People helps Newton-John spin McDermott story

Fifteen months after the mysterious disappearance of her alleged boyfriend Patrick McDermott, Olivia Newton-John has finally laid out her official account in the new issue of People magazine. It’s an extraordinary collaborative work of revision and spin that includes a well-rehearsed interview, staged photographs and succinct explanations of Newton-John's behaviour throughout the scandal.

The star is crying by the end of the first paragraph and pushing a new album “to honor” McDermott by the second.

“Life After Loss,” beginning on page 77 of the October 9, 2006 issue of People, is a classic example of how the Hollywood machine cleans up after its celebrities and keeps the protective curtain pulled high around their private lives. All the questions that Newton-John’s actions raised after the mysterious disappearance of Patrick McDermott are glossed over, folded into the continuing saga of the diva’s tragic life, and ultimately used to promote a product.

And in an incredible twist, Newton-John's machine even brings McDermott’s ex-wife into the fold.

Actress Yvette Nipar, who’d brought McDermott into court, accused him of violent tendencies, fought him for child custody and support, and who'd maintained a steely silence through fifteen months of accusations that her pressures may have led him to fake his death, now tells People: "Never in a million years would I put my son's father in jail."

Then again, People reveals that Nipar “has become close friends with Newton-John during the ordeal,” and “now talks to Newton-John almost every day.”

Vanity Fair, Entertainment Tonight and The Black Dahlia have nothing on this: an article that deserves study in every journalism school as an example of the devil’s bargain that’s struck when magazines and celebrities make deals that trade control for exclusivity, and how every deal, no matter whose lives are involved, are used in the end, to sell something.

Readers of this site know the basics. Patrick McDermott, who has publically been identified as Olivia-Newton John’s lover since 1996 (the year she split from her much-younger husband) disappeared from a fishing boat on June 30, 2005. But his disappearance didn’t make headlines for seven weeks, until an intrepid tabloid journalist attached the name to the celebrity.

From Day One, there was confusion and uproar over why Newton-John had never reported him missing, nor gone to the media in case he was walking around with amnesia (in fact, she’d carried on with happy public appeaarances). Within days, it was discovered that McDermott was in a nasty custody dispute with his ex-wife, that he owed child support, had declared bankruptcy, and may have faked his death.

Newton-John’s silence quickly led many to suspect that McDermott may have been a “beard” or employee, hired to accompany her in public (she had been the target of dangerous stalkers in the past). It was also theorized that Newton-John may have belped McDermott disappear because of his financial troubles or other problems.

Within weeks, Newton-John resumed her public concert schedule and McDermott was all but forgotten-- but not by Tabloid Baby, which broke the news in March that the US Coast Guard was pursuing reports that McDermott was alive, and that he’d been sighted in a remote region of the Baja Peninsula.

In July, Australian journalist Nick Papp followed the lead to the area and found witnesses claiming to have seen McDermott. The chase's momentum was foiled by the celebutainment show, Extra (a Time-Warner product-- like People & Newton-John), which was handed a visor believed to be McDermott's, made a great show of promising to conduct DNA tests-- yet mysteriously returned the hat, untested to the Baja, possibly contaminating the evidence in the process.

The People story takes a different tack.

Newton-John on the nature of the relationship:

“He was the most romantic person I have ever known.”

Why Newton-John never reported him missing, and carried on a seven-week public schedule while he was gone:

“We were on a break, but we had been on breaks before and we got back together. We had a wonderful relationship.”

Why McDermott lived in blue-collar Van Nuys, and why Newton-John didn’t help her “soulmate” of nine years wih his financial problems:

“He had a lot of pride. So I didn’t know the extent of it.”

On the weeks and months after McDermott’s disappearance was announced, when Newton-John went on with a planned album promotion tour and concert tour:

People: “In any event, the first six months of McDermott’s disapperance were almost unbearable for Newton John.”

Newton-John: “I took antidepressants. I had to.”

On why Newton-John did not report her lover missing, and went on about her business for seven weeks while the Coast Guard searched for his body:

People: “She was in Australia visiting a critically injured goddaughter.”

Of the mysteries regarding McDermott’s disappearance, and suspicion from the start that he had faked his own death:

People turns then into conspiracy theories-- “a more bizarre alternative” that arose “earlier this year.”

The article continues with a continuation of its decade-long Newton-John tragedy saga, bringing in her 1992 bout with breast cancer and divorce. It does not bring up the homicidal stalkers that led her to seek help from Hollywood security consultant Gavin de Becker, nor does it mention de Becker’s involvement in this case.

Instead, the article focuses on “another crazy confirmation that good comes out of bad”: Newton-John’s new CD.

Yet, midway through the article is a reminder: a boxed sidebar story: “THE CASE IS STILL OPEN.”

The Patrick McDermott story continues...

Where in the world Is Patrick McDermott?

Olivia Newton John has a new boyfriend. Caroline Graham reports that the songbird is falling hopelessly in love with a multimillionaire movie investor named Michael Klein. Graham reports that “the pair spent last week together at Donald Trump's Florida estate, where Newton-John was due to perform at a private charity yesterday.” We hope she had a good view of the ocean, because an ocean is where her alleged longtime lover Patrick McDermott went missing eight months ago while Livvie skipped nary a beat.

It appears that Olivia Newton-John’s team has successfully put this scandal behind her.

But what happened to Patrick McDermott? And why doesn’t anyone care?

Patrick McDermott was a cameraman and supposedly Newton-John’s lover of nine years when he disappeared from a fishing charter boat off San Pedro, California, on June 30. He was missing more than seven weeks before an eagle-eyed reporter made the connection, and let police and the Coast Guard know the missing man was the boyfriend of an international superstar. In those seven weeks, Olivia Newton-John neither reported McDermott missing nor made any public appeal to find him, in case he was in a hospital or wandering with amnesia. Newton-John had been back and forth between Malibu and Australia, where she’d made public appearances and went about business preparing an album release and tour.

On that Sunday morning in August when the story broke, the Coast Guard told us they didn’t know if Patrick McDermott was dead or alive--and that they suspected he’d taken a runner-- faked his death because of money troubles! First question: How could Olivia Newton-John’s live-in lover have money troubles?

It was McDermott’s ex-wife, and mother of his 13-year-old son, who reported McDermott missing, a week after his disappearance. He’d been divorced from Yvette Nipar for a dozen years, yet she was still part of his life, and had recently taken him to court for child support. Investigative reporter Doug Bruckner found out in short order that McDermott had filed for bankruptcy, and lived not in Newton-John’s Malibu pleasuredome, but in a small house in Van Nuys, the low-rent porn capital in the Valley. He also found Nipar, who wouldn’t talk (and still hasn’t).

As soon as we got on the story, Newton-John released a statement urging help in finding her “treasured friend” and went into mournful “seclusion.” But within days, she brought in Hollywood security expert Gavin de Becker, and the spin campaign began. Friends and a nephew calling himself “Emerson Newton-John” (actually Jeff Conaway’s kid) told stories that painted Newton-John as leader of the search effort, explained away her seven weeks of public bliss, and revealed the slow fade of the relationship because of McDermott’s drinking.

For Newton-John, the mourning period was about as swift as Pat O’Brien’s rehabilitation from sex and drug addiction. Despite earlier indications, she carried on with her album promotion, as a deal was made for a softball, no-hard-questions interview segment on Good Morning America and with other news outlets. She returned to the stage, carried on with her tour, and in November even made tabloid headlines with an alleged $9,000 lunch at a New York City eatery with her longtime friend, the “asexual” Brit singer Cliff Richard.

Patrick McDermott quickly became old news, another tragic episode in the brave Livvie saga.

So what gives? What happened to Patrick McDermott? At last word, police and Coast Guard have no clues and are leaning toward suicide, allowing them to close the book on this latest chapter of Hollywood Babylon.

So McDermott committed suicide, ran away because of his debts, or simply slipped off the boat.

Why did Olivia Newton-John act as she did? Tabloid Baby theory: Either Olivia Newton-John didn’t know he was missing—or she helped him abscond to a place like Australia’s Great Barrier Reef. Because Patrick McDermott was a beard. An employee. A big, strong, handsome man whose job it was to be at her side at premieres, in articles, and Hollywood myth, for a number of reasons that go beyond what she does in her private life. Patrick McDermott played his part, and then drove home to Van Nuys.

Olivia Newton-John has been rumoured to be a lesbian, even before she camped it up with Travolta in Grease. She’s blamed the rumours on a Tonight Show appearance back in the 1970s, when her innocent comment about having “girlfriends” caused Johnny to arch an eyebrow.

But her real troubles started in 1980, when a stalker named Ralph Nau came into her life. Convinced she loved him, Ralph started following the star. Four years later, he tried to join her onstage in Los Angeles and followed to Australia. Then he beat his autistic brother to death. He remains in a mental institution.

She first hired hired Gavin de Becker and his security team in 1983, when another stalker, Michael Perry, was found near her home. De Becker’s people convinced Perry to get out of town and out of state. Perry went home to Louisiana, slaughtered five members of his own family and left a note suggesting Newton-John might be next. De Becker whisked her into hiding; Perry was caught, and remains on Death Row.

Late in 1984, she married a young actor named Matt Lattanzi. Latanzi, eleven years her junior, had been discovered by director George Cukor for the movie Rich & Famous. They had a daughter and lived a mostly private life, until 1995, when after a bout with breast cancer and bankruptcy, Newton-John and Lattanzi divorced. Soon, Patrick McDermott became the man at her side. A tough guy you wouldn’t want to mess with.

Patrick McDermott played his role for the Hollywood machine. He provided perfect cover for Olivia-Newton John, from People magazine to the Enquirer to Entertainment Tonight. But after he disappeared, and the elements of a textbook Hollywood scandal and cover-up began taking shape in plain sight on three continents, few made the effort to follow up. There are albums to promote, and awards to give out. Now Olivia Newton-John's moved on, with a rich new boyfriend to be seen with in public, and an unpleasant episode is pushed aside.

Remember Patrick McDermott. His story’s not over yet.


Is Patrick McDermott alive? Report sightings here.

Tracking McDermott: The Tabloid Baby Timeline

Amid new sightings of Patrick McDermott, the alleged boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John suspected of faking his death and hiding in Baja Mexico, phone calls and emails are coming into Tabloid Baby from around the world, acknowledging our team’s leadership in the effort to bring him back alive.

Tabloid Baby was the first to report that McDermott had been seen in and around the town of Todos Santos on Mexico’s Baja Peninsula—three months ago-- but the story is only now receiving mainstream attention, as Australian newspaperman Nick Pappas plasters Aussie tabloids with his first-person accounts from the remote vacation region.

In fact, the McDermott mystery was the very first story covered by the new Tabloid Baby news, comment and Tabloid Baby links site, when the major journalists behind the revival of the syndicated television newsmagazine, A Current Affair turned it into a news outlet after the show’s cancellation by Roger Ailes (in part because the series was beating his Fox News on stories like this one).

The very first call to keep the McDermott story alive was posted on SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 2005. Short, but to the point:

Scandal: No justice for Patrick McDermott
Here we have a Hollywood mystery with more twists and clues than a Michael Connelly novel, all in plain sight. So why did the media drop the story?

SUNDAY, FEBRUARY 05, 2006
Where in the world is Patrick McDermott?
…It appears that Olivia Newton-John’s team has successfully put this scandal behind her. But what happened to Patrick McDermott? And why doesn’t anyone care?…

SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 11, 2006
McDermott Mystery: Newton-John responds
Where in the world is Patrick McDermott? Olivia Newton-John’s spin machine has addressed Tabloid Baby’s questions about her behaviour regarding the disappearance of her “boyfriend” Patrick McDermott last summer. In a blitz of long-distance interviews with Australian news media yesterday, Newton-John refused to go into details about the case, but astonishingly used the mystery to promote her new album and concert tour! The questions remain: Where is Patrick McDermott, and what does Olivia Newton-John know about his disappearance?

The mainstream media was still too lazy to take our cue. So within weeks, the Tabloid Baby news team went out and did it themselves:

MONDAY, MARCH 06, 2006
EXCLUSIVE! "PATRICK McDERMOTT IS ALIVE!"
"Patrick McDermott, Olivia Newton-John’s missing boyfriend, is alive." Sources close to the case have told Tabloid Baby that McDermott staged his death because of financial troubles, and that he has been sighted numerous times since his disappearance, in the Baja California region of Mexico. This explosive news was uncovered over the weekend at the 60th annual Fred Hall Fishing Tackle & Boat Show in Long Beach, California, just miles from where McDermott was last seen on a charter fishing boat. “Oh, he’s definitely alive,” one source said. “There have been sightings. Lots of them. He’s been seen in the Baja. In Todos Santos.”

Website L.A. Observed ran with the story, but from the L.A. Times to Extra, the biggies were more concerned with Lindsay Lohan’s fender benders.

And then, acclaimed producer Michael Lynn of E! True Hollywood Story brought the story to the international forefront-- while Tabloid Baby went a step further and got confirmation: The U.S. Coast Guard considered Patrick McDermott to be alive:

THURSDAY, APRIL 13, 2006
Exclusive! New indications that McDermott lives!
E! True Hollywood Story tackles the Olivia Newton-John saga this weekend, and their reportage confirms what Tabloid Baby has been reporting for months now: Newton-John’s alleged boyfriend, Patrick McDermott, missing from a fishing trip since last July— is alive! This information is supported by interviews with the U.S. Coast Guard, the crew of the fishing boat Freedom, on which McDermott was last seen—and by Tabloid Baby’s source in the area where McDermott was allegedly sighted... “One person finds the face somewhat familiar,” reports our source in Todos Santos. “Let me just say, forget the Police..."

SUNDAY, JUNE 4, 2006
McDermott Lives: Media finally follow our lead...

Today, our investigators in Todos Santos remain on the hunt. In wake of the publicity, one emailed today, with a message that may explain why McDermott has been spotted recently—and why he’s remained hidden in plain sight for so long:

“Well most of the snowbird gringos have left TS now, so if this guy is around he should be a little more conspicuous….I think most folk down here would just not want to get involved. They came down here in an attempt to get lost and a lot of folk have re-invented themselves, so they may have some sympathy for McDermott.”

McDermott Mystery: Newton-John responds

Where in the world is Patrick McDermott? Olivia Newton-John’s spin machine has addressed Tabloid Baby’s questions about her behaviour regarding the disappearance of her “boyfriend” Patrick McDermott last summer.

In a blitz of long-distance interviews with Australian news media yesterday, Newton-John refused to go into details about the case, but astonishingly used the mystery to promote her new album and concert tour!

McDermott’s disappearance is being used as a selling point, as the Newton-John team plays up the irony of the album’s title and her bravery in going onstage at such a trying time.

In the interviews, however, “she was reluctant to discuss any details about McDermott or speculation she has found love with with wealthy American Michael Klein,” the Sydney Daily Telegraph reports.

Newton-John “will use her upcoming Sydney shows as a form of therapy for dealing with the disappearance of her boyfriend last year,” the paper says, in an article headlined “Liv’s show of strength.”

The Brisbane Courier-Mail, Seven News and Contactmusic.com are among the other outlets spreading the Newton-John spin.

"I didn't think I was going to be singing again, that was how I felt," Newton-John told the Courier-Mail (though her concert plans were underway in the seven weeks she was quiet about McDermoptt’s disappearance). "But I found that performing the songs and singing for people helped me as well."

Newton-John also points out that the title of her new album, Stronger Than Before, “is kind of ironic." She says, "The weird thing was that this album was before all that happened so now it is almost like I have made it for myself." She's dedicated the album to people who have been touched by cancer, marking 13 years since she suffered from breast cancer.

The questions remain: Where is Patrick McDermott, and what does Olivia Newton-John know about his disappearance?

Newton-John heads to prime time

Our coverage of the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Newton-John's alleged boyfriend, Patrick McDermott, has gotten international attention—and stirred up rival factions in various Olivia Newton-John fan clubs, which, for some reason, are using our comment sections to duke it out. It’s bizarre, it’s wild, it's totally off point-- and fascinating. For accusations of perversions, molestions and stalkings and more— click here or here, or pick any Olivia Newton-John story, and look at the comments. There are hundreds. Now to the latest: Shiva and memorials are officially history, now that Olivia Newton-John, star of the 1978 blockbuster movie Grease, will be hitting prime time as guest-star in NBC's Grease Broadway talent search. Olivia, who's spent much of the past year spinning the mysterious disappearance (and subsequent sightings) of her alleged boyfriend into fodder for an album and concert act, will provide "commentary" for the first two episodes of Grease: You're The One that I Want, which premieres January 7th. In a shocking parallel to another popular talent show on the Fox network (whose new season premieres nine days later and in which Newton-John will show up as a celebrity judge), the initial episodes will focus on auditions around the country, leading to audience votes that will choose the actors to play Sandy and Danny in a Broadway revival (the idea was used successfully in the UK to choose West End leads for The Sound of Music; next they're doing Joseph and The Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat-- doesn't that sound like a winner...) Newton-John, who successfully slipped out of scandal regarding her behaviour during the first seven weeks her supposed lover, Patrick McDermott, was missing from a fishing boat expedition last year, seems to have a love-hate relationship with the musical. Earlier this month, she sued the Universal Music Group, claiming she's been cheated out of more than a million dollars in royalties from the Grease movie soundtrack. There's been no indication that her Grease movie co-star, John Travolta, will be involved in the NBC show, but considering that he recently completed his cross-dressing role as Edna Turnblad in the movie version of Broadway's Hairspray, it's a distinct possibility. Him or Didi Conn.

Shocking details behind the message from Olivia Newton-John's missing boyfriend Patrick McDermott

There’s a book's worth of shocking, jaw-dropping, facade-smashing evidence and allegations behind today's claim from a private eye that friends of Olivia Newton-John’s missing ex-boyfriend Patrick McDermott have reached out to say he’s alive and well in Mexico-- and wants to be left alone.

Reporter Dylan Howard, who broke the story in today's edition of The News of The World, has a far more detailed article in the new issue of Australia’s Woman’s Day magazine that contradicts much of the official version coming from newton-John's camp over the past four years and adds new detail to the story Tabloid Baby has kept alive from the day McDermott's disappearance was announced-- when our contributors were in San Pedro, California to hear a Coast Guard spokesman tell us the case was “still open.”


Howard's article, based on unseen Coast Guard interviews and other reportage, disputes two major assertions made by Newton-John's camp-- that the singer had been in Australia when McDermott vanished-- and that their relationship had broken off weeks, perhaps months earlier.

Howard contends that McDermott, who did not live with Newton-John after nine-years, visited her at her Malibu compound 24 to 72 hours before he vanished to break up the relationship. After leaving Newton-John “huddled on the couch, crying,” he returned to give his keys to the singer's personal assistant, saying, “It's too tumultuous around here.”

The article quotes private eye Philip Klein as saying he has evidence McDermott had been planning his getaway for as long as six months, and that he'd taken at least six fishing trips on the Freedom charter boat, in effect “casing" it before disappearing from it.

The article also places suspicion on McDermott's estranged wife, the actress Yvette Nipur, who allegedly made a claim on his $250,000 insurance policy 90 days after his disappearance, while striking up a close friendship with Newton-John-- “with Olivia as ambassador for Yvette's t-shirt line Be So Do So."

A scan of Tabloid Baby's archives will show there have been reported sightings of McDermott and many unanswered questions in the four years since his disappearance. The coming weeks will be crucial.

First posting on the Tabloid Baby blogsite:

EXCLUSIVE! "PATRICK McDERMOTT IS ALIVE!"

"Patrick McDermott, Olivia Newton-John’s missing boyfriend, is alive."

Sources close to the case have told Tabloid Baby that McDermott staged his death because of financial troubles, and that he has been sighted numerous times since his disappearance, in the Baja California region of Mexico.

This explosive news was uncovered over the weekend at the 60th annual Fred Hall Fishing Tackle & Boat Show in Long Beach, California, just miles from where McDermott was last seen on a charter fishing boat.

Representatives of the 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro, and its popular Freedom sportfishing boat, were staffing a booth at the show. Two of them (not those pictured) told Tabloid Baby that police told them McDermott is alive.

“Oh, he’s definitely alive,” one source said. “There have been sightings. Lots of them. He’s been seen in the Baja. In Todos Santos.”

Todos Santos is a quaint town on the west coast of the lower Baja peninsula, about one hour north of Cabo San Lucas. Its mostly dirt streets are home to over 6,000 inhabitants, including artists, surfers, and retirees. While it has attracted more residents and tourists, the town generally has escaped the influx of tourism.

Patrick Kim McDermott had boarded the Freedom fishing charter on June 30, 2005 for an overnight fishing trip. A marina manager claimed that some passengers saw McDermott disembark the next day.

He was reported missing on July 6 by his ex-wife. On July 11, relatives found his car in the parking lot at the San Pedro Marina. It was later discovered that McDermott left some of his belongings on the boat, including his wallet.

The U.S. Coast Guard is treating this as a missing person's case, but said it is looking into the possibility that McDermott may have faked his disappearance because of financial problems, and a court battle with his former wife, actress Yvette Nipar.

Olivia-Newton John has come under great criticism and scrutiny because she did not report her alleged boyfriend of nine years missing, nor acknowledge his disappearance for seven weeks— when journalists discovered her connection to the missing man.

Newton-John's silence-- and public appearances during those weeks-- was considered highly unusual at a time when her public statement could have aided in the search for the missing man. It also led to conjecture about the nature of Newton-John's relationship with McDermott, including the speculation that he was an employee, or "beard" to provide her with security after several threats on her life.

Newton-John immediately hired celebrity security consultant Gavin de Becker, ostensibly to help search for McDermott. After a swift spin campaign that obscured the nature of her relationship with McDermott and her actions in wake of his disappearance, she resumed her concert tour. In recent weeks, she was reported to have found a new “boyfriend.”

Over the past weekend, the 22nd Street Landing booth has been one of the most lively and popular stops at the fishing and boat show. One of its attractions is a raffle for a fishing trip on the Freedom. It was there that two of the staffers told Tabloid Baby that it's common knowledge among sportfishermen that McDermott is alive.

“He’s definitely alive,” one insisted. “Police know it. (He and Olivia Newton-John) broke up in January. He owed a lot of alimony and child support, so he faked his death.”

The person discounted the theories that McDermott was lost at sea or is in hiding in Australia. "No. No way. The Baja. They know it. He was seen in Todos Santos. There have been sightings.”

While its fishing waters are exceptional, Todos Santos is not known as a fishing town.

According to a promotional website: “Some come to surf the many fine breaks that the area offers. Some come to view the amazing variety of original art in the local galleries. Some come to experience the Tropic of Cancer and the iridescent sunsets. Some come to walk the nearly deserted beaches, not yet developed, no condos to be found. Some come to absorb the gentle pace-- the slow persistent calming pace of life. "Some come to visit, and never leave."


(Tabloid Baby continues to lead the way in keeping the Patrick McDermott story in the public eye, long after the “mainstream media” have moved on and followed the “entertainment” shows, incorporating his disappearance into Hollywood mythology— in this case, another obstacle for the brave performer Olivia Newton-John to overcome. We do not intend to add to his family’s pain in this tragic case, but in the spirit of Tabloid Baby’s original “Stories To Steal” site, hope to open avenues of investigation for intrepid reporters and editors to take in the pursuit of the truth. Or something close.)

Patrick McDermott, Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend who was lost at sea, did indeed fake his death and is alive and on the run, say investigators

We’re getting a lot of web traffic and hits from people looking for information on Patrick McDermott.

This is the place . For years, and up against great criticism and ridicule, Tabloid Baby was the sole news organization that kept alive the story of the boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John who disappeared after boarding a charter fishing boat in San Pedro, California in 2005.

Earlier this week NBC’s tabloid show Dateline picked up the story, reporting on claims that did indeed stage his own disappearance to avoid debts and enable his teenage son to cash in on a $151,000 insurance policy.

Dateline gave it a cute title, Beyond The Sea and put the comic, perpetually amused correspondent Keith Morrison on the story and filled the report and related stories with question marks, but despite the disclaimer, the bottom line, as picked up internationally (and thanks to the UK Daily Mail for the quotes below), is that another team of private investigators says McDermott is travelling along the Mexican and South America coastline under an alias.

Beard?

The U.S. Coast Guard concluded that the cameraman, who was 48 when he went missing, had most likely drowned. But suspicion remained over McDermott's disappearance after it emerged he’d filed for bankruptcy, owed thousands of dollars in child support to his ex-wife— and that Newton-John never reported him missing.

Dateline picked up our lead in March 2007, and hired PIs to find McDermott, months after we reported that the infotainment show Extra took evidence from a local reporter in Baja Mexico, promised to have it analyzed, but did not.

Investigator Philip Klein told Dateline: “He's alive-- there's no doubt in my mind, this guy's alive. Maybe in his mind if he stages his death, the insurance policy will pay off his debts and he can leave his child a gift by pretending he's dead.”

Klein claimed McDermott's life insurance policy “is in full force and effect. The premiums have been paid every month. There has also been an inquiry by a person or persons in an attempt to possibly file a claim on the insurance money.”

Employee?

Klein's agency set up a website called findpatrickmcdermott.com, a ruse to find McDermott by showing investigators the locations of people logging on to the site.

Klein said he began tracking hits from what he believes was a boat travelling along the Mexican coastline as far as South America.

"Sayulita, Mexico, is where many of the hits were coming from. We got to Sayulita, we began to show his picture around to witnesses in the area, and we found people who said, ‘Yeah, I know him, he comes here all the time.’ We have witnesses, including five Americans, willing to give us signed affidavits that they've seen him.

“He asked waiters to put him in corners, he had changed his appearance once or twice. He's moving as a lone wolf."

“The rule of thumb is always this-- when you're running you are always looking over your shoulder and we're going to catch him looking at us.

"We fully anticipate he's going to go underground for a while. But when he raises his head, he's not just going to have 20 eyes looking for him, he's going to have a million eyes looking for him."

Really Her Boyfriend?

Shamus Klein said that Newton-John apparently was also accessing the site on a regular basis for updates on efforts to find McDermott.

“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.”

He claimed his team had “confirmed" sightings of McDermott from at least 17 witnesses across Mexico.

Newton-John refused to be interviewed for the Dateline show. Last year, she married John Easterling, founder and president of natural remedy firm, Amazon Herb Company.

Missing man Patrick McDermott was on Olivia Newton-John's payroll

Still no proof-of-life photo of Olivia Newton-John's missing boyfriend Patrick Kim McDermott, but Tabloid Baby pal Dylan Howard, the international investigative reporter who’s broken a lot of news in the case that we kept alive, has new details from the official Coast Guard report into his disappearance at sea five years ago-- including the fact that McDermott was on the singer’s payroll.

Among the other new information that was published in Australia's New Idea magazine and around the world:

* McDermott purchased a .357 magnum three months before he disappeared

* Someone tried to access his computer between the time he vanished and when it was seized;

* A file from his computer contained information on how to fake an identity;

* He attempted suicide by pills at 17;

* He was drowning in debt and failing to meet child support;

* He had $755.01 in savings and $19,004.56 in credit card debt and was $8,000 behind in child support payments;

* He'd destroyed all his emails, including correspondence from Newtown-John;

* Started a company called Twice Alive Productions in 2003.


The investigation focuses on McDermott's nine-year relationship with the Newton-John, who never reported him missing after he vanished from a fishing boat on June 30, 2005. Newton-John failed to alert the media, whoch could have helped in a missing persons search, and it was seven weeks before a reporter noticed the name and Newton-John connection and broke the news.

Was Newton-John aware of his scheme? The report says she told investigators she wasn't aware of McDermott's financial straits, and that the last time she saw him was in mid-June, before she left on a trip to Australia (where she was when he disappeared). She said he'd come to her home to end their on-off relationship once again.

The report notes "official sightings" of McDermott in Malibu, Long Beach and San Luis Obispo, California, Calgary Canada, and Todos Santo, La Paz, Sayulita and Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

The report says the US Coast Guard has labelled the McDermott probe a "deadbeat parent” case, which means the US State Department “remains on the lookout, but not actively searching for someone who has absconded from life’s responsibilities.”

Last month, a private eye working for NBC's tabloid show Dateline claimed to have "proof" that McDermott is alive and well in Baja Mexico (the destination of his fishing charter), but asked everyone to take his word for it until he writes a book.

Exclusive! New indications that McDermott lives!

E! True Hollywood Story tackles the Olivia Newton-John saga this weekend, and their reportage confirms what Tabloid Baby has been reporting for months now: Newton-John’s alleged boyfriend, Patrick McDermott, missing from a fishing trip since last July—
is alive!

This information is supported by interviews with the U.S. Coast Guard, the crew of the fishing boat Freedom, on which McDermott was last seen—and by Tabloid Baby’s source in the area where McDermott was allegedly sighted.

We broke the news in March that representatives of the Freedom told our correspondent that the U.S. Coast Guard and members of the sportfishing community believe that McDermott staged his death because of mounting debts and obligations to his former wife.

They told us that McDermott has been seen, alive, in the town of Todos Santos, on the west coast of the lower Baja peninsula, about one hour north of Cabo San Lucas.

Lt. Tony Migliorini, the public information officer at the US Coast Guard station in Long Beach, confirmed to Tabloid Baby this afternoon that the disappearance of Patrick McDermott in July 2005 “is still an open case.

“We have no updates to report,” he said. “But we have an investigator assigned to the case. He has reports of sightings and he has followed them. We’ve received reports from people who say they’ve spotted him. Everywhere from Africa to Beverly Hills. But there are other leads that our investigator is following. And he probably has information that I don’t have."

The lieutenant emphasized: “We consider this case to be ‘open.’”

The journalists who produce E! True Hollywood Story confirm this in the Newton-John special, which debuts Sunday night.

E! Entertainment’s publicity people refused to allow Tabloid Baby to speak with True Hollywood Story’s producer Michael Lynn or any members of the production team, but they did send us the press release.

According to the publicity sheet, the episode does not include a fresh interview with Newton-John, but does contain exclusive interviews with her daughter, Chloe (“She's gone through something this year that is unthinkable”), ex-husband Matt Latanzi (“We're talking about a woman who's been through a lot”), her sister Rona, and other colleagues.

But the interview that stands out is one with Frank Liversedge, manager of the 22nd Street Landing in San Pedro, where the Freedom is docked:

"The period of time where Patrick supposedly disappeared on the boat, all the people were facing the stern part of the boat, the crew was back here in the back working. And you can see this standing right here-- there's no way anyone could go over the side or into the water without someone seeing them."

The E! True Hollywood Newton-John episode features footage from onboard the Freedom, and promises to bring new insight into the relationship between the superstar and McDermott, and, by the looks of the press release, leans toward the theory that Patrick McDermott is indeed alive.

So why does no major news organization, from Los Angeles to Sydney, have a reporter or producer assigned to this story, chasing down the leads, and bringing McDermott back alive—before the bounty hunters or government officials do it?

Tabloid Baby has learned that the E! team had spoken with Coast Guard investigators and had hoped to get advance notice in case McDermott is tracked down before the show goes to air.

But the E! publicity people won’t let us get confirmation from the source.

Our man in Todos Santos

Whether he stepped off the Freedom and into a waiting car for a drive to Tijuana, or, as we have been told, slipped onto another fishing boat for the cruise to Todos Santos, there is evidence that McDermott is alive.

Tabloid Baby has been in contact with one of the few full time journalists in Todos Santos, and in a fashion that should make Michael Connelly and Elmore Leonard proud, has provided him with picture of McDermott that he's been showing around town.

“One person finds the face somewhat familiar,” reports our source in Todos Santos. “Let me just say, forget the Police. This is a basically a rural farming community. The infrastructure barely supports the police having a telephone line and fuel for their vehicles, far less any sophisticated search facilities.

“One person finds the face somewhat familiar.”

There are many unanswered questions in this story, from Newton-John’s public silence during the first seven weeks of McDermott’s disappearance, to the spin control performed by her team in the months since, and the continued silence of McDermott’s ex-wife, with whom he was locked in child support and custody battles.

This story is very much alive.

(And a tip of the Tabloid Baby hat to Michael Lynn, one of the foremost nonfiction producers and writers in television, for helping move the story and investigation forward.)

McDermott sighted, believed alive: Now what?

Patrick McDermott was basically confirmed to be alive and finally received media attention this week as Aussie reporter Nick Papps took Tabloid Baby’s map and instructions and ventured into the Baja Peninsula, where we’d reported that Olivia Newton-John’s missing "boyfriend" had been seen. So now what? Papps is still on the trail, reporting this morning that "a pink sun hat linked to Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend has been found in a Mexican restaurant... The hat contains some grey hairs and may help prove McDermott faked his death at sea off the Los Angeles coast last year." But here in the States, at least, the so-called “mainstream” news and tabloid media have not joined the hunt. They splashed the story for a couple of days, waited for more information to be dropped in their laps, then moved on. And in this time of terror alerts, unguarded ports and border hysteria, the U.S. Coast Guard has indicated that bringing McDermott home is not among its priorities. Too bad. Papps appears to be only days behind McDermott, who, as Tabloid Baby reported three months ago, had been sighted in and around the remote town of Todos Santos, despite his alleged drowning off a fishing boat last summer. In part due to Newton-John’s inaction, that apparent mishap was soon believed to have been a staged death (he owed alimony to his ex-wife, debts Newton-John could have covered if she and McDermott were indeed a couple). Don’t look to American television news or infotainment media to pick up the story. Tabloid shows like Entertainment Tonight won’t touch it because the facts are sure to bring embarrassment to Olivia Newton-John and possibly blow the lid off the Hollywood lies it regurgitates. Network news doesn’t have the imagination. Cable news outlets merely bring on talking heads to yap. Unless Nick Papps brings this story to conclusion, it will take a decent tabloid newspaper, an Australian news organization—or a publicity-seeking bounty hunter-- to take the step to bring Patrick McDermott back alive. (Should Mr. Murdoch or any of his rivals need an intrepid reporter to bring him back alive, Tabloid Baby has an experienced, award-winning contributor who’s rarin’ to go.) We’ll keep you posted.

Olivia Newton-John remarries; leaves behind disappearance of boyfriend Patrick McDermott, whom she never reported missing

Olivia Newton-John has put the mysterious 2005 disappearance of her longtime boyfriend Patrick McDermott behind her for good.

The 59-year-old singer married a 49-year-old Australian entrepreneur named John Easterling in a surprise ceremony at her home in Malibu.

Guests thought they were attending a Fourth of July Independence Day barbecue. Newton-John was almost forced to cancel the big day when a brush fire broke out in a nearby canyon, but she insisted that the vows take place.

McDermott disappeared from a fishing boat that set off from San Pedro, California on June 30, 2005.

The public didn't find out about the disappearance for seven weeks, until a reporter connected the names.

Newton-John never reported him missing and later gave conflicting stories for the oversight.

In the weeks to follow, it was reported that McDermott had financial problems and could have faked his death. The US Coast Guard kept the case open.

In 2006, there were McDermott "sightings" in Mexico's Baja peninsula.

Great theme for Olivia Newton-John's concert tour

The Buffalo News
Concert Review

Olivia Newton-John
Friday night in Avalon Ballroom
Niagara Fallsview Casino Resort.
Another performance at 8:30 tonight

By Benjamin Siegel
11/11/2006

NIAGARA FALLS, Ont. - Let's get it out of the way here.

It was on the mind of every concertgoer at Friday night's first of two appearances by Olivia Newton-John - the mysterious disappearance of her boyfriend in 2005, which has plagued her in the press as well as in the hearts of fans worldwide.

The Australian-born singer who made a name for herself stateside with the hits "I Honestly Love You" and "Xanadu," and of course that little film starring John Travolta - "Grease" - has filled her career with soaring ballads of broken hearts, prevailing resurgence and heartfelt sisterhood. Whether it was her successful triumph over breast cancer or this latest tragedy, it has been an uphill climb - something audiences can surely relate to in their own ways.

Such was the feeling during the show, onstage and off. Subdued and almost too calm to be performing a sold-out show in the Niagara Fallsview Casino and resort, Newton-John was everything we know her to be on film: Petite and withheld, yet sexy and ferocious when unleashed.

Her latest release, "Grace and Gratitude," a disc full of the kind of inspirational melodies that have connected her to so many fans in every corner of the planet, opened and closed the show… It is full of fun, offers memories from eras past - and very pertinently - the life today of this very human star.


(This Tabloidbaby.com newsite debuted online on November 11, 2005. Our second post read: "Scandal: No justice for Patrick McDermott: Here we have a Hollywood mystery with more twists and clues than a Michael Connelly novel, all in plain sight. So why did the media drop the story?")

Is 'Extra' involved in McDermott cover-up?

Is a Hollywood-themed tabloid TV show helping cover up clues to the faked death of Patrick McDermott?

Extra, the syndicated celebutainment series, generated publicity last month when it reported its “exclusive” discovery of evidence in the disappearance of Olivia Newton-John’s alleged boyfriend, who’s believed to have faked his death on a fishing boat a year ago.

But now it's revealed that the show did not turn over a visor believed to be McDermott's to authorities as promised-- but sent it back, untested, to the people who really found it!

Extra jumped on the McDermott bandwagon in June, three months after Tabloid Baby reported that he'd been spotted in and around the town of Todos Santos in Mexico’s remote Baja peninsula-- and more than a week after an Australian print journalist picked up the story.

On June 16th, the show trumpeted the news that it had sent “famed" Hollywood private eye John Nazarian, "armed" with something called “Extra’s PI cam” to Todos Santos. The show claimed that Nazarian had “discovered” a sun-visor cap said to belong to Patrick McDermott. “Extra has contacted the U.S. Coast Guard and Olivia and McDermott's family to seek their help with DNA tests that could finally determine if Olivia's missing man is still alive.”

Within days, Tabloid Baby learned that the visor had actually been found through the exhaustive legwork of a local news reporter. Kathy Aviles, investigative reporter for the El Mirador magazine and website in Todos Santos, had been circulating McDermott’s picture around the area. She received the hat, which is believed to have been worn by McDermott, from restaurateur Marina Mejia Carranza and her son Eduardo, of Marina's Cafe on the road from La Paz to Cabo San Lucas.

We reported on June 25th that Aviles had reached out to the Australian reporter, and Extra for help in getting the evidence tested. Instead, she claimed, Extra stole credit for her scoop, making it appear as if Nazarian the P.I. had actually done detective work and found the hat himself.

And now, incredibly, it appears that Extra did not send out the hat for testing after all—but sent it via FedEx back to the Baja!

What the show did with this crucial evidence in the meantime remains a mystery.

Aviles reports on the El Mirador website: "July 4th and 5th: Marina and her son, Eduardo requested that Extra return the suspected hat of Patrick McDermott… after a phone call from Extra requesting permission to turn the hat over to the authorities. As they had already given that permission and Extra had already reported that the hat had been handed over to the Coast Guard, they became suspicious.

"The hat was shipped via FedEx on the 23rd. We do not have FedEx service… It took up until the 4th of July for it to be picked up.

"I picked it up for them and immediately called the Coast Guard to let them know that the hat would be sent right out.

"FINALLY the hat is on its way to the people who can have the proper testing done on it. We sincerely hope that the DNA that was on the hat has not been destroyed during this past month of it being passed around….

"Now we wait and see…"

It has long been evident that Newton-John and portions of the Hollywood establishment want this story to disappear.

This latest twist, amid a sudden silence from news organizations allegedly investigating McDermott’s disappearance, leads to some very disturbing questions:

Why did Extra send a private eye and not a segment producer or reporter to Todos Santos-- if they were merely picking up evidence that was already discovered by an intrepid local reporter?

Why did Extra fail to hand the hat over to the proper authorities?

Was this simply a ratings grab and publicity stunt?

Is it important to consider that Extra is a Time-Warner show, and Olivia Newton-John’s latest album is distributed internationally by Warner?

On a story like this, if you can’t trust a tabloid TV show whose brass and producers once worked with or were trained by the veteran Tabloid Baby journalists, who can you trust?

Extra insiders, contact us here to let us know what's going on. All sources will be kept confidential.


(Meanwhile, rabid fans of Olivia Newton-John are engaged in a lively, angry and bizarre debate that has nothing to do with this story in the comments section of one of our February posts. See it here.)

P.I. claims "proof" Patrick McDermott lives

A private eye searching for Patrick McDermott, Olivia Newton-John's former boyfriend who vanished five years ago, says his hunt is over after he received "conclusive proof" he's alive.

McDermott was 48 when he disappeared from a fishing boat that set off from San Pedro on June 30, 2005. He was believed to have fallen overboard but his body was never recovered, and it wasn't long before it was revealed he had financial troubles and may have faked his death and was hiding out on Mexico's Baja coast.

Texas-based P.I. Philip Klein worked on the case for NBC''s tabloid show Dateline. He said yesterday that he had "concluded beyond a reasonable doubt that Mr. McDermott is alive."

He said his team was checking documents and voice recordings of McDermott that he and his lawyer had provided in return for detectives agreeing to leave him alone.

Said Klein: "Mr. McDermott's wishes, according to his counsel, is not to be 'hounded' any longer by investigators or the media."

He alleged that McDermott faked his death to escape mounting debts and to enable his teenage son to benefit from a $100,000 US life insurance policy.

McDermott's disappearance wasn't made pubic for seven weeks, when a reporter linked his name to Newton-John. The Aussie songbird never reported him missing, despite claims they'd been involved in a nine-year romance. Newton-John later gave conflicting responses for the oversight, and finally said that she'd broken up with McDermott. The Coast Guard kept the case open. In 2008, Newton-John married someone else.


Tabloid Baby was the only news organization to remain on the story since 2005. Our reports kept the story alive, and led to reports of McDermott sightings and Klein's involvement last year.

Klein reported contact with McDermott in 2009, though he has not shown any concrete "proof of life" which he claims to have in possession. We do know he is writing a book about his search.

We'll withhold huzzahs until he produces the live McDermott.