Olivia Newton-John's ex Patrick McDermott left ominous note and roses before mysteriously vanishing at sea
LOS ANGLES, CALIFORNIA: A new investigation into the mysterious disappearance of Olivia Newton-Jown's late ex-boyfriend Patrick McDermott speculated that he faked his own death as he was in debt and couldn't keep up with the "Hollywood lifestyle."
McDermott, 48, a Korean-American cameraman, dated the late Australian singer for nine years and was last seen alive in June 2005, when he went on an overnight fishing trip of the coast of Los Angeles with 22 other people. Newton-John died from cancer in August, and investigators have now unearthed new evidence that sheds more light on the mystery, as per Daily Mail.
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There is a popular theory that McDermott faked his own death. The same is being investigated by the new Spotify crime podcast 'Casefile Presents: Pseudocide' in a six-part series that features previously unheard interviews and touches on facts and speculation that followed the incident years later. Media reports suggested that McDermott was in a substantial amount of debt when he vanished on June 30, 2005, especially after he had filed for bankruptcy with more than $30,000 owed. Now, private investigator Philip Klein believed that McDermott's bankruptcy was an important part of the puzzle. He said McDermott hated the 'Hollywood lifestyle' during his relationship with Newton-John. "Hollywood's a place of money, but it's also a place of very poor people who are trying to make it," Klein said on the podcast. "And he just never could make it."
Pseudocide Season 2 - Episodes One and Two out now.
— Casefile: True Crime Podcast (@case_file) November 9, 2022
In season two of Pseudocide, Poppy Damon and Alice Fiennes dig deeper into the case of Patrick McDermott, the on-and-off boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John.
Listen now, only on Spotify. pic.twitter.com/ZkmWU6qdhI
Klein also made the bombshell claim that McDermott had left Newton-John a "heartfelt note" and a bunch of roses just days before he went missing. The investigator was reportedly handed the note while probing McDermott's disappearance for the US news program 'Dateline'. "The note told her that he'd always loved her, always will love her," Klein said, adding, "But they had been having a lot of problems. Patrick was backing out of the relationship because he didn't like Hollywood - he didn't like what he was doing." The letter could be considered McDermott's "final farewell" to Newton-John and may suggest he knew something bad was about to happen.
There continues to be a trove of unanswered questions with respect to McDermott's disappearance, with some theories suggesting he may have faked his death to avoid paying taxes and start a new life in Mexico. He disappeared while on the fishing boat "Freedom" but his absence wasn't noticed until the vessel returned to shore. The cameraman was 48 at the time. "I don't think I will ever really be at peace with it," Newton-John told Women's Weekly magazine in 2009. "I think there will always be a question mark."
The 'Xanadu' star sparked a romance with McDermott following her 1995 divorce from her first husband Matt Lattanzi. She was on a promotional tour in Australia during his disappearance. The crew on McDermott's fishing boat located his car keys, passport and wallet on board. His car was found parked at the San Pedro marina in Los Angeles. However, no on realized he went missing until he failed to appear at a family event on July 6. Authorities were eventually alerted about it on July 11, albeit the trail had gone cold by then and investigators found nothing.
McDermott had been married and had a son before he started dating Newton-John. He was also court-ordered to pay $8,000 in backdated child support. A Coast Guard inquiry reportedly "did not find any evidence of criminal action, suicide, accident or hoax in the disappearance of McDermott." A three-year investigation found the fishing crew didn't carry out any head counts on the day of the trip, leading to McDermott's disappearance to go unnoticed. The respective probes concluded that McDermott was likely lost at sea and drowned during the night. He had been presumed dead ever since, according to the Daily Mail.
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After putting the tragedy behind her, Newton-John met her future husband John Easterling and tied the knot with him in Pery in 2008.
Nonetheless, the mystery would continue to haunt the 'Grease' star for years to come. "He was lost at sea, and nobody really knows what happened," Newton-John told '60 Minutes' in 2016. "It's human to wonder. Because whenever you go through difficult times, there's always those concerns. Those are the things in life you have to accept and let go [of]. Of course, questions always come up and that's human. But, you know, I live on." The acclaimed actress and singer died from cancer on August 8 at age 73.