Erin Patterson’s murder trial has captured worldwide interest with podcasts, documentaries, thousands of column inches in the media and an insatiable global audience. But how did its verdict arrive at?

California man Jarrod Wyatt allegedly committed an MMA training partner’s heart-rending death while under the influence of psychedelic mushrooms, according to authorities.

Jarrod Wyatt

Northern California mixed martial arts fighter Jarrod Wyatt, 26, has been charged with murder after he allegedly tore out Taylor Powell’s heart and cut off his tongue under the influence of hallucinogenic drugs, believing his friend Taylor Powell, 21, was under possession by Satan after drinking mushroom tea together. Wyatt used this belief as justification for committing what can only be described as an attack reminiscent of horror film footage against Powell in which Wyatt tore out Taylor Powell’s heart, cut off his tongue, and removed most of his face before finally killing him off himself before exiting before fleeing.

Police arrived at Powell’s Requa home in March to discover him lying on a couch, with his chest cut open, his heart, tongue and skin of his face missing – evidence suggests this caused his death through bleeding out as per an autopsy report. Additionally, they discovered his remains being cooked over an open wood-burning stove.

Investigators believe Wyatt and Powell consumed mushroom tea laced with psilocybin, a mind-altering drug, during the early hours of March 21, 2010. When sheriff’s deputies and Yurok tribal police officers arrived at Wyatt’s home later that morning, they found him covered in blood with nakedness all over his body and confessing to having killed Powell by cutting out both his heart and tongue. He told authorities he killed Powell himself.

Psychiatrists evaluated Wyatt’s mental competence to stand trial, and determined he is competent enough to go forward. Prosecutors have not decided if the case will go to court or be sent for treatment at an institutional setting.

Wyatt’s attorney, James Fallman, noted that his client did not wish to take the stand and did not wish for family members to testify against him. According to him, a plea deal would allow Wyatt the chance at appearing before a parole board in the future.

Taylor Powell

Once Jarrod Wyatt and two of his friends consumed the tea, they all began hallucinating heavily; one man claimed he saw a devil and heard voices; his other friend became so fearful he ran from the house and called 911; when police arrived at the residence they found Wyatt naked and covered in blood, telling them he had killed Powell, removed his heart, sliced his tongue off, ripped off most of his face, believing Powell to be under Satanic influence and carried out this attack against him as part of an attack against Satan.

At first, Wyatt attempted to flee from the scene without anyone witnessing what had transpired; but when another friend arrived and Jared intervened to stop them from leaving by leaping on top of their car and jumping onto its hood – even when this caused Wyatt distress, Jared argued with them and shouted out “You want to die?” Jared started an argument between themselves and began shouting insults at each other:

Justin Davis insisted on remaining at his home, yet three MMA training partners decided to take additional hits of drug-infused tea – which led to further tragedy.

After drinking more mushroom tea, Wyatt’s behavior changed abruptly. He began to argue with and hit both of the other men before threatening to cut off their faces and finally choking one from behind – telling them a tidal wave would come and wash over them all.

Police were quickly dispatched to Crescent City, California upon being alerted of Wyatt’s murder of Powell and rushed directly to his residence where they discovered Wyatt standing over her body, naked and bloodied, telling officers that he had killed Powell by cutting out her heart – telling them this information while also asking if they could help save him.

Wyatt has been charged with first-degree murder and torture and is being held on $2.5 million bail, having pleaded not guilty to these allegations and currently being evaluated by psychiatrists for mental competency.

Prosecutors

Erin Patterson was found guilty of poisoning her in-laws and friend. Senior digital forensics officer Shamen Fox-Henry from Victoria Police’s cybercrime squad interrogated devices at Ms Patterson’s Leongatha home and presented it as evidence against her.

Mr Fox-Henry provided details to the jury as to how his device’s cache data saved thumbnail images depicting a dehydrator sitting on a bench, dehydrator trays containing mushrooms, and weight scale. These were taken from Ms Patterson’s Samsung tablet which ran a Google Photos application.

Images captured between May and June 2023 appear to show when Ms Patterson served her relatives a poisonous beef Wellington at her home. Ms Patterson’s estranged husband Simon was due to attend but pulled out at the last minute citing fears she intended to use death cap mushrooms to poison it; later charged with attempted murder but his charges were eventually dropped.