Simon & Erin Patterson: Troubled Relationship Behind the Mushroom Murder Trial - Part One

This is a replay of a previous episode that had a few gremlins in it. My apologies.

The marriage between Erin and Simon Patterson deteriorated over years despite multiple reconciliation attempts, leading to their separation and financial division. Despite maintaining strong ties with Simon's family and co-parenting their children amicably, this marriage ended in an act so horrific no one saw it coming.

• Erin maintained strong relationships with Simon's family even as her own marriage was falling apart
• The couple separated many times by the end of 2015 with Erin moving into a rental property
• They divided assets without lawyers
• Female mass killers are statistically rare, with only 11 homicides involving extended family annually in Australia
• Research shows marital conflicts can extend to in-laws when they intervene in troubled marriages

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:00):
behind closed doors.
Once they were back, theyoriginally stayed with Don and
Gail Patterson while trying tofind somewhere to rent.
Erin was pregnant throughout2013 and 2014, and she
maintained contact with David'swife, jane, who was pregnant at

(00:21):
the time.
Their babies were also bornaround the same time, so they
had that bond in common.
Despite the cracks in theirrelationship, erin remained
involved in organising familyevents.
One such occasion wasorganising an Airbnb trip to
Macrae, victoria, where Simon'ssiblings came together for a

(00:45):
weekend, a gathering that Erinhad planned.
Oh God, there's so much left.
Oh no, these gestures weren'tjust about being social.

(01:30):
They were about obligation andkeeping family bonds intact,
even as her own marriage wasfraying.
Despite the strain between herand Simon, erin maintained
strong ties with his siblingsand their children.
Her relationship with Simon'sfamily never wavered, but in

(02:12):
January 2014, there was Joy atthe birth of their second child,
a girl, a much-wanted girl.
At the end of that year, theybought another house, a family
home at 3 Anthony Court,corrumburra, in Erin's name only
.
In total, there were twoseparations by the end of 2015,
and Erin moved into a rental inLower Gordon Street, corrumburra
at the end of that year.

(02:33):
During the pre-trial recordings, simon told the court the
marriage had never fullyrecovered after the
reconciliations in 2015, andthis is sadly why we are here
today.
In my opinion, they recoupledin the middle of that year when

(02:58):
Erin moved back into the familyhome on Mason Street,
corrumburra, in an effort toreconcile.
However, by the end of 2016,the relationship reached what
they described in courtno-transcript.

(03:21):
Erin again had little to sayabout the reasons for the split
at the time, other thanadmitting she didn't feel
comfortable with them livingtogether.
I do know a lot of it was abouthousework.

(03:53):
They decided to move forwardwith their division of finances.
Simon said it wasstraightforward and handled
without lawyers, an arrangementthey both considered fair.
Erin kept some cash and took onthe house loan debts owed to
her by two of Simon's siblings,while her ex-partner retained
the Mason Street home and therepayments of death owed to them

(04:16):
by two other siblings.
Simon told the court he hadreceived about $800,000 along
with Erin each from the propertypool.
Erin bought a property atAnthony Street, corrumburra, for
$400,000.
The family dynamic remainedcooperative.

(04:36):
Despite the separation Custodyarrangements for the children.
They adapted over, with eachparent striving to maintain
stability for the children.
There were shared familyoutings and projects, such as
Erin involving her ex indesigning the Gibson Street home

(04:56):
, which had a focus on creatinga comfortable space for their
children.

(05:17):
Four attempts, four near misseswhat drives someone to cross the
line between frustration withtheir spouse and fatal intent?
At the start, simon did notsuspect Erin as the cause of his
near-fatal illnesses.

(05:37):
I think I joked with Erinbefore our here we go again,
lisa haqua trip that she mightput something in the food and
poison me.
No one who knew Erin wouldpredict she was capable of such
evil.
But to understand her you needto consider the nature of her

(06:06):
crimes.
Female killers, mass killers asErin is, they are rare.
According to the AustralianInstitute of Criminology, on
average 11 homicides occur inAustralia annually involving
extended family members,including in-laws, grandparents
and cousins, with most incidentshappening in residential
locations.
Marital conflict and violence,particularly involving in-laws,

(06:31):
are common themes in thesehomicides.
Men are responsible for 88% ofthese and the gender
distribution of victims issimilar to that of general
homicides 63% male and 37%female.

(06:59):
This research discusses theroles of parents-in-laws and
family homicides, specificallyrelatives, on the involvement of
these family members in lethalviolence stemming from those
marital conflicts and disputes.
So Erin it is a fact was upsetwith her in-laws, don and Gail,
for not intervening into hermarriage with Simon wallace 1986

(07:35):
, highlights this pattern wherea domestic dispute within a
marriage spreads to includein-laws who may step in to
protect the abused spouse.
I don't think anything likethat happened here.
I'm not sure, but I didn't hearabout it in court.
This protective involvement canintensify tensions and result
in fatal outcomes during clashesbetween the in-laws and the
abuser.
The research also touches onthe broader dynamics of family

(08:02):
homicides involving parents,where the lethal violence is not
limited to spouses but extendsto other family members, such as
in-laws, reflecting complex andoften long-standing familiar
disputes.
This demonstrates that thistype of conflict, especially
when there's a history of abuseand there is no evidence

(08:25):
Although Erin with her attemptedmurders that's abuse, trying to
kill someone with your foodthey could spiral outwards,
implicating other families intoviolent acts.
Well, that is exactly whathappened here.

(08:56):
I think I'm nearly finished,thank you.

(09:44):
And that was part one of simonand erin.
My name is lisa.
Thank you so much for listeningtoday.
Please make sure you check outmy website and subscribe for the
latest news there.
My website ismushroommurdertrialcom.
Any Thank you for moreinformation.

(11:36):
I'm on instagram at erinunderscore pod.
You can find me on facebook.
Just search for the podcastname the mushroom murder trial
podcast.
I also will put links in theshow notes to these social media
accounts.
And if you're feeling likerewarding me for this podcast, I

(11:57):
have a Buy Me A Coffeemembership which allows you to
pay $5 as thanks and I get acoffee, because writing this
part of the series was really abalancing act of reporting the
trial and I had to be at thetrial for a week because I live
interstate, so it was a littlebit expensive with airfares, car

(12:19):
hire, food, accommodation.
So I would really appreciatethat.
Thank you, and I hope you havea fabulous week and I will see
you on the socials or back nextweek for part two of Simon and
Erin.
Thanks, bye.