She is the woman at the centre of the trial that made headlines around the world, but, for many, the single mother from regional Victoria wouldn’t really fit the bill for the stereotypical murderer.

So who is the woman who carried out the killing of her in-laws?

Here’s what we know about Erin’s life before she committed murder.

What was Erin’s personal situation?

Patterson has two children – a son born in 2009 and a daughter born in 2014.

Her two children were living with her full-time up until she was taken into custody in November 2023.

She was separated but not divorced.

Erin (nee Erin Scutter) married Simon Patterson in 2007, after they met when they were both working for the City of Monash in 2004.

The pair separated and reunited a number of times before splitting permanently in 2015.

They lived in WA when they had their first child, before they moved back to Victoria.

After their separation, the pair continued to go on family holidays with their two children to places including South Africa, Botswana, Darwin, New Zealand and South Australia.

Erin told the jury she was a “fundamental atheist” before meeting Simon, and had expected Simon to join her after they started dating, but “things happened in reverse and I became Christian”.

She also said she had been “fighting low self-esteem” for most of her adult life and said she had planned to have gastric bypass surgery after putting on weight.

What was Erin’s career?

Erin was not working and had deferred a place in a bachelor’s degree in nursing and midwifery at Federation University at the time of the fatal lunch in July 2023.

She told the jury her financial circumstances were “comfortable”.

“I could afford to go to university and I didn’t need to work a job at the same time,” she said.

Erin said she worked for the RSPCA at the City of Monash offices in Melbourne in 2004.

She also worked as an air traffic controller for a time, and opened her own book shop when she and Simon were living in Western Australia.

What were the details of Erin’s financial situation and inheritance?

When Erin was 32, in 2006, she inherited about $2 million from her grandmother’s estate and was gradually given the money over eight years.

Simon Patterson told the court Erin was generous with his family and gave several loans to Simon’s three siblings, including a $300,000 loan for his brother Matt to build a house, he said.

Erin also owned a second house in Mount Waverley in Melbourne’s south-east.

Erin lived at her home in Leongatha, a regional town in Gippsland, Victoria, which is about 135km south-east of Melbourne.

At the 2021 census, Leongatha had a population of 5869 people.

She previously lived in Western Australia and in Melbourne.

How did Erin know her victims?

Erin’s victims were her mother-in-law Gail Patterson, father-in-law Donald Patterson, and Gail’s sister Heather Wilkinson and her husband Ian Wilkinson.

Ian is the only victim who survived the fatal mushroom lunch.