September 12, 2025 • 11 mins
Erin Patterson’s case joins a true-crime ecosystem obsessed with the sinister side of human nature.
See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
How Australia's mushroom Murderer became a true crime obsession by
Ainsley Thompson with assistance from Ainsley Chandler, read by Megan Trout.
When Aaron Patterson was sentenced on Monday to life in
prison with no chance of parole for thirty three years,
it marked the end of a courtroom drama that captivated
(00:21):
the world. The fifty year old Australian mother of two
argued for eight days on the stand that she'd unknowingly
poisoned four of her estranged husband's relatives, three fatally with
beef wellington laced with death cap mushrooms. A jury didn't
buy it, and Patterson will be in her early eighties
before she's eligible for release. The saga is far from over.
(00:46):
An entire media ecosystem has sprouted around the Mushroom Murders,
including podcasts and documentaries dissecting every twist, a scripted drama,
a flood of articles, and even a forthcoming book by
Helen Garner, one of Australia's most acclaimed writers. The case
has delivered the true crime juggernaut exactly what it craves,
(01:09):
a fresh and chilling tale. Patterson's defense had planted a
seed of doubt. Who would be bold enough to think
they could get away with such a brazen act. Surely
it was a terrible accident that tension and a lack
of clear motive electrified the case. Add in some Agatha
Christie's style elements, a small cast of characters and a
(01:31):
bucolic rural setting, and it became irresistible to amateur sleuths.
We just don't expect these types of things to happen
in these quiet, sleepy little places, said Xanthe Mallett, an
associate professor and criminologist at Central Queensland University. A family
launches such a normal thing, and Aaron Patterson herself is
(01:52):
miss afrage. The rarity of female mass murderers adds another layer.
It takes a certain kind of cold to poison people
with death cap mushrooms, said Mallett. This is a torturous death.
It's a really violent way to kill people and kill
them slowly. In sentencing Patterson at the Supreme Court of
(02:13):
Victoria in Melbourne, just as Christopher Beale noted that her
actions required substantial premeditation and that she showed no pity
for her victims. Your failure to exhibit any remorse, pours
salt into all of the victim's wounds. Biale said he
sentenced her to life in prison for each of the
three murders her parents in law Down and Gale Patterson,
(02:36):
and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. Patterson was also sentenced to
twenty five years for the attempted murder of Wilkinson's husband.
Ian Beale noted that because Patterson faced a risk of
attack from other prisoners, she'd effectively been held in solitary
confinement for the past fifteen months, restricted to her cell
for twenty two hours a day, with limited access to
(02:59):
a three square meeting thirty two square feet concrete yard
for fresh air. Given the unprecedented media coverage of your
case and the books, documentaries, and TV series about you,
which are all in the pipeline, you are likely to
remain a notorious prisoner for many years, he said. There
is a substantial chance that, for your protection, you will
(03:22):
continue to be held in solitary confinement for years to come.
Throughout history, people have been captivated by tales of crime
and wrongdoing, first shared through oral storytelling. By the seventeen twenties,
Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe, was publishing accounts
of real life criminals, laying early foundations for the genre.
(03:45):
Then came the cheap serialized thrillers known as penny dreadfuls
in the nineteenth century, priming Victorian society to become enthralled
by the case of Jack the Ripper. True crime gained
new prestige in the nineteen sixth with Truman Capods In
Cold Blood. Capodi meticulously wove investigative reporting into the structure
(04:07):
of a thriller, bringing the murders of the Clutter family
in Kansas vividly to life, and pioneering the non fiction novel.
The following decades cemented true crime's place in popular culture.
The nineteen seventies produced Helter Skelter, the true story of
the Manson Murders. The nineteen eighties saw Errol Morris's groundbreaking
(04:29):
documentary The Thin Blue Line, which helped overturn a wrongful conviction,
and the nineteen nineties brought the spectacle of the O. J.
Simpson Trial broadcast live to millions. The modern true crime
boom is often traced to twenty fourteen, when the American
podcast serial captivated listeners with its deep dive into the
(04:51):
nineteen ninety nine killing of Hayman Lee. The podcast has
been downloaded some three hundred million times today. It's s
d stimated that eighty four percent of the US population
aged thirteen and over are true crime consumers. According to
a twenty twenty four report from Edison Research and Audio Chuck,
(05:11):
it's the third most popular podcast genre after comedy and
Society and culture. Crime Junkie is the second most listened
to podcast in the US after The Joe Rogan Experience.
We're drawn to the genre because it offers a safe
way to explore society's darkest corners and make sense of
(05:32):
the chaos. It lets us probe motives, reassure ourselves that
such horrors are far away, and ultimately watch truth and
justice reassert themselves. It's notable that women are by far
the biggest consumers of true crime. Mallet said women are
more interested in understanding relationships. She said, understanding what people
(05:55):
do to each other is almost like a level of protection.
If we can see the red flags in that situation,
perhaps we can recognize them in our own. In addition
to the passive consumers of true crime podcasts, and documentaries.
There are the amateur sleuths who trade theories on Reddit
and social media, egging each other on as they dig
(06:17):
into real cases. Patterson was herself a true crime enthusiast.
Sometimes online detectives help in the twenty twenty one murder
of American vlogger Gabby Petito. Their tips aided police. More
often they hinder. When British woman Nicola Bully vanished in
early twenty twenty three, investigators were overwhelmed by false leads,
(06:41):
rumors and accusations. Bully was later found to have drowned accidentally.
For many amateur sleuths, the draw lies in the pursuit
of justice and the urge to solve a mystery. In
the UK, supporters of Lucy Leppie, the former neonatal nurse
convicted in twenty twenty three of more murdering seven babies,
(07:02):
have argued there was a miscarriage of justice and demanded
a review. They questioned the reliability of medical evidence, pointed
to systemic failures at the hospital, including poor hygiene, and
said that statistical analysis of her shift roster was misleading.
Devastated in the mushroom murders, the public's fascination was quickly
(07:25):
galvanized by Patterson's overwrought comments to the media. I'm so
devastated by what's happened and the lass to the community
and to the families, and to my own children who
have lost their grandmother, she said, wiping away hard to
see tears as she was confronted by reporters outside her
home shortly after the incident. I just can't fathom what
(07:47):
has happened. For documentary director and producer Gil Marsden, that
moment set the case apart. It meant YouTube and TikTok,
the digital true crime space, had a piece of the
story to latch onto to examine and replay. He said.
It was the made for twenty twenty three element. Marsden,
(08:09):
originally from Chicago but now based in Melbourne, where he
runs the boutique production company Den of Martians, began following
the case about ten days after the fatal lunch. We
actually got a call from our partners in the US
who were like, have you guys heard about this story.
We hadn't totally clocked how far it had traveled, but
instantly we were like, okay, we need to go and
(08:32):
take a look at this. His three part documentary Revealed
Death Cap Murders, produced with Sydney based Dream Chaser Entertainment
and US based fifth season, will screen in Australia on
September fourteenth. Marsden was also drawn by the setting Lee
and Gatha, a place of rolling hills and forests in
(08:53):
Victoria State's South Gippsland Shire, far removed from the pristine
beaches or dusty red out back that many outsiders picture
when they think of Australia the visual landscape. There these
trees that wrap around roads and these long winding drives
into this quiet little hamlet was immediately engaging as a filmmaker,
(09:14):
he said, But when we went into the town, we
could see that the community already had the storm shutters
in the windows, so to speak. Over the next two years,
Marston returned to Lengatha, which is about two hours southeast
of Melbourne, roughly sixty times, immersing himself in the community.
He later sat through the ten week trial in the
(09:36):
nearby town of Morwell. We felt a real duty to
spend the time with the community to make sure that
we were portraying them accurately and fairly. He said. He
was struck by how little residents spoke about the murders
and the lead up to the trial. They couldn't move
on with the natural process of grieving these three really
significant members of their community. The town was stuck in
(09:58):
this limbo for eighteen months, says they waited for the trial.
Marsden describes the throng of reporters, filmmakers, podcasters, and bloggers
that accompanied the trial as a huge circus, though one
tempered by a surprising sense of solidarity. As soon as
Patterson got charged, pretty much everyone was in the same
(10:19):
boat together in many ways. There was a fair amount
of community amongst the different outlets. He said, it was
a very surreal experience. You'd be in a cafe and
you're sitting there, and the police are sitting there, and
the families of the victims are sitting there, and the
power of attorney for Aaron Patterson, is sitting there. You're
just all in one place. For Marsden, what keeps the
(10:42):
story alive is the unanswered question at its heart Patterson's motive.
Part of what pulls us to the genre is the
desire to probe and understand the impulses that drove a
person to commit a terrible act. Cases where that remains
unclear linger with us because that need is unsatisfied. Human
(11:02):
beings love to solve puzzles and we love to answer questions.
He said, it's the safest way to look into darkness,
and we look into darkness because we want an answer
about what's in there.
How Australia's mushroom Murderer became a true crime obsession by
Ainsley Thompson with assistance from Ainsley Chandler, read by Megan Trout.
When Aaron Patterson was sentenced on Monday to life in
prison with no chance of parole for thirty three years,
it marked the end of a courtroom drama that captivated
(00:21):
the world. The fifty year old Australian mother of two
argued for eight days on the stand that she'd unknowingly
poisoned four of her estranged husband's relatives, three fatally with
beef wellington laced with death cap mushrooms. A jury didn't
buy it, and Patterson will be in her early eighties
before she's eligible for release. The saga is far from over.
(00:46):
An entire media ecosystem has sprouted around the Mushroom Murders,
including podcasts and documentaries dissecting every twist, a scripted drama,
a flood of articles, and even a forthcoming book by
Helen Garner, one of Australia's most acclaimed writers. The case
has delivered the true crime juggernaut exactly what it craves,
(01:09):
a fresh and chilling tale. Patterson's defense had planted a
seed of doubt. Who would be bold enough to think
they could get away with such a brazen act. Surely
it was a terrible accident that tension and a lack
of clear motive electrified the case. Add in some Agatha
Christie's style elements, a small cast of characters and a
(01:31):
bucolic rural setting, and it became irresistible to amateur sleuths.
We just don't expect these types of things to happen
in these quiet, sleepy little places, said Xanthe Mallett, an
associate professor and criminologist at Central Queensland University. A family
launches such a normal thing, and Aaron Patterson herself is
(01:52):
miss afrage. The rarity of female mass murderers adds another layer.
It takes a certain kind of cold to poison people
with death cap mushrooms, said Mallett. This is a torturous death.
It's a really violent way to kill people and kill
them slowly. In sentencing Patterson at the Supreme Court of
(02:13):
Victoria in Melbourne, just as Christopher Beale noted that her
actions required substantial premeditation and that she showed no pity
for her victims. Your failure to exhibit any remorse, pours
salt into all of the victim's wounds. Biale said he
sentenced her to life in prison for each of the
three murders her parents in law Down and Gale Patterson,
(02:36):
and Gail's sister, Heather Wilkinson. Patterson was also sentenced to
twenty five years for the attempted murder of Wilkinson's husband.
Ian Beale noted that because Patterson faced a risk of
attack from other prisoners, she'd effectively been held in solitary
confinement for the past fifteen months, restricted to her cell
for twenty two hours a day, with limited access to
(02:59):
a three square meeting thirty two square feet concrete yard
for fresh air. Given the unprecedented media coverage of your
case and the books, documentaries, and TV series about you,
which are all in the pipeline, you are likely to
remain a notorious prisoner for many years, he said. There
is a substantial chance that, for your protection, you will
(03:22):
continue to be held in solitary confinement for years to come.
Throughout history, people have been captivated by tales of crime
and wrongdoing, first shared through oral storytelling. By the seventeen twenties,
Daniel Defoe, the author of Robinson Crusoe, was publishing accounts
of real life criminals, laying early foundations for the genre.
(03:45):
Then came the cheap serialized thrillers known as penny dreadfuls
in the nineteenth century, priming Victorian society to become enthralled
by the case of Jack the Ripper. True crime gained
new prestige in the nineteen sixth with Truman Capods In
Cold Blood. Capodi meticulously wove investigative reporting into the structure
(04:07):
of a thriller, bringing the murders of the Clutter family
in Kansas vividly to life, and pioneering the non fiction novel.
The following decades cemented true crime's place in popular culture.
The nineteen seventies produced Helter Skelter, the true story of
the Manson Murders. The nineteen eighties saw Errol Morris's groundbreaking
(04:29):
documentary The Thin Blue Line, which helped overturn a wrongful conviction,
and the nineteen nineties brought the spectacle of the O. J.
Simpson Trial broadcast live to millions. The modern true crime
boom is often traced to twenty fourteen, when the American
podcast serial captivated listeners with its deep dive into the
(04:51):
nineteen ninety nine killing of Hayman Lee. The podcast has
been downloaded some three hundred million times today. It's s
d stimated that eighty four percent of the US population
aged thirteen and over are true crime consumers. According to
a twenty twenty four report from Edison Research and Audio Chuck,
(05:11):
it's the third most popular podcast genre after comedy and
Society and culture. Crime Junkie is the second most listened
to podcast in the US after The Joe Rogan Experience.
We're drawn to the genre because it offers a safe
way to explore society's darkest corners and make sense of
(05:32):
the chaos. It lets us probe motives, reassure ourselves that
such horrors are far away, and ultimately watch truth and
justice reassert themselves. It's notable that women are by far
the biggest consumers of true crime. Mallet said women are
more interested in understanding relationships. She said, understanding what people
(05:55):
do to each other is almost like a level of protection.
If we can see the red flags in that situation,
perhaps we can recognize them in our own. In addition
to the passive consumers of true crime podcasts, and documentaries.
There are the amateur sleuths who trade theories on Reddit
and social media, egging each other on as they dig
(06:17):
into real cases. Patterson was herself a true crime enthusiast.
Sometimes online detectives help in the twenty twenty one murder
of American vlogger Gabby Petito. Their tips aided police. More
often they hinder. When British woman Nicola Bully vanished in
early twenty twenty three, investigators were overwhelmed by false leads,
(06:41):
rumors and accusations. Bully was later found to have drowned accidentally.
For many amateur sleuths, the draw lies in the pursuit
of justice and the urge to solve a mystery. In
the UK, supporters of Lucy Leppie, the former neonatal nurse
convicted in twenty twenty three of more murdering seven babies,
(07:02):
have argued there was a miscarriage of justice and demanded
a review. They questioned the reliability of medical evidence, pointed
to systemic failures at the hospital, including poor hygiene, and
said that statistical analysis of her shift roster was misleading.
Devastated in the mushroom murders, the public's fascination was quickly
(07:25):
galvanized by Patterson's overwrought comments to the media. I'm so
devastated by what's happened and the lass to the community
and to the families, and to my own children who
have lost their grandmother, she said, wiping away hard to
see tears as she was confronted by reporters outside her
home shortly after the incident. I just can't fathom what
(07:47):
has happened. For documentary director and producer Gil Marsden, that
moment set the case apart. It meant YouTube and TikTok,
the digital true crime space, had a piece of the
story to latch onto to examine and replay. He said.
It was the made for twenty twenty three element. Marsden,
(08:09):
originally from Chicago but now based in Melbourne, where he
runs the boutique production company Den of Martians, began following
the case about ten days after the fatal lunch. We
actually got a call from our partners in the US
who were like, have you guys heard about this story.
We hadn't totally clocked how far it had traveled, but
instantly we were like, okay, we need to go and
(08:32):
take a look at this. His three part documentary Revealed
Death Cap Murders, produced with Sydney based Dream Chaser Entertainment
and US based fifth season, will screen in Australia on
September fourteenth. Marsden was also drawn by the setting Lee
and Gatha, a place of rolling hills and forests in
(08:53):
Victoria State's South Gippsland Shire, far removed from the pristine
beaches or dusty red out back that many outsiders picture
when they think of Australia the visual landscape. There these
trees that wrap around roads and these long winding drives
into this quiet little hamlet was immediately engaging as a filmmaker,
(09:14):
he said, But when we went into the town, we
could see that the community already had the storm shutters
in the windows, so to speak. Over the next two years,
Marston returned to Lengatha, which is about two hours southeast
of Melbourne, roughly sixty times, immersing himself in the community.
He later sat through the ten week trial in the
(09:36):
nearby town of Morwell. We felt a real duty to
spend the time with the community to make sure that
we were portraying them accurately and fairly. He said. He
was struck by how little residents spoke about the murders
and the lead up to the trial. They couldn't move
on with the natural process of grieving these three really
significant members of their community. The town was stuck in
(09:58):
this limbo for eighteen months, says they waited for the trial.
Marsden describes the throng of reporters, filmmakers, podcasters, and bloggers
that accompanied the trial as a huge circus, though one
tempered by a surprising sense of solidarity. As soon as
Patterson got charged, pretty much everyone was in the same
(10:19):
boat together in many ways. There was a fair amount
of community amongst the different outlets. He said, it was
a very surreal experience. You'd be in a cafe and
you're sitting there, and the police are sitting there, and
the families of the victims are sitting there, and the
power of attorney for Aaron Patterson, is sitting there. You're
just all in one place. For Marsden, what keeps the
(10:42):
story alive is the unanswered question at its heart Patterson's motive.
Part of what pulls us to the genre is the
desire to probe and understand the impulses that drove a
person to commit a terrible act. Cases where that remains
unclear linger with us because that need is unsatisfied. Human
(11:02):
beings love to solve puzzles and we love to answer questions.
He said, it's the safest way to look into darkness,
and we look into darkness because we want an answer
about what's in there.
Popular Podcasts
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
My Favorite Murder with Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark
My Favorite Murder is a true crime comedy podcast hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Each week, Karen and Georgia share compelling true crimes and hometown stories from friends and listeners. Since MFM launched in January of 2016, Karen and Georgia have shared their lifelong interest in true crime and have covered stories of infamous serial killers like the Night Stalker, mysterious cold cases, captivating cults, incredible survivor stories and important events from history like the Tulsa race massacre of 1921. My Favorite Murder is part of the Exactly Right podcast network that provides a platform for bold, creative voices to bring to life provocative, entertaining and relatable stories for audiences everywhere. The Exactly Right roster of podcasts covers a variety of topics including historic true crime, comedic interviews and news, science, pop culture and more. Podcasts on the network include Buried Bones with Kate Winkler Dawson and Paul Holes, That's Messed Up: An SVU Podcast, This Podcast Will Kill You, Bananas and more.