9 Aug 2023

Lethal lunch: Police search rubbish dump as investigation continues

From Checkpoint, 5:36 pm on 9 August 2023

Australian police have searched a local rubbish dump as part of an investigation in a lethal lunch that's left three people dead and another seriously ill.

It's believed the diners ate potentially lethal wild mushrooms at a family meal in the town of Leongatha in Victoria's Gippsland region.

The food was prepared by the former daughter in law of two of the people who died. 48 year old Erin Patterson has been spoken to by police and has publicly denied any wrong doing.

Michael Giles, the editor of the local newspaper the South Gippsland Sentinel Times, describes the area.