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A former newsletter editor from Australia accused of killing her estranged in-laws with a toxic mushroom dish appeared in court on Friday.
Erin Patterson, 49, made international headlines earlier this year when her beef Wellington dish killed three of her lunch guests and poisoned a local pastor.
Police are now suggesting that the dish was laced with death cap mushrooms which led to her arrest earlier this week.
Patterson, flanked by guards, made her first appearance in Latrobe Valley Magistrates Court where the matter was postponed to May next year.
Police secured a 20-week adjournment, giving detectives time to go through computers seized from her home.
Beef Wellington
Patterson allegedly cooked the beef Wellington in late July, serving her estranged parents-in-law, Don and Gail Patterson, both 70, as well as local Baptist pastor Ian Wilkinson, 69, and his wife Heather, 66.
Don, Gail and Heather died in the days following the lunch while Ian eventually recovered after spending nearly two months gravely ill in hospital.
Patterson has repeatedly maintained her innocence.
Death cap mushrooms sprout freely throughout wet, warm parts of Australia and are easily mistaken for edible varieties.
They reportedly taste sweeter than other types of mushrooms but possess potent toxins that slowly poison the liver and kidneys.
