The woman at the centre of the fatal mushroom lunch in Australia which killed three of her ex-husband's relatives, has given a lengthy statement to police on her "accounts" of events before and after the meal.
Gippsland woman Erin Patterson cooked the deadly meal, a beef Wellington pie, for herself and four guests just days before they died of suspected mushroom poisoning.
The guests included former parents-in-law Don and Gail Patterson, Gail's sister Heather Wilkinson, along with her husband Ian.
The Pattersons, both 70, died, along with Heather, aged 66.
Her ex-husband Simon Patterson was also invited however pulled out last minute after recovering from a mystery stomach illness that left him in hospital for months.
The surviving guest, 68-year-old Ian Wilkinson, remains in a critical but stable condition.
Erin has reached out to Victoria Police in a written statement, which was obtained by ABC on Monday.
"I am now wanting to clear up the record because I have become extremely stressed and overwhelmed by the deaths of my loved ones," Erin said.
She told police she used a combination of button mushrooms bought from a well-known supermarket chain, along with dried mushrooms bought from an Asian grocery store in Melbourne several months earlier.
However, according to ABC, she was unable to provide further details about where she purchased the dried mushrooms from.
"I am hoping this statement might help in some way. I believe if people understood the background more, they would not be so quick to rush to judgement," she said.
"I am now devastated to think that these mushrooms may have contributed to the illness suffered by my loved ones. I really want to repeat that I had absolutely no reason to hurt these people whom I loved."
Police have said the guests who fell ill and died, displayed symptoms of having eaten death cap mushrooms, and last week said Erin was being treated as a suspect.
However, investigators had stressed to members of the public that they were keeping an open mind.
According to ABC, Erin described the police interview as "terrifying and anxiety-provoking".
In the statement, Patterson admitted to lying about the food dehydrator dumped at a nearby tip when she was first questioned by police and told them it was dumped at the tip "a long time ago".
She claimed she was at the hospital with her children "discussing the food dehydrator" when her ex-husband, the son of the dead couple, asked: "Is that what you used to poison them?"
In the statement, she admitted she was worried she would lose custody of the couple's children, so she panicked and dumped the dehydrator at the tip.
According to ABC, Patterson served the meal and allowed the guests to choose their own plates.
She claimed she took the last plate before eating a serving of the beef and mushroom pie.
The children had gone to a movie that day so weren't around for the deadly meal, however according to Patterson they had the leftovers the following night without the mushrooms, as they didn't like them.
In the statement, Patterson claimed she too had been hospitalised after consuming the meal, with "bad stomach pains and diarrhoea," where she was put on a saline drip and given a "liver protective drug".
Police are continuing their investigations into the suspicious deaths.
