Beyond the sea

After a year and half on the trail of Patrick McDermott, Philip Klein and Gil Martinez are once again in Mexico.  This time it's Puerto Vallarta, and they're here on more than just a hunch.

Philip Klein: Somebody has been coming onto that website. We got one hit 17 days ago that was 16 miles southeast of Puerto Vallarta, which means it was right along this coastline somewhere. 

For months, Klein's web site has recorded a visitor, or visitors, from up and down the coast of Mexico,  even down as far as South America.  Our investigator is convinced it's someone on a boat... And not just any someone, but the man he's looking for. They spend a long, hot muggy day combing the coastline north of Puerto Vallarta, looking for anybody who might have seen the missing man.

Philip Klein: Tell em we're investigators from Texas...

Philip Klein: Ask them if they'll keep that, and maybe pass it around for their friends while you guys are down here if you happen to see that face?  Maybe you can study it a little bit?

Guy:  You a bounty hunter? 

Philip Klein: No, I'm a missing persons investigator.  I hunt people that are missing.

And there's one moment that raises Klein's antennae.

Philip Klein: did you see the look on that one's face?  I mean his initial reaction was, whoa.

Gil Martinez: Maybe he's seen him before.  Maybe he's come through here. 

Philip Klein: I mean, the reaction was just too startled.

Philip Klein: We need to remember this place, let's mark it.

In the dark of night, they roll into one last little town: A surfer's haven called Sayulita.

Philip Klein: I guess they smoke pot in the open out here. 

Gil Martinez: This here, I guess you know, There's more Americans here, more tourists. This looks like more of an uppity town I mean—

Philip Klein: Let's hit it. 

Philip Klein: Seen him before?

Guy: Yeah, he looks really familiar like in the movies. 

Philip Klein: The story is, that's Olivia Newton-John's missing boyfriend. 

Guy: He's been gone since 2005, and you're still looking? 

Philip Klein: Do people drop out of society here? Just to come down here and just get away from life?

Guy: Big time.  Yeah.  That's what this place is about.

And then, right about closing time, they walk into a little restaurant by the water: El Costeno.

Guy: Talk to Nacho.  NACHO!

Show the picture, ask the question. They've done it a thousand times.  But this time...

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Nacho nods.

Gil Martinez: Si??

Si!  Yes!  This man has seen Patrick McDermott.  He was here.

Gil Martinez: He said he looked the same in the photo except his hair was a little bit shorter.  Same color.  He looked almost the same! 

[Nacho continues]

Gil Martinez: Oh... One week about a month ago, one week, he can't remember which week, he saw him like, every couple days he saw this guy cruising around, he was eating here.

Philip Klein: But there was no, he was not with a woman, he was not with anybody?

Gil Martinez: No. By himself.

Philip Klein: By himself.  OK. And you say this was about a month ago?  OK, all right.  OK, gracias. What's his name, what's your name?

Nacho: Nacho.

Nacho's not the only one.

Philip Klein: OK, you seen him about one time, that's it? Within a month? OK.

Philip Klein: Now we have a sighting. We have a confirmed sighting.

For months, Klein has been tracking hits to his website from what he thinks is a boat along the coast.  He's always believed it was McDermott.  Is this proof? 

Philip Klein: So he said a month. 

Gil Martinez: Yes. 

Philip Klein: He said a month. He's here.  That son of a b**** is here.  Man, we're close. 

Gil Martinez: We're right on him! We're right on his a**! 

Philip Klein: We're close. We're close.

As they walk the streets of Sayulita, the investigators find others who say they've seen this mysterious man.

Philip Klein: Your boys said you might have seen him around town? 

Woman: I've seen him around, but I don't remember exactly, I was just looking at it, but I've seen him before.

Philip Klein: she's seen him around town, she says, I've just got to plant where I've seen him. She goes, but I've seen him. And he and he sticks out.

Guy: Esta aqui. 

Gil Martinez: Si?

Guy: Si.

Gil Martinez: He says he's pretty positive that he saw him down here at the store here about a month ago.

Guy: Esta solo. 

Gil Martinez: He was alone. 

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

Philip Klein: He was alone. 

Gil Martinez:  He'd buy, like, food.

Philip Klein: OK, gracias, thank you very much. 

Guy: No problem, buddy.

Philip Klein: So how many is that, 1,2,3,4,5... I think you know, we got a hot spot. I knew it, I KNEW IT!  I KNEW IT!  I KNEW IT! 

It's a triumphant moment.  After months of tedium and dead ends, Klein believes he's just one step behind his quarry.

Philip Klein: The big break for us was when I started tracking these hits up and down the  coast of Puerto Vallarta over the last 16 to 17 days. That led us to this area, and obviously we were right.  Now we're what, 30 days behind him, so these spider sites always work.  Everybody always looks over their shoulder.

But as hot as it seemed at the time, the trail soon went cold again.  There's just no way to know just who or where those hits to Klein's website came from.  No way to know, in the end, if Patrick McDermott is dead or alive, on the run or at the bottom of the sea. 

But Philip Klein, a professional investigator, who finds people for a living, Philip Klein thinks he does know.

Philip Klein: Patrick McDermott walked off the freedom and Patrick McDermott's running in Mexico.  That simple.

Philip Klein: He's gonna make a mistake. They all make mistakes.  He's gonna do something.  And i'll be right on his tail.

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