Beyond the sea

Philip Klein: We have the greatest job in the world.  We have the ultimate hunt, we get to hunt people.  I enjoy every minute of it. Not very many people get to do what we get to do.

His name is Philip Klein.  He lives in a flyspeck on the map called Nederland, Texas.  If you ask-- or even if you don't-- he'll tell you that he is one of the best there is at finding people who don't want to be found.

Philip Klein: I love to do this, this is what i love to do.

Klein deals mostly in kidnappings, where one divorced parent snatches a child from the other.  Klein finds them.

Philip Klein: I've caught over 90 people in the past however many years.  And that's the first question I always ask 'em.  "Why?"

Keith Morrison: Do they ever tell you?

Philip Klein: Yeah.  They always tell me.  Everybody always talks to me. 

Klein's investigative team includes his wife, Inga, and a former L.A. county sheriff's deputy named Gil Martinez.  We handed them the McDermott file in march of 2007.

The gentleman's name is Patrick Kim McDermott, age 48 years old. On June 30th, 2005, as the story goes-- he went on a-- boat called The Freedom, out of a-- harbor in-- in California. He never got off the boat. He's missing. He's not wanted. What makes this case so special is, this is the boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John. What we wanna do today is we wanna go through each step.

Is there foul play involved?  Is this a homicide case?  Well you know, basically what is this?  We're comin' into it cold.  And our job is just to bring this to some type of conclusion based on fact. 

Klein knows that the U.S. coast guard also investigated the case, but did not release its findings, leaving the most basic questions unanswered.

Philip Klein: You'll see us focus and concentrate today on day two a lot on dead.  We wanna insure that we're not chasing a ghost.

They start by contacting the other fishermen who were on the boat that day.

Philip Klein:  I'm the lead investigator regarding Patrick McDermott, yeah you were on the boat that night?

Kristen: Yeah, you all did pretty good on y'all's fishing trip?

Philip Klein: you remember Mr. McDermott?  You do remember him? 

Kristen:  You spoke with him, you all fished on the same side?

Philip Klein: Did you guys stop to refuel at all? 

There's a key fact they need to pin down.

Kristen:  Do you know anybody else who he spoke with?

Philip Klein:  is the fuel dock attached to land?

According to the freedom's records, Patrick McDermott bought food aboard the boat - two hot dogs and a soda - and he paid his bill.  Witnesses say that money's collected in the last hour of the trip, very close to land, in daylight, which would make it very unlikely McDermott fell overboard without being seen.  How to know for sure?  Klein had an idea.

Philip Klein: What would you think if we put Gil out there and sent him on a trip?

Gil Martinez: Fine.  Send me--

Philip Klein: Somebody go on the same boat--

Gil Martinez: Same fishin' boat.

Philip Klein: On the same friggin' fishin' trip

Amanda:  Mi gusta pescar.

Gil Martinez: Mi gusta pescar and I'll have two hot dogs and a soda.

Video   Investigator goes fishing for clues Investigator Gil Martinez looks for clues aboard the fishing ship that Patrick McDermott, the missing ex-boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John, was last seen on. Dateline NBC

Gil Martinez: OK, we just arrived here in California, San Pedro, California, and behind me is the 22nd street landing.  We are going on the freedom fishing line, the same fishing line that Mr. Patrick McDermott was last seen on.

Gil's on the boat for 20 hours, and verifies that the galley tab gets paid in the last hour.  If McDermott paid it himself, he was in sight of land when he did so.

Philip Klein: Gil, tell me the story, how'd you do??

Gil Martinez: Everything was fine. No stops coming in or no stops coming out.

Philip Klein: OK, but nobody-- could anybody fall off the back of the boat without somebody  seeing it?

Gil Martinez: yes, there's possibilities, there was a few times, maybe off the side not off the back.

Philip Klein: We may just have a runner here. Wow. OK babe, good job.

Reviewing Gil's findings, along with witness interviews, Klein begins to think that McDermott is alive... In hiding.  He decides to set a hi-tech trap for him.

Philip Klein: We bought the name FindPatrickMcDermott.com. We need you to build a website. We put what we call a trap on the web site where we can tell each I- address that comes in to the web site. The rule of thumb is always this.  When you're running you always are looking over your shoulder.  And we're gonna catch him looking at us.

Phil Klein believes that if McDermott is alive, then sooner or later he'll visit the web site, the trap.

Philip Klein: We've already had 96 hits in 47 minutes.

In the meantime, the website also brings in tips, anonymous people who claim they spotted McDermott in Mexico.

Woman: Patrick was there in August so after this had happened Patrick was down there with 2 friends and rented a boat ...

Sightings like this only reinforce Klein's growing belief that McDermott is on the run.  He decides he needs to learn more about the mystery man.

Philip Klein: We're going to LA.

The team heads to California to piece together the details of McDermott's life, to plumb the mystery of his disappearance.

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