“Guilty. Guilty. Guilty. Guilty.”

One small word, repeated four times over, reverberating around an otherwise silent court in Morwell. In that moment, Erin Patterson’s name was concreted in the history books as a mass murderer.

Erin Patterson speaking outside her home in 2023.Credit: Marta Pascual Juanola

It’s been 48 hours since Patterson was found guilty of the murder of Don and Gail Patterson, and Heather Wilkinson, and the attempted murder of Ian Wilkinson.

Yet even before the verdict, conspiracy theories, gossip, innuendo, and hearsay abounded. Everyone who’d ever met Erin in whatever capacity seemed to have a story to tell. And now that proceedings are over, they can.

But the one question that remains, that no one can answer, is why. Why would a seemingly very normal 50-year-old mother of two commit premeditated murder, and choose such a violent method?

There’s only one person who knows, and she is not talking. I doubt she ever will.

As we have seen over the past two years, Erin Patterson is all about control. And the way she will control her narrative now is through silence.

A number of psychologists have offered opinions about her personality, but at this point, these are just educated guesses. She may undergo psychiatric or psychological evaluation as part of the sentencing process, which would determine if there are........

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