He’s the ex boyfriend of Olivia Newton-John who is suspected of faking his own death after he didn’t return from a fishing trip in June 2005.
And now a team of investigators are claiming they have tracked down Patrick McDermott and he is alive and well in Mexico according to reports from New Idea.
A photograph recovered from a Mexican campsite last month by US media agency Coleman-Rayner is said to show a shirtless Patrick lounging alongside a woman.
Mystery solved? Olivia Newton-John’s missing lover (pictured) ‘found in Mexico’ more than 12 years after he disappeared during a fishing trip
The man in the image bares a striking resemblance to the American cameraman, who owed thousands of dollars in backdated child support payments for son Chance at the time of his disappearance.
Top private investigator Charlie Parker supports the theory, saying he believes the undated photograph most likely shows Olivia’s former partner of nine years.
‘The widow’s peak is exact. The eyes are very similar and the ears extend down on the head the same distance. I believe it is him,’ he told New Idea, adding that it is a ’90 per cent match’.
Patrick would be 60-years-old – roughly the same age the man in the photograph appears to be.
He was declared dead in 2008, despite not one of 22 passengers on board fishing boat Freedom seeing him go overboard in San Pedro, California.
Photo evidence? New Idea reported that a photograph recovered from a Mexican campsite last month, by US media agency Coleman-Rayner, allegedly shows a shirtless Patrick lounging alongside a woman
Is he still out there? The man in the image bares a striking resemblance to the American cameraman (pictured), who owed thousands of dollars in backdated child support payments for son Chance at the time of his disappearance
Private detective Philip Klein – who was hired by Dateline in 2009 to track Patrick down – said it was ‘concluded beyond reasonable doubt’ that Patrick is alive.
However, photographic ‘evidence’ remained elusive until the latest discovery found on a noticeboard at a campground in Sayulita, on the western coast of Mexico.
Locals reported Patrick first stayed there after he allegedly escaped from the US more than 12 years ago, according to New Idea.
Friends of Olivia said she will be relieved to finally learn of the alleged fate of her former lover, after being left in the dark all these years.
‘Olivia will be shocked that it has finally come to an end, and that she can finally say “Yes, he’s alive”,’ a source told the publication.
‘But, in saying that, she has her own battles to fight at the moment – she’ll want to just forgive him and move on.’
Olivia said last year she found it ‘very hard’ and still wondered whether Patrick was alive.
‘Yes, he’s alive’: Friends of Olivia (centre) said she will be relieved to finally learn of the alleged fate of her former lover, after being left in the dark all these years