film & tv3 min(s) read
Horrifying details revealed in new Netflix documentary on woman who killed 3 family members by cooking them mushroom lunch
A chilling new true crime documentary has arrived on Netflix and it has viewers talking about one of the most bizarre murder cases of recent years. Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders tells the story of Australian woman Erin Patterson, who was found guilty of killing three relatives during what was meant to be a family meal in 2023.
The case drew international media attention because of her unusual method and the questions it raised about her motive and actions.
The series examines how an ordinary lunch turned into a deadly event when Patterson allegedly served beef Wellington laced with highly poisonous death cap mushrooms. As interest in the case has grown, fans of the genre have been eager to find out where Patterson is now and what happened after her trial.
The Netflix synopsis states: "When an Australian family meal ends with three guests dead, the case sparks a global obsession. This documentary series investigates the mushroom murders."
What the documentary covers
Death Cap: The Mushroom Murders is structured into three episodes that take viewers from the initial crime through the investigation and trial. The first episode focuses on the offence itself and the shocking details revealed to police and the public.
The second episode looks at Patterson’s internet search history, the police inquiry and the legal debates over what evidence could be presented to a jury. The third and final episode shows Patterson giving evidence in court and learning her fate, which left many watching stunned.
Erin Patterson was found guilty of murdering three of her in-laws. Credit: 9News
Where Erin Patterson is now
Erin Patterson was arrested on November 2, 2023 and charged with three counts of murder and one count of attempted murder, although four further attempted murder charges were dropped before her trial.
In April 2025, she stood trial in the Supreme Court of Victoria, where she denied any deliberate poisoning and pleaded not guilty to all charges.
The jury convicted her of killing her in-laws Don and Gail Patterson, both aged 70, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, 66. The three were poisoned after eating beef Wellington at Patterson’s home in Victoria in 2023.
Heather’s husband, Ian Wilkinson, a local pastor, survived the meal and later recovered from a coma. Patterson’s estranged husband Simon Patterson had planned to attend the lunch but withdrew shortly before because of his suspicion that his wife had been trying to poison him for years, according to the BBC.
Justice Beale sentenced Patterson to three consecutive life sentences plus an extra 25 years in prison, meaning she will not be eligible for release for at least 33 years. This sentence is one of the longest ever given to a female offender in Australia.
Patterson, now 51, will not be eligible for parole until 2056 when she is in her 80s. She is currently serving her sentence at the Dame Phyllis Frost Centre in Melbourne and as of November 2025 had filed an appeal against her convictions. The judge described her offences as the "worst category" and cited an "elaborate cover-up" as part of the case.