Is Olivia Newton-John's boyfriend alive?

Keith Morrison Correspondent • Profile

Last year, the long-time boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John—a man named Patrick McDermott—disappeared after an overnight fishing trip.

The circumstances were odd, and so was the fact that no one reported him missing for nearly two weeks. But what’s probably the strangest thing of all is that so many people believe Patrick McDermott isn’t missing. That he’s alive and well.

If so, why would he disappear? And, where is he?

Nick Papps, Australian journalist: This is a big story... the biggest story that I’ve done since I was here.

The celebrity in this puzzling tale is Olivia Newton-John, the sweet-voiced singer from down-under who rose to superstardom in the 1978 blockbuster, “Grease.”   

Olivia, in song, dance and skin-tight pants, turned tough-guy John Travolta into mush and they became celluloid sweethearts forever.

But in real life, Olivia hasn’t been so lucky in love. Her marriage disintegrated in divorce, and various other relationships did not end happily-ever-after, despite the best wishes of her fellow Australians.

Papps:  We’ve always had this marvelous affection for her.

Nick Papps was the Los Angeles bureau chief for Australia’s Herald Sun and other newspapers.

Papps: She makes us feel good about being Australian because she’s making it really big in America. So she’s carrying a whole country with her at the same time.

And so, after all her highly-public troubles with men, Australians seemed genuinely happy for her when she began seeing a dashing Hollywood lighting technician named Patrick McDermott... and kept seeing him.

They’d been an item for eight years when, in 2004, McDermott appeared on Australia’s “This is Your Life,” a TV show about Olivia, and sent her a big, wet kiss via satellite.

McDermott to Newton-John during the TV show: “You truly are an incredible human being and someone so special to this whole planet. And if we could all just be a little bit like you, we’d all be a little better off. I love you with all my heart. Enjoy this evening, and I’ll talk to you later. Bye.” (kiss)

Papps: Finally she’s found love. And, you know, everyone’s delighted for her. But it maybe wasn’t all that we think.

What can we know really about the most private doings of public people? And what’s a person to think of the strange business that’s attracted the attention of Nick Papps and so many others in Olivia’s native land?

It was just an overnight fishing trip on that boat “The Freedom,” and it ended in mystery and heartbreak. There are secrets out there in the deep, and one of them is, “Where is Patrick McDermott?” A man linked to a famous star, a man last seen on that boat. The Coast Guard is treating it as a missing person’s case. But is he missing at all?

Frank Liversedge was one of the last to see him. Liversedge runs the 22^nd street Marina, near Los Angeles, in San Pedro, California, where McDermott often signed up for overnight fishing trips.

Frank Liversdege, marina manager: He was a regular. To me, Patrick McDermott seemed like a very sort of reserved person. He was kinda quiet.

Sometimes, said Liversedge, McDermott brought his teenage son along.

But not that time.  June 30, 2005. That time, he came alone.

On that Thursday night, McDermott signed the manifest and boarded the freedom with 22 other fishermen for the 10 p.m. departure. According to those on the boat, there was nothing out of the ordinary during the 22-hour voyage, a low-key mixture of relaxation and deep-sea fishing.

Papps: And the boat comes in and that’s when it gets interesting.

Well, not right away.

And that’s part of the mystery.

It wasn’t until July 11, 2005, 10 days after the freedom docked, that Patrick McDermott, 48 years of age, was reported missing.

Keith Morrison, Dateline correspondent: Who reported him missing? Was it Olivia Newton-John?

Papps: No it wasn’t. Which is interesting isn’t it?

Morrison: Who did?

Papps: His ex-wife.

His ex-wife, Yvette Nipar, called Frank Liversedge at the marina, asking about Patrick because he failed to show for a July 6 visit with their son.

There was no head count when freedom’s passengers disembarked, so Liversedge had no reason to think McDermott was missing, until Patrick’s ex-wife mentioned items he often took on these trips.

And, in fact, an unopened fanny pack had been unclaimed in Liversedge’s office, in the lost-and-found, since it was discovered on The Freedom 10 days earlier.

Liversedge:  And I said, “Yeah, I have one. Do I have your permission to open this thing up?” She said, “Yeah.”

Inside were McDermott’s driver’s license, wallet and car keys. Liversedge matched the keys to a car at the far end of one of the parking lots. Sure enough, Patrick’s car was still there, 10 days after his ill-fated boat ride.

Liversedge: I came back to the office, I called the police, called the Coast Guard. I said, “I got what looks like a potential problem.”

The Coast Guard launched a missing person’s investigation.

But as crew members from the freedom were questioned by a grand jury in Los Angeles, investigators cast a wide net, looking into all possible theories, including foul play.

Morrison: Was he pushed, did he fall, or did he try to kill himself? You’ve got three possibilities may have happened.

Papps: It could have happened. But there’s a pretty strong reason why I don’t think it happened.

Both Nick Papps and Frank Liversedge were skeptical of the various lost-at-sea scenarios. They backed another, hard-to-imagine theory—McDermott had gone missing on purpose.

Papps: In all likelihood he got off that boat without telling anyone.

Morrison: How could he have done it?

Papps: There’s a mad scramble when they get off the boat. No one’s paying much attention to who’s getting off and where Patrick’s gone.

Morrison: What do you think? What could have happened to the guy?

Liversedge: There are a million things that could’ve happened. Could a giant squid come up and grab him off the side of the boat and taken him down; or an alien spaceship abducted him; or any of a million (laughs) trillion things. Anything is possible on the ocean. But do I believe that happened? No.  I believe Patrick got off of that boat when he tied it to my dock and walked off.

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