The Erin Patterson story reads like it was ripped straight from the pages of a gripping crime novel or TV miniseries.
After all, the case featured a small country town, a family gathering, a home-cooked meal – and three dead guests.
But it turns out Patterson’s evil actions do have stark similarities to the plot of an episode of classic British TV crime drama Midsomer Murders.
A 2001 episode of the long-running and much-loved series titled ‘Destroying Angel’ has eerie parallels with Patterson’s case, blending the worlds of mushroom foraging and her true crime obsession in a chilling way.
On Monday, a jury in Latrobe Valley Magistrates’ Court found Patterson guilty of killing three relatives and the attempted murder of a fourth.
Her former parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, were killed, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66, after being fed an ill-fated beef Wellington lunch laced with death cap mushrooms.
Patterson hosted the lunch at her home in Leongatha, a quiet town surrounded by farmland and forest, 135km south-east of Melbourne, on July 29, 2023.
Mrs Wilkinson’s husband, local church pastor Ian Wilkinson, 70, miraculously survived but spent weeks fighting for life in hospital, where he was in an induced coma and underwent a liver transplant.
A publicity shot for the Midsomer Murders episode Destroying Angel. Rosemary Leach who played Evelyn Pope is pictured with John Nettles who played DCI Tom Barnaby. Evelyn Pope used destroying angel mushrooms in a horrific revenge killing.
Erin Patterson has been guilty of killing three relatives and the attempted murder of a fourth
Haunting parallels
Although the Midsomer Murders episode aired 24 years ago, its plot has a striking resemblance to the Patterson case.
In the episode, hotel manager Gregory Chambers goes missing while out foraging in the woods for wild mushrooms.
The gruesome discovery of his severed, partially buried hand sparks a complex investigation.
Detectives Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) and Troy (Daniel Casey) follow a trail of secrets that involves a dispute over a will, the inheritance of a hotel, and performances of Punch and Judy coded with secret messages.
There are failed relationships and deadly motives, mirroring Patterson’s fractured relationship with her estranged husband and in-laws.
As usual in a Midsomer Murders episode, the body count is high – with five murders, including one that is particularly gruesome.
The weapon? Highly poisonous mushrooms: Amanita virosa, known as ‘destroying angel’.
In the Midsomer Murders episode ‘Destroying Angel,’ Detectives Tom Barnaby (John Nettles) (pictured left) and Sgt Gavin Troy (Daniel Casey) (pictured right) investigate a series of murders in a quaint rural village, including a gruesome death caused by deadly destroying angel mushrooms, bearing eerie similarities to the Erin Patterson case
Victoria Police Detective Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall (left) was one of the key investigators in the Erin Patterson case
This deadly fungus is almost identical in effect to the death cap mushrooms that were Patterson’s weapon of choice, causing side effects such as liver failure leading to a slow death.
The mushrooms’ deadly features are depicted in graphic detail in the show, with Chambers’ killer, Tristran Goodfellow (Tom Ward), poisoned after eating a meal he prepared that contained deadly destroying angel mushrooms.
Evelyn Pope (Rosemary Leach) sent the mushrooms to Goodfellow via a gardener in a very nasty revenge killing.
Both of these mushrooms, death caps and destroying angels look harmless, even beautiful. Destroying angels are named for their pure-white, angelic appearance. But both are among the most lethal fungi on Earth.
In the Destroying Angel episode, Evelyn Pope knew exactly what she was doing. So, prosecutors argued, did Patterson.
A passion for mushrooms and true crime
Patterson’s fascination with mushrooms was documented to the jury at trial.
And while there’s no direct evidence she watched the Destroying Angel Midsomer Murders episode, the frightening similarities are hard to ignore.
A deadly destroying angel mushroom is pictured being tested in the Midsomer Murders episode Destroying Angel
Erin Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson (pictured) was invited to the ill-fated lunch but didn’t attend,
A female killer with an intense interest in mushrooms, a quaint setting, and death by mushroom.
Patterson’s life mirrored the Destroying Angel episode in uncanny ways.
Like the character Evelyn Pope, she used mushrooms to kill. Like Evelyn Pope, Patterson was surrounded by fractured relationships.
Her marriage had broken down and her relationship with her in-laws was strained.
Her estranged husband, Simon Patterson, was invited to the fatal lunch, but luckily didn’t attend, fuelling speculation he may have been the intended target.
Hotel manager Gregory Chambers (Philip Bowen) was the first victim in the Midsomer Murders episode Destroying Angel. He was killed while foraging wild mushrooms and his killer was murdered by the poisonous destroying angel mushrooms
In the real world, Don and Gail Patterson (pictured) both died following a lunch at their former daughter-in-law’s home
Ian Wilkinson (right) was the sole surviving guest from the ill-fated Beef Wellington lunch that claimed the life of his wife Heather (left)
The ending- fiction vs reality
The ‘Destroying Angel’ episode ends with justice. The killer is revealed and the village returns to peace and tranquillity.
But in Leongatha, regional Victoria, the wounds are still raw and will be forever.
The Patterson case will be remembered for years.
Not just for the horror of the crime, but for the eerie way life imitated art.
Sometimes, truth really is stranger, and darker, than fiction.
