
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People have been asking for longer episodes.
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They are coming.
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I have an entire library full of them ready to go after the trial.
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But let's cover a few formalities before diving into what happened in court yesterday.
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Erin Trudy Patterson, a 50-year-old woman from Leongatha, is currently facing, but denies, three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder.
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She's accused of deliberately serving a dish containing deathcap mushrooms to her former in-laws and extended family during a lunch at her home on July 29, 2023.
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Allegations she is pleading not guilty to.
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Following that lunch, don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, and Gail's sister, 66-year-old Heather Wilkinson, sadly passed away.
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Heather's husband, ian Wilkinson, was critically ill in hospital but survived.
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So, as I said earlier, there was quite a lot going on in court yesterday.
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There is more mushroom evidence, but it's highly scientific, so I'm going to take you through it on the weekend, because I'm not a scientist, I'm a lady with a podcast.
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Hopefully then I can nail the pronunciation of the scientific name for death cap mushrooms.
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We live in hope, don't we?
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But let's dive into the story.
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Prosecutors allege traces of death cap mushrooms were found on a black sunbeam dehydrator the same toxin ingested by four guests who ate beef wellingtons at Miss Patterson's home, as I said, july 29.
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She made her trip to the landfill hours after being discharged from the Monash Medical Centre.
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I have an episode on that from yesterday if you'd like to catch up Now.
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While her defence acknowledges she was at the tip, they said she disposed of the item due to the extreme panicking she was experiencing.
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At the time, her lunch guests were in the Austin Hospital in Melbourne as doctors tried to save their lives.
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Both Don and Ian endured liver transplants.
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Coonwara Transfer Station and Landfill Operations Manager Darren Canty told the jury he was contacted by police on August 4, 2023, and asked to look at video footage from two days earlier On that day, when he received the call, he asked an employee to go and look inside the tips shed Quote.
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He then called me back and sent me a photo.
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He said it kind of looked like a microwave dehydrator but wasn't quite sure because he did not get it out of the bin.
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Mr Canty said the jury was shown a black sunbeam dehydrator inside an e-waste bin with five trays visible obviously an image of that In the video.
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Mr Canty said he saw a woman arrive at the site in a red four-wheel drive type vehicle who entered at around 11.30am.
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In the footage a woman wearing white pants is seen driving across an entrance to the shed which is in the background.
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The court was told this facility contained bins for e-waste mattresses and batteries.
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In the footage the woman was seen exiting the car, walking to the boot and opening it before removing a square looking black item from inside.
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The female is then seen carrying the item to inside the tip shed.
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Is then seen carrying the item to inside the tip shed.
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While reviewing security footage for the jury, prosecutor Dr Nanette Rogers asked Mr Canty and the time is very faintly up in the top left hand corner and the woman is depicted carrying an image into the shed containing bins, including the e-waste bin.
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Yes, the e-waste bin, that is correct.
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And the third image shows the woman still carrying the item, but almost in the door Correct.
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Seconds later a woman is seen on the footage again, this time returning to her car, closing the boot and driving away.
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Mr Canty said a search of the site's business records showed the e-waste deposit was paid at 11.35am using FPOS.
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The court had previously heard the prosecution allege.
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Ms Patterson dumped the dehydrator, which was later found to contain her fingerprints and traces of death cap mushrooms, to quote, conceal what she's done.
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But Colin Mandy, sc for Ms Patterson, said in his opening address that she lied about the dehydrator because she was panicked about accidentally poisoning her lunch guests.
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Quote the prosecution says she got rid of the dehydrator and that makes her look guilty.
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But she admits that that is got rid of the dehydrator.
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She also admits that when she was interviewed by police on the same day that one of the lunch guests died, she lied about getting rid of the dehydrator.
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But you consider these questions when you're considering that issue.
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Why would she lie about having a dehydrator when many people, including Simon Patterson, her husband, her children and her Facebook friends knew that she had one.
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She admits the lie.
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Why would she lie about that only a day or so after talking to Simon about the dehydrator in the hospital?
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Why would she lie about that when she'd posted photographs of mushrooms in the dehydrator and spoken to her Facebook friends about it?
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Mr Mandy went on to say she also lied to police about foraging for mushrooms.
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She admits that she did forage for mushrooms.
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To police about foraging for mushrooms.
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She admits that she did forage for mushrooms.
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Just so that we make that clear.
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She denies that she ever deliberately sought out death cat mushrooms.
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And that's all I have for you today, until next time.
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I'm Lisa and this is the Mushroom Murder Trial podcast.
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Thanks for listening.
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For more information, visit the website mushroommurdertrialcom.
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Make sure you subscribe to my newsletter.
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Plus I'm on Instagram.
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I'll put all my social contacts in the show notes and if you're feeling like rewarding me for these thousands of hours I've spent on this work, I have a Buy Me A Coffee membership which allows you to pay five bucks as a thanks and I get a coffee.
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This goes towards the editing studio, hire, liability insurance, equipment, yada, yada.
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Plus there's exclusive membership material which I've just put up on the site just for you.
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So thank you so much.
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I hope you have a wonderful day and we will speak very soon.
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Bye.
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