THE family of a survivor of the killer meal that claimed three lives who “holds the key” to the mystery have given a major update on his health.
Ian Wilkinson was allegedly poisoned by Erin Patterson in Leongatha, Australia, on July 29 and has been in a coma ever since.
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Ian was one of four guests at the lunch at Erin’s, with her former in-laws Gail and Don Patterson attending as well as Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson, who was Ian’s wife.
Erin’s ex-husband Simon Patterson was allegedly meant to join them, but pulled out at the last minute.
All four became violently ill after eating the meal, with Heather, Gail and Don all passing away.
Ian was hospitalised in a critical condition and required a liver transplant but is expected to survive and could be able to shed light on the tragedy.
Relatives told 9 News that he is now “showing signs of improvement”.
Police have now launched an investigation into the deaths, which were allegedly the result of a beef wellington made with poisonous death cap mushrooms.
Erin has provided a written statement to investigators, which was later obtained by ABC.
In it, she revealed she was hospitalised after the lunch with bad stomach pains and diarrhoea, put on a saline drip and given a “liver protective drug”.
She said she served the meal and allowed the guests to choose their own plates – and she also ate a portion of the beef wellington herself.
The mushrooms were a mixture of button mushrooms from a major supermarket chain, and dried mushrooms from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne months before, she added.
ABC said she didn’t provide any more information about the grocery store.
The mum-of-two also admitted lying to cops when she told them she had dumped a food dehydrator at a local tip “a long time ago” – which was later seized.
Erin said she was at the hospital with her kids “discussing the food dehydrator” when her ex-husband asked: “Is that what you used to poison them?”
Worried she might lose custody of the couple’s children, she said she then panicked and dumped the dehydrator at the tip.
However, she denied murdering her guests, saying she had “no reason” to hurt them.
And despite reports of her children being at the meal, Erin said the kids had gone to the movies before the lunch.
Her children ate the leftovers the following night – but the kids don’t like mushrooms so she scraped them off, she added.
Victoria Police now expect a lengthy investigation as they try and get to the bottom of just how this tragedy occurred.
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