Erin Patterson, the woman at the centre of an alleged deadly mushroom poisoning scandal that killed three people in eastern Victoria, has been arrested.
Victoria Police confirmed homicide squad detectives had arrested Ms Patterson shortly after 8am on Thursday morning.
A Victoria Police spokesperson confirmed a search warrant had been executed at Ms Patterson’s Gibson St address, with assistance from the AFP’s technology detector dogs.
“The woman will now be interviewed by police and the investigation remains ongoing,”
No charges have been laid.
Ms Patterson cooked a beef wellington dish, which is alleged to have contained deadly death cap mushrooms, on July 29, served it to four people at a lunch at her home.
Her former parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson died from symptoms consistent with death cap mushroom poisoning after the lunch.
Ms Wilkinson’s husband, Ian, survived.
“Four people were taken to hospital on July 30 after they became ill following a meal at a private residence in Leongatha the previous day,” Victoria Police said in a statement.
“Two Korumburra women, aged 66 and 70, passed away in hospital on August 4.
“A third person, a 70-year-old Korumburra man, passed away in hospital on August 5.
“A 69-year-old Korumburra man was released from hospital on 23 September.”
Ms Patterson has been questioned by police since the trio’s deaths.
She has denied any wrongdoing, and previously said she does not know what caused the trio’s deaths.
In a statement in August, Ms Patterson confirmed mushrooms she used in the dish were a combination of button mushrooms bought at a supermarket chain and dried ones from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne months prior.
“I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved,” she said in the statement.
The death cap mushroom is responsible for 90 per cent of all deaths related to mushroom consumption.
All parts of the fungus are poisonous and even eating a small amount can be fatal.
In August, hundreds of mourners farewelled the Pattersons at the Korumburra Recreation Centre.
Simon, the son of Gail and Don and Erin’s ex-husband, revealed the heartbreaking final text his mum sent while she was in hospital.
“It was no fluke that mum’s final text message on our family group chat as she lay in Dandenong hospital was: ‘Lots of love to you all’,” he told a crowd of mourners.
“As Mum and Dad lay in comas in the hospital in their final days and each day … we were unsure if they would recover or not.
“It was comforting to know that when we said: ‘See you later,’ we knew it was true.
“The only thing we didn’t know was when.
“In the meantime, we’ll miss them.”
The couple were well-liked in Korumburra, a town of about 5,800 people, two hours southeast of Melbourne.
More to come.