Murder by Mushroom?!? #truecrime #murder #crimejunkie #australia #mushrooms | Forensic Files

So, I'm finally covering it. So, this is Aaron Patterson, and one day in the summer of 2023, she goes up to her
aranged husband, her in-laws, and she's like, "Hey, I would love to have this lunch in a couple of weeks." The
implication was there was like a health related thing going on that she needed to have a serious conversation about.
So, her aranged husband, his parents, and his aunt and uncle, they all come together and they're like, "Okay, yes,
of course. Like, we'll be there for you." Now, the night before this lunch is supposed to happen, her aranged
husband, Simon, texts her and he's like, "I just like don't want to pretend like
everything's fine. I'm happy to have a phone call with you to talk about whatever hell things, but I'm not coming
to lunch." And she fires back in her text and is just is pretty frustrated. This might be one of the last meals that
I can host like this. Like, it would be really disappointing if you weren't there. He doesn't come. So, the rest of
them come over. They all sit around this table and they enjoy beef Wellington that Aaron had made them. And at some
point during the dinner, she lets all of them know that she has cancer. By that night, when they all go home, everyone
is getting super sick. This is Simon's parents, Don and Gail. They end up going to the hospital by ambulance. Simon ends
up driving his aunt and uncle, Heather and Ian, to a different hospital so they can get treatment. But guess who's not
sick? But the four of the people who had London, four or five are like on death's
doorstep. And for some reason, Aaron is like, "I'm all right." Now, it doesn't take long to narrow down the source of
everyone's illness to the beef Wellington that she made, specifically to the mushrooms. And what the doctors
decide is they likely had what is what they know as death cap mushrooms. And they end up going and getting leftovers
from her trash and determining like, "Yes, these poisonous mushrooms were in the beef Wellington." Pretty quickly,
police start building a case against Aaron, saying like, "You intentionally poisoned your entire family to kill
them." Or she says, "Oh no, I bought those from some Asian ger." By the way, I can't tell you which one. This is a
terrible accident. But is it? Because this is CCTV footage of Aaron dumping the dehydrator. Oh, and by the way, she
doesn't have cancer. She doesn't have many health issues. The police are saying, "You basically made a ruse to
make everyone come over." She is saying that, "Well, I was having this other procedure. I made this up so that they
would still like help me post surgery. The place that she said she booked it didn't even offer that kind of surgery."
Now, this case just came to a close. She went to trial. She had some wild stories. And the really big question is
why? We in our episode of Crime Junkie that comes out this week, August 4th, we dig into all of it. Um there is
potentially a why. We go through all the details, all the evidence, her story. It
is bananas. Don't miss the episode.

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Brief Summary

Aaron Patterson allegedly poisoned her family with death cap mushrooms in a beef Wellington during a lunch, leading to a shocking investigation.

Key points

A Dinner to Remember. Aaron hosts a dinner where she reveals her cancer diagnosis, but it takes a dark turn.
A Poisonous Meal. After dinner, guests fall ill from what is discovered to be poisonous mushrooms.
The Trial. Aaron's trial reveals shocking details about her health and intentions behind the dinner.

Episode highlights

Episode quotes

Oh no, I bought those from some Asian ger.

1:57WatchAug 7, 2025

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