An Australian lunch host is charged with 3 murders using poisonous mushrooms

MORWELL, Australia (AP) — A woman accused of serving her ex-husband’s parents and an aunt poisonous mushrooms with lunch has appeared in an Australian court. She’s been charged with three counts of murder and five of attempted murder. Erin Patterson did not enter pleas when she appeared Friday in a local court in Morwell in Victoria state. Police had arrested her on Thursday at her home where her former husband’s parents, Gail and Don Patterson, Gail Patterson’s sister Heather Wilkinson, and Wilkinson’s husband, Ian Wilkison, gathered for lunch in July. Ian Wilkinson was the only guest to survive. Erin Patterson is charged with Ian Wilkinson’s attempted murder. The other four attempted murder charges relate to her former husband.