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Monday, June 05, 2006

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.”

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