Australian woman Erin Patterson is guilty of murdering three relatives with a toxic mushroom lunch, a jury has found.

The 50-year-old has also been found guilty of the attempted murder of the sole guest who survived the beef Wellington meal in 2023.

Patterson’s much-watched trial in the small Victorian town of Morwell heard evidence suggesting she had hunted down death cap mushrooms sighted in nearby towns, before trying to conceal her crimes by lying to police and disposing of evidence.

Her legal team had argued she unintentionally foraged lethal fungi, then “panicked” upon accidentally poisoning family members she loved. The jury on Monday ruled she did it intentionally.

Three people died in hospital in the days after the meal on 29 July 2023: Patterson’s former in-laws, Don Patterson, 70, and Gail Patterson, 70, as well as Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, 66.

Local pastor Ian Wilkinson – Heather’s husband – recovered after weeks of treatment in hospital.

Patterson’s estranged partner Simon Patterson had also been invited to the lunch but pulled out at the last minute. She was originally accused of attempting to murder him too – on several occasions – but those charges were dropped on the eve of the trial and the allegations were not put to the jury.

The case captured the world’s attention, becoming one of the most closely watched trials in Australian history.

Over nine weeks, the Victorian Supreme Court heard from more than 50 witnesses – including Patterson herself. Detectives described rifling through her garbage bins for leftovers, doctors outlined the gradual but brutal decline of the victims’ health, and Patterson’s estranged husband emotionally explained the souring nature of their relationship.

The only thing the case was missing was a motive – something key to Patterson’s defence.

Prosecutors argued Patterson had faked a cancer diagnosis to coax the guests to her house, then poisoned them and feigned illness to ward off suspicion.

She admitted to lying to police and medical staff about foraging for wild mushrooms, dumping a food dehydrator used to prepare the meal, and repeatedly wiping her mobile phone – all evidence of her guilt, prosecutors said.

From the witness box, Erin Patterson told the court she loved her relatives and had no reason to harm them.

She repeatedly denied intentionally putting the poisonous fungi in the meal, and said she realised days after the lunch that the beef Wellingtons may have accidentally included dried, foraged varieties that were kept in a container with store-bought ones.

She also told the court she had suffered from bulimia for years, and had made herself throw up after the beef Wellington meal – something her defence team said explained why she did not become as sick as the others who ate it.

The lie about having cancer was because she was embarrassed about plans to get weight-loss surgery, Ms Patterson said. She also claimed she didn’t tell authorities the truth about her mushroom foraging hobby because she feared they might blame her for making her relatives sick.

Ultimately, after a week of deliberation, the jury decided: returning four guilty verdicts which could see Patterson spend the rest of her life in jail.

The Patterson and Wilkinson families were not in court to hear the outcome of the case, and a representative said they would not be making a comment.

The Korumburra Baptist Church, where all of the victims attended and Mr Wilkinson was the pastor, said the trio were “very special people who loved God and loved to bless others”.

“We all greatly miss Heather, Don and Gail whether we were friends for a short time or over 20 years,” the statement posted to their noticeboard read.

Speaking briefly to media outside the courtroom, Victoria Police’s Detective Inspector Dean Thomas thanked the officers and prosecutors who had worked on the case.

“It’s very important that we remember that three people have died, and we’ve had a person that nearly died and was seriously injured,” he said.

“I ask that we acknowledge those people and not forget them.”

He added that the Patterson and Wilkinson families had asked for privacy, and urged that their wishes be respected.

The waterways in Texas Hill Country have carved paths over the centuries through the granite and limestone, shaping the rocky peaks and valleys that make the region so breathtaking.

When too much rain falls for the ground to absorb, it runs downhill, pulled by gravity into streams, creeks and rivers. The rain fills the waterways beyond their banks, and the excess overflows in predictable patterns that follow the terrain.

Governments and waterway managers know what will flood first and who will be threatened when a truly historic rain event takes place.

Several of the camps along the Guadalupe River and its tributaries sustained damage early July 4. Many of them are in areas known to flood.

The Federal Emergency Management Agency maintains a database of flood zones throughout the country. It maps the regulatory floodways — the places that will flood first and are most dangerous — and the areas that will flood in extreme events.

The Guadalupe River flood was a 1-in-100-year event, meaning it has about a 1% chance of happening in any given year. Extreme flooding is happening more frequently as the world warms and the atmosphere is able to hold more moisture.

Texas has already seen multiple dangerous flooding events this year, and the United States overall saw a record number of flash flood emergencies last year.

More than an entire summer’s worth of rain fell in some spots in central Texas in just a few hours early on the Fourth of July, quickly overwhelming dry soils and creating significant flash flooding. Central Texas is currently home to some of the worst drought in the United States and bone-dry soils flood very quickly.

Camp Mystic is a nondenominational Christian summer camp for girls in western Kerr County. The camp is located at a dangerous confluence of the South Fork Guadalupe River and Cypress Creek, where flood waters converged.

Camp Mystic has two sites, both of which overlap with either the floodway or areas the federal government has determined have a 1% or 0.2% annual chance of flooding.

Officials have not shared how many of the Camp Mystic girls perished in the floods. At least 10 girls and one counselor remain missing as of Sunday evening.

Ten minutes north on the South Fork is Camp La Junta, a boys camp. Some of Camp La Junta’s property also coincides with areas known to flood, though several of its buildings are located in the lower-risk zone, or outside the flood zones entirely.

Wyndham Etheridge, a 14-year-old at Camp La Junta in Hunt, Texas, told CNN’s Fredricka Whitfield he woke up to people from all over the camp coming to “seek refuge” at his cabin. They stayed there, fearing the strong floodwaters could sweep them away.

As the water rose, they climbed into the loft of their cabin to escape, but it wasn’t safe, Etheridge said. “So at some point we just decided … we could go to bed for a little bit, but then we woke up again to more water,” he said.

Etheridge’s parents were among the lucky who received word that their child was safe and could be picked up. “All those boys were pretty traumatized,” said Amy Etheridge, Wyndham’s mother.

Everyone at Camp La Junta has been safe and accounted for, the camp announced Friday.

Cierra Ortega’s parents have seen the messages directed at the Love Island USA Islander and are calling for “compassion” amid the backlash and her exit from the villa.

Following Season 7, Episode 30 streaming on Peacock, Cierra’s parents released a statement on social media after it was confirmed she would no longer be part of the dating series.

“As Cierra’s parents, this has been one of the most painful weeks of our lives,” the parents said in a statement posted on Instagram. “We’ve seen the posts, the headlines, the hurt and the hate. And while Cierra hasn’t seen any of it yet, we have. And so have the people who love her.”

The statement continued, “We’re not here to justify or ignore what’s surfaced. We understand why people are upset, and we know accountability matters. But what’s happening online right now has gone far beyond that. The threats. The cruel messages. The attacks on her family, her friends, even her supporters, it’s heartbreaking. It’s uncalled for. And no one deserves that kind of hate, no matter what mistake they’ve made.”

An old social media post Cierra made resurfaced, where she references her eyes, and uses a racial slur that has been used to denigrate the Asian community. Since the post went viral, Cierra began losing thousands of followers. Before the backlash, Cierra was close to hitting 1M on Instagram, but when Love Island USA fans learned of her using the racial slur, her follower count began to drop, which stands at 683k now.

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Cierra’s parents noted that she had not seen anything, as she was still sequestered pending the episode’s release.

“We know our daughter. We know her heart. And when she returns, we believe she’ll face this with honesty, growth, and grace,” the parents added. “While she’ll always be our little girl, she’s also a woman, one who will take responsibility in her own time and her own voice.”

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Cierra’s parents ended the statement saying, “Until then, we’re simply asking for compassion. For patience. For basic human decency. Not just for her, but for everyone caught in the middle of this.
Thank you to those who’ve continued to show love, even when it’s not easy.”