Olivia Newton-John’s ex Patrick McDermott alive and on the run
OLIVIA Newton-John’s former partner is alive and on the run after staging his own disappearance almost four years ago, according to US investigators.
A team of private investigators from Texas said they believe Patrick McDermott has been travelling along the Mexican and South American coastline since disappearing from a fishing charter in June 2005.
Lead investigator Philip Klein said he believed that the former cameraman had disappeared so that he could avoid paying debts and enable his teenage son Chance to receive a $A150,965 ($US100,000) life insurance policy.
“He’s alive – there’s no doubt in my mind, this guy’s alive,” Klein said.
“Everything was bad in this guy’s life. There was nothing good.
“Maybe in his mind if he stages his death, the insurance policy will pay off all his debts and he can leave his child a gift by pretending he’s dead.”
McDermott, who had been in a relationship with Newton-John for nine years, was 48 when he disappeared after boarding a boat called The Freedom in California.
An official report from the US Coast Guard released in November (2008) concluded that McDermott, who had previously filed for bankruptcy and owed thousands of dollars in child support payments to his ex-wife, most likely drowned.
Klein, whose agency specialises in tracking down kidnap victims and missing people who do not want to be found, was hired by US current affairs program Dateline in March 2007 to investigator McDermott’s disappearance.
In an episode devoted to the mystery this week, Klein revealed that his agency had set up a hi-tech trap to help locate McDermott by making a website called findpatrickmcdermott .com, which secretly showed investigators the locations of people accessing the site.
Klein said he suspected McDermott has regularly been logging on to the “spider site”, with the team tracking hits from what he believed was a boat traveling along the Mexican coastline as far as South America.
“We put what we call a trap on the web site where we can tell each I-address that comes in to the web site,” Klein said.
“The rule of thumb is always this – when you’re running you always are looking over your shoulder and we’re going to catch him looking at us.
“The most interesting hits have come directly from Cabo San Lucas (in Mexico)last place anybody saw Patrick McDermott.”
Klein said he believed that Olivia Newton-John, who refused to be interviewed for the investigation, had regularly been logging on to the site to get updates on the hunt for her former partner.
“The most unusual hits we’ve gotten were Olivia Newton-John when she was on tour in Asia, every hotel she was registered at and staying at there were hits from that hotel on that night where she was staying,” Klein said.
“So it’s quite obvious to us that the Olivia Newton-John camp is following it.”
Klein, who claimed to have confirmed sightings of McDermott from at least 17 witnesses across Mexico, said he was confident that his team would track down their target.
“Patrick McDermott walked off The Freedom and Patrick McDermott’s running in Mexico – that simple,” Klein said.
“We’re close.
“He’s going to make a mistake – they (people on the run) all make mistakes.
“He’s going to do something and I’ll be right on his tail.”
Newton-John, who married Amazon herb millionaire John Easterling in June, sold her four-bedroom Malibu mansion for $A14.2 million last month.
The Grease star has moved to the upmarket Florida community of Jupiter Island where Easterling owns a three-bedroom house, which is located in an exclusive gated estate and is currently listed for sale at $A1.28 million.
(source)