WEBVTT 1 00:00:12.119 --> 00:00:16.239 This episode maintained content of a graphic nature, including descriptions 2 00:00:16.280 --> 00:00:20.879 of physical and sexual violence against adults, children, and animals. 3 00:00:21.440 --> 00:00:23.399 Listener discretion is advised. 4 00:00:34.479 --> 00:00:38.079 Hi, I'm Shannon. Hi I'm Tanya, and we are Crimes 5 00:00:38.079 --> 00:00:46.479 and Consequences, a hardcore true crime podcast. Hey Shannon, Hey Tanya, 6 00:00:46.520 --> 00:00:47.039 how are you. 7 00:00:47.399 --> 00:00:48.600 I'm doing all right. 8 00:00:48.679 --> 00:00:55.280 How are you? I'm doing very very well. Thank you, considering, considering, 9 00:00:55.840 --> 00:01:02.640 it could be so much worse as we I mean, 10 00:01:02.719 --> 00:01:06.920 my goodness. You know, I remember one time, here's here's 11 00:01:06.959 --> 00:01:10.439 a bit of information, maybe a little two truths and 12 00:01:10.560 --> 00:01:13.120 a lie, you know. But I'll just tell you what 13 00:01:13.239 --> 00:01:17.799 the you know, what I think of what I say, 14 00:01:17.840 --> 00:01:20.840 stuff like, oh, could be worse. Anybody ever been in 15 00:01:20.879 --> 00:01:27.200 a psych ward? I have, So when I say it, 16 00:01:27.239 --> 00:01:29.480 I always I just think of any kind of time 17 00:01:29.519 --> 00:01:32.359 I was, you know, a moment when I was in there, 18 00:01:32.400 --> 00:01:33.000 and I'll be like. 19 00:01:33.040 --> 00:01:34.799 You were on the inside when I was on the 20 00:01:34.879 --> 00:01:35.400 looking out. 21 00:01:36.879 --> 00:01:38.439 I mean, it could be worse. 22 00:01:38.480 --> 00:01:42.200 You're right, but yeah, I cannot complain. Everybody's good here, 23 00:01:42.640 --> 00:01:46.640 and everybody's looking for the weekend. Brooke is so excited. 24 00:01:46.719 --> 00:01:49.280 She works all week and then she has her weekends off. 25 00:01:50.159 --> 00:01:50.480 Nice. 26 00:01:50.680 --> 00:01:52.719 Mm hmm when as a new mom, she's like, Oh, 27 00:01:52.799 --> 00:01:54.359 I am taking the biggest nap. 28 00:01:56.200 --> 00:01:58.120 Snaps really are the fucking best. 29 00:01:58.280 --> 00:02:03.079 Heyre, Now how about you, what's you up to? Well? 30 00:02:03.599 --> 00:02:04.040 Catch up? 31 00:02:04.560 --> 00:02:05.120 Yeah. 32 00:02:05.560 --> 00:02:08.719 Today was my almost second to last day at my 33 00:02:08.879 --> 00:02:12.120 job because the holiday is coming and I took time 34 00:02:12.159 --> 00:02:14.680 off and I just have one more work day where 35 00:02:14.680 --> 00:02:17.120 I have to be in the office or actually have 36 00:02:17.240 --> 00:02:17.879 to do anything. 37 00:02:18.560 --> 00:02:20.080 So it's a little bittersweet. 38 00:02:20.400 --> 00:02:22.680 My friends that I work with, the people that I 39 00:02:22.719 --> 00:02:25.199 worked with, had to say kind of goodbye to them today, 40 00:02:25.840 --> 00:02:29.599 even though like we've promised to make plans to, you know, 41 00:02:29.680 --> 00:02:32.039 get together because I don't live far away from where 42 00:02:32.080 --> 00:02:33.560 the workplace. 43 00:02:33.039 --> 00:02:36.120 Is and we'll get together, and but it was kind 44 00:02:36.120 --> 00:02:36.479 of sad. 45 00:02:36.520 --> 00:02:38.759 It was a little bittersweet because I am excited to 46 00:02:38.800 --> 00:02:41.759 start my new job and new adventure. 47 00:02:41.800 --> 00:02:45.800 But I really grew to like these women, and you know, 48 00:02:45.800 --> 00:02:46.319 they were just. 49 00:02:46.280 --> 00:02:49.879 Really funny and fun and everything, and they made the 50 00:02:49.960 --> 00:02:51.400 job pleasurable. 51 00:02:51.840 --> 00:02:55.280 So nice, what a compliment. Yeah, it's hard. 52 00:02:55.080 --> 00:02:58.400 To move on, I know, and I hate change. 53 00:02:58.719 --> 00:03:01.560 Probably why I've lived in the same house for almost 54 00:03:01.680 --> 00:03:04.199 thirty years. It's been married to the same man for 55 00:03:04.199 --> 00:03:08.199 thirty years hand jobs where I, like, you know, decades 56 00:03:08.319 --> 00:03:09.360 at the same job. 57 00:03:09.719 --> 00:03:10.719 Changes hard for me. 58 00:03:10.960 --> 00:03:13.520 But it's good and you're just so darn likable. I 59 00:03:13.560 --> 00:03:17.240 know that everybody you will be missing. Oh please, then 60 00:03:17.319 --> 00:03:19.759 thank you. I'll love you right back. But it's true. 61 00:03:20.520 --> 00:03:24.000 You are so extremely sweet and like girl, and I 62 00:03:24.080 --> 00:03:26.599 say that with so much love and a compliment. I 63 00:03:26.719 --> 00:03:29.159 love it. I love you back. But I do have 64 00:03:29.199 --> 00:03:34.400 a story, all right, story. I'm excited me too. This 65 00:03:34.560 --> 00:03:37.319 is a very very good one, and it's very recent 66 00:03:37.400 --> 00:03:40.759 as well. It's recent as of this year, so woo 67 00:03:41.240 --> 00:03:43.719 to dive in. But before I dive in, I'm going 68 00:03:43.759 --> 00:03:46.560 to invite everybody who's listening to go ahead and hit 69 00:03:46.639 --> 00:03:51.840 subscribe and follow, and you'll never miss us. So now, Tanya, 70 00:03:52.520 --> 00:03:55.479 there's a certain kind of horror that doesn't kick the 71 00:03:55.560 --> 00:04:01.199 door in. It knocks. It arrives wearing something ordinary, an invitation, 72 00:04:02.039 --> 00:04:06.599 a familiar driveway, a midday meal you'd never think twice 73 00:04:06.639 --> 00:04:09.879 about it, the kind of lunch that's supposed to mean peace, 74 00:04:10.360 --> 00:04:16.399 a reset, a family truce, and then days later doctors 75 00:04:16.439 --> 00:04:23.120 are using words like liver failure, transplant not survivable. On Saturday, 76 00:04:23.240 --> 00:04:29.160 July twenty ninth, twenty twenty three, in Leanngatha, Victoria, Australia, 77 00:04:29.759 --> 00:04:33.680 a woman named Aaron Patterson served lunch at her home 78 00:04:34.319 --> 00:04:42.680 individual beef Wellington's rich anxiety, very decadent and almost celebratory. 79 00:04:43.519 --> 00:04:48.639 This is the death cap mushroom murders story, and this 80 00:04:48.720 --> 00:04:52.800 is what happened inside that house in le Agatha, before 81 00:04:52.839 --> 00:04:57.079 the first ambulance, before the first lie, and before anyone 82 00:04:57.120 --> 00:05:01.839 could understand what a beef Wellington and can hide. All right, 83 00:05:01.920 --> 00:05:05.439 let me give you a little background. So to understand 84 00:05:05.519 --> 00:05:09.160 how a lunch in a small Victorian town turned into 85 00:05:09.240 --> 00:05:13.600 an international headline, we have to back up way before 86 00:05:13.639 --> 00:05:18.199 the beef Wellington, before the hospital admissions, before the word 87 00:05:18.319 --> 00:05:22.720 death cap became shorthand for a kind of domestic terror, 88 00:05:23.279 --> 00:05:27.120 Because cases like this don't usually ignite out of nowhere. 89 00:05:27.319 --> 00:05:31.720 They smolder. And in Leangtha, the story doesn't start with 90 00:05:31.800 --> 00:05:36.279 a mushroom, starts with a woman and the slow, messy 91 00:05:36.439 --> 00:05:41.600 physics of the family splitting in half. Aaron Patterson The 92 00:05:41.920 --> 00:05:48.240 normal life on paper Aaron Trudy Patterson born September thirtieth, 93 00:05:48.399 --> 00:05:56.519 nineteen seventy four. Ergo, nope, nope, libra libra. We got 94 00:05:56.560 --> 00:05:59.959 a libra on our hands. She grew up in Melbourne 95 00:06:00.120 --> 00:06:04.759 in southeast in glen Waverley. Her early life reads like 96 00:06:04.800 --> 00:06:09.839 the kind of biography that's supposed to signal stability. University 97 00:06:10.560 --> 00:06:15.720 career training a technical job. She studied at the University 98 00:06:15.720 --> 00:06:21.519 of Melbourne, began in science, later shifting to accounting, and 99 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:25.839 eventually trained as an air traffic controller, graduating in two 100 00:06:25.839 --> 00:06:30.319 thousand and one. She worked for Air Services Australia and Melbourne, 101 00:06:30.920 --> 00:06:34.360 but not for long. By the early two thousands, she'd 102 00:06:34.399 --> 00:06:38.800 moved into an animal management work connected to the RSPCA 103 00:06:39.560 --> 00:06:43.560 based out of the City of Manash Council Environment and 104 00:06:43.639 --> 00:06:47.560 it was in that orbit Manash Council work that she 105 00:06:47.680 --> 00:06:52.319 met Simon Patterson, the man she would marry marriage money 106 00:06:52.360 --> 00:06:56.519 in the shape of obligation. They married in two thousand 107 00:06:56.560 --> 00:07:00.639 and seven, and as the marriage took root, another factor 108 00:07:00.920 --> 00:07:06.879 entered the story. Money. Reporting aired during the trial described 109 00:07:06.920 --> 00:07:11.839 an inheritance of about two million Australian that Aaron received 110 00:07:11.879 --> 00:07:16.439 from her grandmother paid over time. You know, yearly? Did 111 00:07:16.480 --> 00:07:17.600 she get a yearly amount? 112 00:07:17.879 --> 00:07:18.240 Okay? 113 00:07:18.800 --> 00:07:23.560 To a family. Money can be oxygen or gasoline. It 114 00:07:23.600 --> 00:07:27.959 can build safety, it can create expectation, and it can 115 00:07:28.000 --> 00:07:33.560 turn ordinary decisions into long term grudges. Aaron and Simon's 116 00:07:33.560 --> 00:07:37.920 life moved around Western Australia for a time, then back 117 00:07:37.959 --> 00:07:43.000 to Victoria, closer to Simon's parents, Don and Gail. They 118 00:07:43.040 --> 00:07:46.160 had two children and they raised them in the messy 119 00:07:46.240 --> 00:07:53.040 reality most families recognize routines, compromises, fatigue, and the unglamorous 120 00:07:53.079 --> 00:07:58.120 grind of staying together. Except by multiple accounts aired in 121 00:07:58.160 --> 00:08:02.160 court coverage, the relationship began to strain after their first 122 00:08:02.240 --> 00:08:06.920 child was born, then stretched further with separations and attempts 123 00:08:06.959 --> 00:08:12.000 to regroup. Eventually the split became a long term reality. 124 00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:18.319 The in laws closeness, then distance. Now here's where the 125 00:08:18.519 --> 00:08:22.839 story gets deceptively human, because this wasn't a family that 126 00:08:22.879 --> 00:08:28.480 lived in permanent open warfare. The public records describes stretches 127 00:08:28.560 --> 00:08:34.279 of functional normalcy, shared custody, moments of friendliness, even the 128 00:08:34.320 --> 00:08:38.360 attempt to keep things civil. But over time, especially in 129 00:08:38.399 --> 00:08:43.360 the two years leading into July twenty twenty three, relationships 130 00:08:43.440 --> 00:08:51.960 fred court reporting describes growing estrangement between Aaron and Simon's family, misgatherings, 131 00:08:52.639 --> 00:08:57.200 shortened appearances, the kind of social distance that becomes its 132 00:08:57.279 --> 00:09:01.759 own language. There were also claims aired in later reporting 133 00:09:02.559 --> 00:09:08.559 that conflict sharpened around finances and status, particularly around government 134 00:09:08.639 --> 00:09:13.679 and tax settings, fueling resentment and suspicion on both sides. 135 00:09:14.360 --> 00:09:19.799 Apparently one year Simon had claimed himself as single, which 136 00:09:20.720 --> 00:09:25.320 made Aaron unable to collect benefits for the children. Oh okay, 137 00:09:25.399 --> 00:09:29.200 somehow tax laws in Australia. So that put quite a 138 00:09:29.200 --> 00:09:33.080 bit of contention, you know, as it can for sure, 139 00:09:33.840 --> 00:09:37.440 And in cases like this, resentment doesn't always show up 140 00:09:37.480 --> 00:09:42.200 as screaming matches. Sometimes it shows up as silence, as 141 00:09:42.440 --> 00:09:47.720 late invitations, as group chats you're not in and will 142 00:09:47.840 --> 00:09:54.559 sees that never become yes's. Ian and Heather Wilkinson, family 143 00:09:54.600 --> 00:09:57.799 and faith. Two of the people who would later sit 144 00:09:57.840 --> 00:10:01.840 at Aaron's table had their own deep time to community life. 145 00:10:02.279 --> 00:10:07.240 Ian Wilkinson, the only lunch guest to survive was a 146 00:10:07.279 --> 00:10:11.559 Baptist pastor and his wife, Heather was Gail Patterson's sister. 147 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:17.120 So this wasn't just family. Aaron attended the church when 148 00:10:17.159 --> 00:10:21.320 they were together. This is family braided with church community, 149 00:10:21.639 --> 00:10:26.879 long acquaintance, shared circles and familiar faces, and that matters 150 00:10:27.240 --> 00:10:30.879 because when something horrific happens in that kind of web 151 00:10:31.480 --> 00:10:35.919 everyone feels it, not as an abstract tragedy, as a 152 00:10:36.000 --> 00:10:40.600 rupture in the town's daily life. The invitation and what 153 00:10:40.679 --> 00:10:45.440 it signaled. By the time Aaron Patterson extended the invitation 154 00:10:45.600 --> 00:10:49.519 for lunch on July twenty ninth, twenty twenty three, the 155 00:10:49.559 --> 00:10:54.399 family dynamic was already brittle. An invitation like that can 156 00:10:54.440 --> 00:10:57.519 mean a lot of things. It can be an olive branch, 157 00:10:57.879 --> 00:11:02.960 a reset button, a performance of goodwill, or, as prosecutors 158 00:11:03.039 --> 00:11:06.799 later argued, if you accept their theory, it can be 159 00:11:06.879 --> 00:11:10.639 the stage setting for something planned. And this is where 160 00:11:10.639 --> 00:11:14.320 we need to be clear. At the trial, the Crown 161 00:11:14.480 --> 00:11:20.559 emphasized alleged deception, claims that Aaron used false pretenses to 162 00:11:20.600 --> 00:11:24.080 get the guests into her home, and she concealed key 163 00:11:24.120 --> 00:11:29.480 details about preparation, her health, narrative, and what she did after. 164 00:11:30.080 --> 00:11:34.960 The defense conceded some lies, especially around a dehydrator, but 165 00:11:35.159 --> 00:11:39.559 framed the core event as a terrible accident followed by panic. 166 00:11:40.399 --> 00:11:45.919 That tug of war premeditation versus catastrophe, becomes the spine 167 00:11:45.960 --> 00:11:50.600 of everything that follows, because once you accept the lunch invitation, 168 00:11:51.399 --> 00:11:54.600 you're not just walking into a house. You're walking into 169 00:11:54.679 --> 00:12:01.200 the context, history, resentment, obligation, wounded pride, money, messages left 170 00:12:01.240 --> 00:12:04.639 on sent and a family trying to pretend the ground 171 00:12:04.679 --> 00:12:08.440 isn't moving under their feet. And on July twenty ninth, 172 00:12:08.759 --> 00:12:13.399 the ground moved. She had invited them under the pretense 173 00:12:13.799 --> 00:12:18.480 she had cancer and she was baking. Yes, she wanted 174 00:12:18.519 --> 00:12:22.720 her close loved ones to know the medal. This is diabolical, 175 00:12:23.080 --> 00:12:23.480 isn't it. 176 00:12:24.039 --> 00:12:24.200 Ugh? 177 00:12:24.879 --> 00:12:28.759 The invitation was unremarkable, at least on its face. A 178 00:12:28.799 --> 00:12:35.120 family lunch, a Saturday afternoon, nothing ceremonial, nothing lavishly announced. 179 00:12:35.919 --> 00:12:39.679 Just July twenty ninth, twenty twenty three in le Agatha, 180 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:42.879 a quiet town where people tend to know each other's cars, 181 00:12:43.080 --> 00:12:47.840 routines and business. And that's important because crimes like this 182 00:12:48.039 --> 00:12:53.320 don't need spectacle, they need familiarity. Who was invited and 183 00:12:53.360 --> 00:12:58.360 who wasn't. Aaron Patterson invited Don and Gail Patterson, her 184 00:12:58.480 --> 00:13:02.679 estranged husband's peers pants, her ex in laws. She also 185 00:13:02.720 --> 00:13:07.879 invited Heather Wilkinson, Gail's sister, and Heather's husband, Ian Wilkinson, 186 00:13:08.120 --> 00:13:13.320 the Baptist pastor. Her estranged husband, Simon was also invited. 187 00:13:13.639 --> 00:13:17.559 He didn't come. That absence would matter later because In 188 00:13:17.600 --> 00:13:21.679 a case where intent is everything, who eats and who 189 00:13:21.720 --> 00:13:26.360 doesn't becomes evidence. Aaron later said her two children were 190 00:13:26.399 --> 00:13:30.799 not present, having gone out to the cinema. Again ordinary 191 00:13:30.879 --> 00:13:34.799 on the surface, but prosecutors would later argue that this 192 00:13:34.960 --> 00:13:43.320 detail wasn't incidental. The meal controlled individual, deliberate. Aaron didn't 193 00:13:43.360 --> 00:13:48.279 serve something casual, not takeaway, not a shared pot. She 194 00:13:48.440 --> 00:13:54.360 prepared individual beef Wellington's, a dish that requires planning, precision, 195 00:13:54.480 --> 00:14:04.159 and timing. Each portion was its own unit. Beef, mushroom, duxels, pastry, assembled, wrapped, baked. 196 00:14:04.879 --> 00:14:09.279 It wasn't help yourself. It was plated, and that matters 197 00:14:09.919 --> 00:14:15.240 because individual portions mean control, control over what goes where, 198 00:14:15.759 --> 00:14:20.759 control over quantities, control over who gets what. At the trial, 199 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:24.559 the Crown would later suggest that Aaron did not eat 200 00:14:24.600 --> 00:14:29.679 the same meal as her guests. Survivor Ian Wilkinson testify 201 00:14:29.799 --> 00:14:33.080 that Aaron used a different colored plate from the guests, 202 00:14:33.799 --> 00:14:39.600 a detailed the defense later dismissed as insignificant, but in 203 00:14:39.679 --> 00:14:46.519 poisoning cases, nothing is insignificant. Laboratory testing would later confirm 204 00:14:46.639 --> 00:14:53.279 the presence of Aminita filoida's death cap mushroom toxins in 205 00:14:53.480 --> 00:14:58.960 the beef Wellington leftovers. Death caps are not subtle. They 206 00:14:59.000 --> 00:15:04.120 are responsible for the majority of mushroom related deaths worldwide. 207 00:15:04.200 --> 00:15:09.360 They're toxins. Amatoxins attacked the liver with the delay that 208 00:15:09.519 --> 00:15:16.759 makes early symptoms deceptively mild nausea, vomiting, diarrhea, then hours 209 00:15:16.840 --> 00:15:22.759 later organ failure, which makes timing crucial after the meal, 210 00:15:23.000 --> 00:15:28.679 the delay that kills after lunch. Nothing dramatic happened immediately. 211 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:32.720 No one collapsed at the table, no frantic calls, no 212 00:15:32.960 --> 00:15:38.120 early warning signs that screamed poison. But the next day, however, 213 00:15:38.559 --> 00:15:45.399 all four guests were critically ill. Doctors initially suspected gastro enteritis, 214 00:15:46.200 --> 00:15:50.639 a reasonable assumption given the symptoms, but as test results 215 00:15:50.679 --> 00:15:56.559 came in that theory collapsed. The diagnosis shifted to severe 216 00:15:56.759 --> 00:16:02.279 liver failure, consistent with death carep poisoning. Three of the 217 00:16:02.360 --> 00:16:07.120 four guests would die within six days. One Ian Wilkinson, 218 00:16:07.759 --> 00:16:12.480 would survive after more than seven weeks in the hospital. Wow, 219 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:18.120 I mean this is this is a nasty toxin. Yeah, 220 00:16:18.200 --> 00:16:18.879 six days. 221 00:16:19.039 --> 00:16:21.120 It takes six days to die from it. 222 00:16:21.639 --> 00:16:24.159 Six days and you don't think that it's you know, 223 00:16:24.200 --> 00:16:27.240 I thinking you're experiencing acute liver failure. 224 00:16:27.519 --> 00:16:32.759 Right, so seven weeks to survive it. Holy shit, it's 225 00:16:32.879 --> 00:16:40.480 crazy Aaron Patterson's own illness or performance now. Aaron Patterson 226 00:16:40.639 --> 00:16:46.120 also presented Tillian gotha hospital, reporting stomach pain and diarrhea, 227 00:16:46.799 --> 00:16:52.840 but she refused admission multiple times. Doctors were concerned enough. 228 00:16:52.639 --> 00:16:57.840 That they contacted police, an unusual step unless something feels off, 229 00:16:58.519 --> 00:17:02.639 and when concerns were raised about the children who reportedly 230 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:08.359 ate leftovers with the mushrooms removed, health staff testified that 231 00:17:08.440 --> 00:17:12.599 Aaron was reluctant to have them tested, and that reluctance 232 00:17:12.599 --> 00:17:16.960 would later be dissected in court, not as proof by itself, 233 00:17:17.400 --> 00:17:22.119 but as part of a pattern early red flags only 234 00:17:22.200 --> 00:17:26.960 visible later. At the time, none of this looked like murder. 235 00:17:27.519 --> 00:17:31.319 It looked like a tragic food poisoning, a horrible coincidence, 236 00:17:31.519 --> 00:17:37.279 a family catastrophe. But in hindsight, every poisoning case has 237 00:17:37.319 --> 00:17:42.680 a moment like this. The red flags rearranged themselves. Who cooked, 238 00:17:42.960 --> 00:17:47.400 who ate, who didn't, who got sick, how sick, who 239 00:17:47.480 --> 00:17:52.160 stayed in the hospital, who walked out? Who controlled the narrative? 240 00:17:52.240 --> 00:17:56.160 In the first forty eight hours and by August fourth 241 00:17:56.200 --> 00:18:01.440 and fifth, when Gail Heather and Don Patterson were Victoria 242 00:18:01.480 --> 00:18:06.000 police were no longer treating this as an accident the investigation. 243 00:18:06.880 --> 00:18:09.759 Once three people were dead and a fourth was clinging 244 00:18:09.799 --> 00:18:14.119 to life, this stopped being a medical mystery. It became 245 00:18:14.240 --> 00:18:19.200 a homicide investigation. And Victoria police weren't looking for chaos, 246 00:18:19.880 --> 00:18:25.960 they were looking for process because poison leaves patterns from 247 00:18:26.119 --> 00:18:31.920 tragic lunch to active homicide inquiry. By August fifth, twenty 248 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:40.319 twenty three, with Don Patterson's death, even after a liver transplant, investigators, yes, 249 00:18:40.599 --> 00:18:47.160 that's how invasive and horrible. Investigators formally shifted posture. And 250 00:18:47.160 --> 00:18:50.599 this wasn't food poisoning anymore. It was a fatal exposure 251 00:18:50.759 --> 00:18:55.240 to a highly specific toxin and death cap Mushrooms don't 252 00:18:55.279 --> 00:18:59.599 wander into meals by accidents. They must be found and 253 00:18:59.680 --> 00:19:08.200 hand and prepared and critically introduced Aaron Patterson's statement to police. 254 00:19:08.319 --> 00:19:12.799 On August fourteenth, Aaron Patterson provided police with a detailed statement. 255 00:19:13.400 --> 00:19:17.160 She told investigators she had purchased dried mushrooms from an 256 00:19:17.200 --> 00:19:21.160 Asian grocery store in Mount Waverley, nearly one hundred and 257 00:19:21.200 --> 00:19:25.200 twenty kilometers from her home, several months earlier and at 258 00:19:25.240 --> 00:19:29.799 the time that explanation gave police something to test, and 259 00:19:29.960 --> 00:19:35.559 so they did, and that story didn't hold. The dehydrator 260 00:19:36.000 --> 00:19:40.960 a quiet pivot point. Investigators soon zeroed in on a 261 00:19:41.039 --> 00:19:46.720 seemingly mundane appliance, a food dehydrator. At first, Aaron Patterson 262 00:19:46.759 --> 00:19:50.960 told police she didn't own one. That claim quickly unraveled. 263 00:19:51.640 --> 00:19:56.039 Police recovered a dehydrator from a skip bin at the 264 00:19:56.160 --> 00:20:03.240 Kunwara transfer station, discarded after the lunch CCTV footage shows 265 00:20:03.400 --> 00:20:08.640 Aaron Patterson dumping it there, and inside that dehydrator, forensic 266 00:20:08.720 --> 00:20:16.400 testing found Aaron Patterson's fingerprints and traces of Amanita Filloyd's toxins. 267 00:20:17.079 --> 00:20:21.000 The same toxins were later detected in the urine samples 268 00:20:21.039 --> 00:20:25.920 of the poisoned guests. At that point, investigators weren't dealing 269 00:20:25.960 --> 00:20:32.079 with circumstantial coincidence. They were dealing with physical linkage foraging 270 00:20:32.240 --> 00:20:38.319 searches and geographic overlap. Police also examined Patterson's movements in 271 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:41.119 the months leading up to the launch. The Crown would 272 00:20:41.160 --> 00:20:46.079 later present evidence of trips to Locke and Outram, areas 273 00:20:46.160 --> 00:20:51.480 known to host death cat mushroom habitats. Digital forensic analysis 274 00:20:51.599 --> 00:20:56.640 showed online activity related to death cat mushrooms, including access 275 00:20:56.720 --> 00:21:01.400 to the platform I Naturalists, a site commonly used to 276 00:21:01.519 --> 00:21:08.680 identify fungi. Patterson denied intentional research, describing it as idle curiosity. 277 00:21:09.359 --> 00:21:14.000 Prosecutors weren't persuaded digital evidence in what was done after 278 00:21:14.240 --> 00:21:19.160 the lunch. Investigators didn't just focus on what happened before 279 00:21:19.400 --> 00:21:23.960 July twenty ninth. They focused on what happened after police 280 00:21:24.039 --> 00:21:29.000 alleged that Patterson factory reset her mobile phone multiple times 281 00:21:29.640 --> 00:21:33.319 in August of twenty twenty three. The Crown argued this 282 00:21:33.480 --> 00:21:37.559 was an attempt to conceal evidence a digital cleanup following 283 00:21:37.599 --> 00:21:43.039 the poisoning. The defense countered that resets were innocent or unrelated, 284 00:21:43.759 --> 00:21:48.640 but again, investigators weren't evaluating any one act in isolation. 285 00:21:49.480 --> 00:21:54.319 They were building a sequence. The children and the doctor's concern. 286 00:21:55.720 --> 00:22:00.000 Medical staff testified that they were alarmed by Patterson's resistance 287 00:22:00.000 --> 00:22:04.200 stance of having her children tested, despite concerns that they 288 00:22:04.240 --> 00:22:09.160 may have eaten leftovers. Doctors were so concerned about Patterson's 289 00:22:09.240 --> 00:22:15.200 own refusal of admission that police were contacted directly to investigators. 290 00:22:15.400 --> 00:22:19.039 This wasn't proof of guilt, but it was behavioral data 291 00:22:19.680 --> 00:22:26.160 and behavior especially under pressure can reveal intent. The story 292 00:22:26.279 --> 00:22:34.799 keeps changing as the investigation progressed. Patterson's explanations shifted. First, 293 00:22:35.119 --> 00:22:40.119 she never owned a dehydrator, Then she had, but panicked 294 00:22:40.200 --> 00:22:44.440 and disposed of it. First, the mushrooms weren't store bought, 295 00:22:44.880 --> 00:22:51.200 then foraged, but mixed up. First, her illness mirrored her guests, 296 00:22:52.119 --> 00:22:56.799 Then medical experts questioned whether she consumed the same food 297 00:22:56.960 --> 00:23:03.200 at all. Each inconsistency tightened the focus because lies don't 298 00:23:03.240 --> 00:23:09.279 always prove guilt, but patterns of lies can suggest knowledge. 299 00:23:09.640 --> 00:23:14.559 Arrest and the long road to trial. On November two, 300 00:23:14.759 --> 00:23:19.039 twenty twenty three, Aaron Patterson was arrested and charged with 301 00:23:19.160 --> 00:23:23.039 three counts of murder and five counts of attempted murder, 302 00:23:23.319 --> 00:23:28.160 including charges related to her estranged husband. Some charges would 303 00:23:28.160 --> 00:23:32.279 be later dropped, others would harden. By the time this 304 00:23:32.480 --> 00:23:37.279 case reached trial, police weren't asking whether death caps caused 305 00:23:37.319 --> 00:23:41.960 the deaths that was settled. They were asking something far 306 00:23:42.039 --> 00:23:48.920 more dangerous. Did Aaron Patterson knowingly prepare those mushrooms, deliberately 307 00:23:49.200 --> 00:23:53.279 serve them, and then try to erase the evidence when 308 00:23:53.319 --> 00:23:58.519 people began to die the trial. By the time Aaron 309 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:03.759 Patterson's trial began. The story was already global, but inside 310 00:24:03.799 --> 00:24:08.039 the Supreme Court of Victoria, sitting in more Well, the 311 00:24:08.160 --> 00:24:14.039 task wasn't to satisfy the world's curiosity. It was narrower, colder. 312 00:24:14.799 --> 00:24:18.920 Did the evidence prove beyond reasonable doubt that this was murder? 313 00:24:20.119 --> 00:24:24.240 Setting the stage. The trial commenced on April twenty ninth, 314 00:24:24.440 --> 00:24:29.279 twenty twenty five, presided over by Justice Christopher Beale at 315 00:24:29.279 --> 00:24:33.680 Patterson's request. It was held in regional more Well, not Melbourne, 316 00:24:34.240 --> 00:24:39.079 an unusual but strategic choice, one that placed the proceedings 317 00:24:39.119 --> 00:24:44.079 closer to the community most directly affected. A jury was 318 00:24:44.160 --> 00:24:48.839 and pianoed reserved, jurors were sealed, and for weeks the 319 00:24:48.839 --> 00:24:52.119 court would sift through a case that hinged not on 320 00:24:52.240 --> 00:24:56.599 violence but on intention. Because no one disputed the cause 321 00:24:56.640 --> 00:25:01.039 of death, the fight was over why it happened. The 322 00:25:01.079 --> 00:25:07.119 Crown's case control preparation, deception. From the outset, the prosecution 323 00:25:07.359 --> 00:25:11.440 made its position clear. This was not an accident, it 324 00:25:11.559 --> 00:25:16.799 was not carelessness, and it was not a tragic misunderstanding. 325 00:25:17.480 --> 00:25:21.920 Crown Prosecutor Nanette Rogers told the jury this case was 326 00:25:21.960 --> 00:25:27.519 about deliberate preparation followed by a sustained cover up. The 327 00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:33.279 Crown focused early and often on the food dehydrator. Jurors 328 00:25:33.279 --> 00:25:39.359 were shown photographs, social media posts and receipts posts where 329 00:25:39.519 --> 00:25:45.640 Patterson appeared to proudly display dehydrated mushrooms, evidence that directly 330 00:25:45.759 --> 00:25:50.759 contradicted her initial claim to police that she never owned 331 00:25:50.759 --> 00:25:55.279 such a device. And then came the footage, the CCT 332 00:25:55.319 --> 00:25:59.799 footage of Patterson discarding the dehydrator at the Kunwara transfer 333 00:25:59.880 --> 00:26:05.559 station after lunch, after people had begun falling gravely ill. 334 00:26:06.240 --> 00:26:10.480 To the Crown, this wasn't panic, it was consciousness of guilt. 335 00:26:11.200 --> 00:26:15.680 Prosecutors also laid out a timeline of foraging trips drives 336 00:26:15.680 --> 00:26:19.799 to areas known for death cap mushrooms. They presented digital 337 00:26:19.839 --> 00:26:25.640 forensic evidence showing online activity related to mushroom identification. They 338 00:26:25.799 --> 00:26:32.319 argued Patterson repeatedly lied about owning the dehydrator, about foraging, 339 00:26:33.119 --> 00:26:37.079 about the source of the mushrooms, about her own illness, 340 00:26:37.799 --> 00:26:41.759 and about a cancer diagnosis she never had. The Crown 341 00:26:41.839 --> 00:26:45.519 suggested the cancer story wasn't just a lie, it was 342 00:26:45.559 --> 00:26:50.440 a pretext used to secure the lunch invitation and ensure 343 00:26:50.480 --> 00:26:56.039 the children weren't present, and critically, Prosecutors argued that Patterson 344 00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:59.319 did not eat the same meal as her guests. If 345 00:26:59.359 --> 00:27:04.759 she had, they asked, where was the liver failure? Witnesses 346 00:27:04.799 --> 00:27:09.079 for the prosecution. The Crown called a long list of witnesses, 347 00:27:09.279 --> 00:27:14.839 among them Simon Patterson, the estranged husband, Ian Wilkinson, the 348 00:27:14.880 --> 00:27:20.160 sole survivor, Medical professionals who treated the victims, child protection 349 00:27:20.440 --> 00:27:28.720 and welfare workers, digital forensic experts, mycologists, and toxicologists. Experts 350 00:27:28.799 --> 00:27:35.599 testified about how Amanita Filoda's works, how its toxins survive cooking, 351 00:27:36.279 --> 00:27:43.119 how dehydration concentrates lethality, how symptoms can be delayed just 352 00:27:43.240 --> 00:27:47.039 long enough to mask the danger. Jurors heard that the 353 00:27:47.119 --> 00:27:52.079 victims' illnesses were described by doctors as quote unquote, not 354 00:27:52.200 --> 00:27:57.599 survivable once the damage progressed. Ian Wilkinson testified about the 355 00:27:57.680 --> 00:28:02.759 lunch itself, the plates, the serving order, the aftermath. He 356 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:09.680 spoke quietly, deliberately, a man who lived but lost his wife. 357 00:28:09.839 --> 00:28:15.000 The defense accident, shame, panic. The defense did not dispute 358 00:28:15.039 --> 00:28:19.200 the science. They did not dispute that death cat mushrooms 359 00:28:19.240 --> 00:28:26.400 caused the deaths. Instead, Colin Mandy, counsel for Patterson, asked 360 00:28:26.400 --> 00:28:31.319 the jury to consider something else, entirely human error. He 361 00:28:31.400 --> 00:28:36.279 acknowledged patterson life to police, to doctors, to family, but 362 00:28:36.599 --> 00:28:40.079 he argued people lie for reasons that have nothing to 363 00:28:40.160 --> 00:28:44.279 do with murder. They lie for shame, for fear or panic. 364 00:28:45.039 --> 00:28:50.640 Mandy conceded that Patterson fabricated the cancer diagnosis, but framed 365 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:55.759 it as embarrassment over a planned gastric bypass surgery, not 366 00:28:55.880 --> 00:29:01.680 a murderous ruse. I'm gonna tell you I cancer, but 367 00:29:01.759 --> 00:29:06.000 I'm guarding the secret of my gastric bypass surgery. Come on, 368 00:29:06.440 --> 00:29:10.200 are you hearing your words? He told the jury. Aaron 369 00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:14.119 Patterson loved her children, loved her in laws, and had 370 00:29:14.160 --> 00:29:17.839 no reason to kill them. The defense position was simple, 371 00:29:18.079 --> 00:29:23.440 if devastating. This was a terrible accident, a labeling mistake 372 00:29:23.519 --> 00:29:28.359 involving forged mushrooms, and everything that follows was a frightened 373 00:29:28.400 --> 00:29:32.960 woman trying to outrun blame. The defense called one witness, 374 00:29:33.640 --> 00:29:39.440 Aaron Patterson. She testified for days. She admitted foraging for mushrooms, 375 00:29:39.680 --> 00:29:43.680 admitted lying about the dehydrator, admitted lying about the medical 376 00:29:43.720 --> 00:29:49.799 appointments and diagnoses, but she denied intent. She denied cultivating 377 00:29:49.920 --> 00:29:56.720 death caps, denied measuring doses, denied deliberately serving poison She 378 00:29:56.920 --> 00:30:01.880 said she vomited after lunch, that she suffered diarrhea, that 379 00:30:01.960 --> 00:30:05.839 she panicked when people became ill, and lied because she 380 00:30:05.920 --> 00:30:12.440 was afraid. Under cross examination, the Crown pressed hard about searches, 381 00:30:12.519 --> 00:30:17.200 about deleted data, about inconsistencies that piled up like sediment, 382 00:30:17.759 --> 00:30:21.279 and when asked why her story kept changing, there was 383 00:30:21.440 --> 00:30:26.640 no clean answer what the jury was left with. By 384 00:30:26.720 --> 00:30:30.559 the time closing arguments approached, the jury wasn't deciding whether 385 00:30:30.680 --> 00:30:35.119 mushrooms killed three people. They were deciding whether Aaron Patterson 386 00:30:35.599 --> 00:30:38.880 knew exactly what she was doing. The Crown told them 387 00:30:39.119 --> 00:30:45.279 this was a methodical poisoning, planned, executed concealed. The defense 388 00:30:45.640 --> 00:30:49.839 told them this was tragedy layered with fear, and that 389 00:30:49.880 --> 00:30:54.680 suspicion was not proof. And between those two narratives sat 390 00:30:54.720 --> 00:30:59.599 twelve jurors tasked with deciding which version fit the evidence, 391 00:31:00.279 --> 00:31:06.240 in which required too many coincidences to believe the verdict. 392 00:31:07.000 --> 00:31:09.720 By the time the jury was sent out, there was 393 00:31:09.759 --> 00:31:13.319 nothing left to say. No more witnesses, no more theories, 394 00:31:14.000 --> 00:31:19.359 no more carefully chosen words, only evidence, and twelve people 395 00:31:19.480 --> 00:31:26.160 tasked with deciding what it meant. Deliberation, The long quiet 396 00:31:26.400 --> 00:31:31.240 after the noise After reserve jurors were excused, the remaining 397 00:31:31.279 --> 00:31:35.720 twelve were sequestered for deliberations. They had heard weeks of 398 00:31:35.799 --> 00:31:41.720 testimony from doctors who described irreversible liver failure, from scientists 399 00:31:41.759 --> 00:31:45.799 who explained how death capped toxins work, from police who 400 00:31:45.799 --> 00:31:51.160 traced movements and devices and disposal, from a survivor who 401 00:31:51.279 --> 00:31:56.680