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A woman was arrested in connection with the deaths of three people who are assumed to have died because of mushroom poisoning, Australian police said in a statement Wednesday.
The arrest is the latest in a monthslong investigation into the July deaths, which happened after a family lunch in the small town of Leongatha.
Police did not name the 49-year-old woman who was arrested, but Australian media widely identified her as Erin Patterson, the chef and host of the lunch.
Four people were hospitalized July 30 after the meal. Three of the guests — Gail Patterson, 70; her husband, Don, 70; and her sister Heather Wilkinson, 66 — died at a Melbourne hospital in the days after the lunch event.
A fourth guest, Heather Wilkinson’s husband, Ian, 69, was in the hospital for weeks. Victoria police said he was released Sept. 23.
Patterson and her two children were at the meal, and none of them became sick.
The Associated Press has reported that the police believe the kids were served a different meal from the rest of the party.
Patterson was released without charges pending further inquiries in August. Police said at the time that they searched her home and took items for testing.
“I didn’t do anything,” Patterson told reporters at the time. She added that the victims were “some of the best people I’ve ever met” and described her mother-in-law as “the mom I didn’t have.”
She said then that she was “devastated” by the deaths.
But she refused to answer questions about the mushrooms she served for lunch or their origin or about which guests received which meals.
At the time of the incident, police said all four guests showed signs consistent with poisoning by death cap mushrooms — a particularly deadly variety — which the Victoria health department said are “extremely poisonous” to humans and animals.
Homicide Squad Detective Inspector Dean Thomas told a news conference Thursday morning: “Today’s arrest is just the next step in what has been a complex and thorough investigation by Homicide Squad detectives.”
He also said that detectives working the case have dealt with unprecedented levels of public interest in its workings and outcome.
“This investigation has been subject to incredibly intense levels of public scrutiny and curiosity,” he said.
“I cannot think of another investigation what has generated this level of media and public interest — not only here in Victoria but also nationally and internationally.”
People should be mindful of sharing speculation and misinformation he added.
“At the heart of these matters are the recent deaths of three people and the families of loved ones who are coming to terms with this,” he said.
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