Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders — Where is Erin Patterson now, after the big twist in her story?
On Tuesday, 16 December, Netflix will be dropping yet another grisly true crime documentary to its archives. Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders zooms in on the high-profile — and highly unusual — case of Erin Patterson, an Australian woman who was convicted of murdering three relatives and attempting to kill a fourth in 2023. The method of murder, you ask? Death by beef Wellington.
Patterson’s crimes made headlines not just in Australia but all over the world when it was alleged that the dish she served was laced with highly toxic death cap mushrooms. So, if you somehow missed the global news over the summer of 2023, the documentary explores both the investigation and trial, as well as Patterson’s dark motive behind the killings. Ahead of its release on Netflix, we take a look at what Erin Patterson did and why the murder case was so unique.
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Erin Patterson is at the centre of a new Netflix documentary
What did Erin Patterson do?
On 29 July 2023, Erin Patterson lured family members — her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and Heather’s husband Ian — to her home in Leongatha, Victoria, Australia. At the time, Patterson had been estranged from her husband, Simon Patterson, with whom she shares two children, for around three years. Patterson invited her former partner to the meet-up, but he did not attend. Their son and daughter were absent, too. She claimed that the luncheon was to bolster relations with her in-laws, as she feared her separation from Patterson was causing distance between them.
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Patterson had prepared individual beef Wellingtons for each guest. Unbeknownst to her in-laws, the meal contained Amanita phalloides, aka, death cap mushrooms. The following day, all four guests were admitted to Leongatha Hospital with suspected gastroenteritis. Patterson claimed that she was also experiencing stomach pains and diarrhoea, but reportedly refused to be admitted to hospital, despite initial concerns for her welfare.
Tragically, Gail, 70, and Heather, 66, died in the hospital five days after consuming the beef Wellingtons. Don, 70, died a day later on 5 August, despite receiving a liver transplant. Ian, 69, who also received a liver transplant, was the only guest who survived the ordeal, following months in hospital.
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Ian Wilkinson was the only survivor
Chris Webster, the doctor who treated the victims, told the BBC that he knew Patterson was responsible for the incident within minutes. “I knew. I thought, ‘Okay, yep, you did it, you heinous individual. You’ve poisoned them all,'” he told the outlet in July 2025. Webster also told the BBC that when he asked Patterson where she got the mushrooms from, she said “Woolworths.”
“And it all just suddenly coalesced in my brain,” Webster said, who noted that if Patterson had admitted to foraging for wild mushrooms, which was common for locals to do in the area, it wouldn’t have set off alarm bells. The fact that Patterson claimed they came from a major chain with strict food safety standards was suspicious. Additionally, because she left the hospital against medical advice, things started to add up.
The prosecutor asked Patterson in court: “After being told by medical staff you had potentially ingested a life-threatening poison, isn’t it the last thing you’d do?” Ultimately, 24 hours after Patterson returned to the hospital voluntarily, it was ruled that her body had no sign of death cap poisoning.
Why was the murder case so unusual?
The murder ‘weapon,’ found to be foraged wild mushrooms, isn’t the only unusual aspect about the case. Neither was the fact that it put a sleepy Australian town on the map, for all the wrong reasons. Rather, it was because Patterson was revealed to be a true crime fanatic, and amongst the community, had built up an online reputation as a “super sleuth.”
The BBC reported that she had been an active member of a Facebook group dedicated to uncovering the crimes of Keli Lane. Before Patterson, Lane held the title of being the centre of one of Australia’s most notorious cases — the former water polo player and teacher was convicted of the 1996 murder of her newborn baby, Tegan.
After Patterson’s story emerged, her role as a true crime sleuth transitioned her into a true crime subject. She became a meme on social media, with trolls sharing beef Wellington recipes and using AI to create distasteful photos of her wearing T-shirts that said: “Shiitake happens.” On Google Maps, someone somehow had two restaurants at the location of her Gibson Street home approved: ‘Erin’s Mushroom Restaurant’ and ‘Erin’s Mushroom Diner.’
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Erin Patterson gained global fame and notoriety
Ruth Dubois — the daughter of Ian and Heather Wilkinson — told the court at Patterson’s trial: “The intense media coverage has left me second-guessing every word I say, worried about who I can trust with my thoughts and feelings. It has changed the way I interact with people. It is particularly revolting to experience our family’s tragedy being turned into entertainment for the masses and to know that people are using our family’s trauma for their own personal gain.”
Heather Wilkson’s husband Ian also told the Supreme Court: “It’s one of the distressing shortcomings of our society that so much attention is showered on those who do evil and so little on those who do good.”
Where is Erin Patterson now?
Patterson was arrested on 2 November 2023 and charged with three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder of her in-laws and their relatives. (The fifth attempt murder charge was against her husband, Simon Patterson.) She was tried in April 2025 before a jury in the Supreme Court of Victoria. Patterson denied the poisoning was deliberate and pleaded not guilty to all counts.
After hearing victim impact statements from relatives, Justice Beale sentenced Patterson to three consecutive life sentences, plus 25 years of imprisonment. This was one of the longest ever jail terms given to a female offender in Australia. She is currently serving her time at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne. Patterson, now 51, will become eligible for parole in 2056. She will be in her 80s.
In November 2025, it was reported that Patterson had officially appealed against her convictions. However, due to Patterson’s reputation and the intense media and public interest in her case, Judge Beale said she would “remain a notorious prisoner for many years to come.”
Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders will be released on Netflix on Tuesday, 16 December.
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Sophie Williams is a Freelance Journalist and Copywriter, covering everything from Fashion to Entertainment to music, Lifestyle and Features. She has interviewed a range of musical artists and authors including Alyssa Edwards, Courtney Barnett, Confidence Man, The Vaccines, Loyle Carner, Gabrielle, and John Niven, and has written for publications like Metro, Reader’s Digest, ITV’s Woo! and Vice’s NBGA. She is also working on a book for HarperCollins about Taylor Swift, due to be published in 2024.
