The woman at the centre of a mushroom lunch in regional Victoria that resulted in the suspected deaths of three people has been arrested.
Erin Patterson, 49, was taken into custody at her Leongatha home in the Gippsland region at about 8am and taken to a local police station.
No charges have been laid.
A search warrant has been executed at her Gibson Street address and technology detector dogs from the AFP are now part of the operation.
Veteran crime journalist John Silvester, of The Age newspaper, told Today Extra this morning the dogs were a sophisticated police tool that can detect electronic devices.
“These dogs are absolutely amazing and they can sniff out and have sniffed out a SIM card that was hidden in a bowl of garlic,” he said.
“They are there for a purpose. This is not speculation. They will be there looking for something like a mobile phone, a SIM card, or a memory disk.”
Police said Patterson will now be interviewed and the investigation remains ongoing.
On July 30 four people were hospitalised after they shared a meal at Patterson’s Leongatha home the day prior.
Heather Wilkinson, 66, her sister Gail Paterson, 70, and her husband Don, also aged 70, died in hospital after the incident.
A fourth man, Reverend Ian Wilkinson, was recently released from hospital after weeks of extensive treatment.
All four had shared a meal, understood to be a beef Wellington, allegedly cooked by Patterson.
Investigators were exploring if the four had consumed death cap mushrooms, a rare but poisonous mushroom that is thought to be responsible for 90 per cent of mushroom-related deaths globally.
Patterson has strenuously denied any wrongdoing and has not been charged.
(9 News)
