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Police have returned to an East Gippsland tip as part of an ongoing investigation into the deaths of three people who ate poisonous mushrooms during a family lunch in Leongatha.
Staff at the Koonwarra transfer station said police officers attended the tip about noon on Wednesday, speaking with one of the workers.
Tip staff told The Age police had requested access to CCTV footage that records number plates of cars at the site.
Police told tip workers someone had previously dropped off a dehydrator, and officers went to the area on Friday to collect it.
The Age reported on Tuesday that forensic tests were being undertaken on a food dehydrator found at the transfer station, located about 10 kilometres from Leongatha.
A homicide detective also doorknocked homes in the Leongatha area on Wednesday, asking residents for CCTV footage.
Police have been investigating the case after the deaths of Gail and Don Patterson and Heather Wilkinson who fell ill after the lunch on July 29.
Heather’s husband, Korumburra pastor Ian Wilkinson, is in a critical condition and in need of a liver transplant at the Austin Hospital.
The four suffered symptoms consistent with the ingestion of death cap mushrooms after attending a lunch prepared by Erin Patterson, Gail and Don’s former daughter-in-law.
Patterson’s two children were also at the gathering but did not eat the food. She was interviewed by investigators earlier in the week and released without charge.
Police have requested CCTV footage from a tip south of Leongatha.Credit: Marta Pascual Juanola
The 48-year-old has denied any wrongdoing, and told media this week those who died were like family.
“What happened is devastating and I’m grieving too,” she said.
It also emerged that Gail and Don’s son, Simon Patterson, had his own brush with death last year after serious stomach problems left him in intensive care for three weeks.
Simon Patterson posted on Facebook in June last year how thankful he was for the support of members of a local basketball association after it sent him a gift basket in hospital.
“Some of you will know that I’ve had some serious medical problems since late May. I collapsed at home, then was in an induced coma for 16 days through which I had three emergency operations,” he said in the post.
“My family were asked to come and say goodbye to me twice, as I was not expected to live. I was in intensive care for 21 days.
“I’m pleased to say all the medical work has seemed to have fixed the serious gut problems I had, and I’ve been feeling great.”
Don and Gail Patterson.
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