Results: Family lunch ends with 3 dead in suspected wild mushroom poisoning in Australia

A homicide investigation has been launched after three guests died and a fourth became critically ill in the days after a small family lunch in a quiet Australian town, all with symptoms that police say were consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning. Erin Patterson served the meal to her former parents-in-law and her mother-in-law's sister and husband, who were guests at her home in the town of Leongatha in southern Victoria, on July 29, according to Victoria Police. She did not respond to reporters' questions regarding the origin of the mushrooms or what meals she served to which guests although there are reports she foraged for mushrooms. Death cap mushrooms are most common between March and May in southeast Australia. Toxins in death cap mushrooms cannot be destroyed by boiling, cooking, freezing, or drying and eating only a small portion can lead to death. Have you ever foraged for mushrooms or any other vegetable/fruit/herb before?

Within days, Gail Patterson, 70, and her sister Heather Wilkinson, 66, died in hospital, followed by Gail's 70-year-old husband, Don, a day later. A fourth guest, Wilkinson's husband, Ian, a 68-year-old reverend, remains critically ill in hospital. At a news briefing Monday, Detective Inspector Dean Thomas with the Victoria Police homicide squad, said Patterson is a suspect because she cooked the meal, and is the only adult at the lunch who didn't fall ill. Her two children were also at the lunch, he added, but they ate a different meal and showed no sign of illness. "We have to keep an open mind in relation to this. It could be very innocent," Thomas said. "But again, we just don't know at this point … four people turn up and three of them pass away, with another one critical, so we have to work through this." Just from these few details, do you think this was an accident?