Investigators track down Olivia Newton-John’s missing ex

Los Angeles, January 28: Four years after mysteriously disappearing from Hollywood, leaving behind his famous girlfriend Olivia Newton-John, Patrick McDermott has surfaced briefly.

Back in 2005, McDermott was on a fishing trip in San Pedro, California, from where he never returned. After discovering his passport, wallet and keys, the investigators assumed he must have fallen overboard, though his body was never recovered.

However, private investigators have now found clues that McDermott is alive and doing fine. He is living on the sly, off the coast of Mexico, they said.

"We believe he is between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco," lead investigator Philip Klein said.

There is a possibility that the former cameraman designed this whole act of vanishing, in order to run away from his debts, and also to let his son have the benefit of a $100,000 life-insurance policy.

The investigators pursuing McDermott were hired by a network TV news show. Several reports of his exposure, from Brazil to the Panama Canal, had emerged in the past three years but nobody affirmed his presence.

But this time around, the trap was more advanced and McDermott was traced via the website www.patrickmcdermott.com. According to the investigators, the 48-year-old had been constantly logging on to the site, inadvertently giving away his computer's IP address and helping them to reach him.

“When you're running, you always are looking over your shoulder and we're going to catch him looking at us," said Klein.

A message addressed to McDermott, on his website, reads: "Patrick – we know you are scared. And we know that you want to come in. We hear you. You are not charged with a crime. You will be treated fairly. Now is the time," it reads.

"The world now knows you are alive – it is a matter of days and hours, Patrick. Do the right thing for your boy, Chance, and your family. You cannot run forever. We will find you."

Back then, Olivia Newton-John was shattered to hear of the sudden departure of her partner of nine years, though their relationship had reportedly been in trouble for a few months.

However, four years is a long time for wounds to heal; Newton-John moved on and got married to natural-health businessman John Easterling in 2008.