The daughter-in-law of a couple who died from eating poisonous mushrooms at her house is being investigated by Australian police, BBC reported.
The Victoria Police is investigating 48-year-old Erin Patterson, after she served a meal that led to her mother and father-in-law, Gail and Don Patterson, and Gail’s sister, Heather Wilkinson, and her husband, Ian, becoming severely ill, according to BBC News. Erin was reportedly fine.
“At this point in time, the deaths are unexplained,” Dean Thomas of the Homicide Squad with the Victoria Police said in a statement, according to the outlet.
A woman who served four family members poisonous mushrooms before three of them died has tearfully denied doing anything wrong https://t.co/2aytRr4a5P
— Sky News (@SkyNews) August 8, 2023
Gail, 70, and her husband Don, 70, had come over to Erin’s house in Victoria, Australia, to have lunch with their grandkids. They had brought Heather, 66, and Ian, 68, with them, according to the outlet. (RELATED: Massachusetts Mother And Son Nearly Die After Eating ‘Death Cap’ Mushroom In Backyard)
Hours after eating, the four of them reportedly took themselves to a local hospital and were later transferred to a hospital in Melbourne, according to the outlet. Gail, Don, and Heather passed away on Saturday, while Ian is reportedly in critical condition awaiting a liver transplant, according to the outlet.
“It could be very innocent, but we just don’t know,” Thomas said of the incident.
The four people who became ill from the mushrooms are believed to have eaten death cap mushrooms, according to the outlet. Death cap mushrooms are described as being “extremely poisonous” and eating them can cause liver and kidney damage, according to BC Centre for Disease Control website. The Victorian Health Department issued a warning about death cap mushrooms amid a rise in them, according to 9News.
While Erin claims she “didn’t do anything” and that she “loved them,” the police have not ruled out “nefarious activity,” according to the outlet.
The Daily Caller reached out to the Victoria Police for a statement but did not receive a response back by the time of publication.