What Erin Patterson’s Messages Tell Us About Deadly Mushroom Meal

The Mushroom Murder Trial continues with a focus on digital evidence revealing complex relationships between Erin Patterson and her alleged victims before the fatal lunch. Friday's proceedings examined Signal messages showing warm interactions between Ms Patterson and her in-laws, juxtaposed against private Facebook conversations where she vented frustrations.

• Defendant Erin Patterson, 50, faces three murder counts and one attempted murder count over a lunch of Beef Wellington
• Signal messages from early 2022 show cordial relationships with in-laws Don and Gail Patterson
• Evidence includes Mother's Day messages where Erin called Gail "the best mother-in-law anyone can ask for"
• Defence presented Facebook group chat messages to provide context to family tensions
• Private chat described as "a space for venting" showed Ms Patterson's frustrations with in-laws
• Both sides questioned prosecution's last witness, Leading Senior Constable Stephen Eppingstall
• Case has generated over 6,000 news articles about Erin Patterson in Australian media alone

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Episode Transcript

Speaker 1 (00:01):
Hello and welcome to the Mushroom Murder Trial
Podcast.
My name is Lisa and thank youso much for your time today.
This case is attractingworldwide coverage and I just
checked the Newsbank databaseand there were more than 6,000
articles alone in Ms Patterson'sname and that was just for

(00:21):
newspapers and the internet, andjust in Australia as well, and
apparently the court is packedwith journalists.
Anyway, I'm excited todaybecause I'm trying out some new
software Adobe Podcast so let'ssee how it goes.
Quick reminder, before welaunch into today's update head
to mushroommurdertrialcom tosubscribe to my newsletter and

(00:46):
if you haven't yet, please makesure you subscribe to this
podcast on your preferredplatform so you never miss an
episode.
Now, as we know, the casebackground is the defendant is
Erin Trudy Patterson, age 50, ofLeangatha, victoria.
The charges are three counts ofmurder and one count of

(01:06):
attempted murder, and her pleais not guilty.
The news we received on Fridayis that this triple murder trial
will sit for at least tomorrowat this stage, but on Friday
both sides were questioning theprosecution's last witness,
leading Senior Constable StephenEppingstall.
The jury heard that betweenFebruary 22 and 24, 2022, ms

(01:33):
Patterson exchanged signalmessages with Don Matt Patterson
and he was one of the attendeesat the lunch about COVID and
his grandson's schooling.
Her father-in-law offers tocollect books for the children
and says he will pray for Erin'shealth.
The pair arranged for Don totutor his grandson in algebra,

(01:55):
which Ms Patterson said he hadbeen finding very difficult.
Thank you for the jitsu withson's name.
He says it's great and you'regood at explaining maths, she
wrote.
Don responded no worries, he'sa good student.
Fast forward to May 8, 2022,where Gail messaged Erin happy

(02:16):
Mother's Day, bless you.
Erin responded happy Mother'sDay to the best mother-in-law
anyone can ask for.
Leading Constable Eppingstallwas asked about the signal
messages from November 14 to 24,where Gail thanked Ms Patterson
for making two slices.
Erin replied and she thankedher in-laws for the kind message

(02:41):
and noted their granddaughterhelped out and they had a bit of
fun.
On the 18th of November, msPatterson's children were away
from home and Gail remarked itquote must have been quiet last
night.
Ms Patterson replied she didn'tlike it.
Earlier in this trial we heardabout Facebook messages sent

(03:03):
between Miss Patterson and someonline friends.
The defence described thisgroup chat as quote a private
space for venting about theirlives.
On the witness stand, detectiveEppingstall agreed with the
description and he said yes,that's fair.
In one exchange Jenny Hay, aprevious witness in the trial,

(03:24):
responded to Erin with what?
Morons?
When she was referring to MissPatterson's in-laws, don and
Gail, and a dispute with herhusband, simon.
Other messages showed friendsoffering support and making
further commentary about SimonPatterson's alleged behaviour.
The prosecution had earlierpresented messages from this

(03:46):
group chat while the defenceadded context, including the
comments calling the elderPatterson's morons.
A selection of these commentswas tendered to the court by the
defence.
Ms Patterson's barristerColumandi SC read out the
messages from others in the chat.
He said that some of themessages came in the context of

(04:09):
wider discussions.
Erin quote I said to him inbrackets Donald Patterson about
50 times.
I didn't want them toadjudicate.
Now I know they're a lost cause.
Anonymous user.
So you haven't heard from Simon,another anonymous user.
It's pathetic.
Even if he doesn't want to talkabout your marriage, they could

(04:31):
at least demand to know he isfinancially supporting the kids
Erin.
No, nothing.
But also more happened.
Don rang me last night to sayhe thought there was a solution
to all of this if Simon and Iget together and try to talk and
pray together.
And he also said Simon hadindicated there was a solution.

(04:52):
Anonymous user.
Well, you've tried.
I would wipe them too now,anonymous user.
At least you've given themsomething to think about.
Erin, I suspect the best thingI can do is just forget about
all of them and live my life.
Simon is probably loving howupset I am about all of this.
Another user, anonymous.
You are human and you haveevery right to be upset.

(05:15):
If he is loving that, then thatmakes him even worse.
Hopefully he will have to payup soon.
Anonymous user.
I'm so sorry, erin.
It's so effing hard when you'renot believed or listened to or
understood.
I went through the same with myex-in-laws.
So everyone, thank you so muchfor listening today.

(05:36):
I appreciate your time.
I will be back tomorrow morning, monday, in Australia.
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(05:57):
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(06:19):
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(06:42):
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Bye.