Missing Newton-John beau may be in Mexico

LOS ANGELES, Jan. 28 (UPI) -- Patrick McDermott, who dated pop star Olivia Newton-John for nine years before he disappeared in 2005, is alive in Mexico, a private investigator said.

A team of Texas-based private investigators hired by NBC's "Dateline" said they believe McDermott has been traveling along the Mexican and South American coastline since he vanished from a fishing charter off the coast of California four years ago.

McDermott, who had previously worked as a gaffer on television and film sets, reportedly was deeply in debt at the time of his disappearance. Newton-John has since married someone else.

Because he isn't being sought for a crime, law enforcement is not involved in the search for McDermott.

"We believe he is between Puerto Vallarta and Acapulco," lead investigator Philip Klein told ABCNews.com. "He was two months behind in his rent at his home. His disability payments from getting injured on the job as a gaffer had stopped. He had reached rock bottom."

Klein said setting up www.findpatrickmcdermott.com, a Web site that tracks the location of those who visit it by recording their online addresses, has been helpful.

"Sayulita, Mexico, is where many of the hits were coming from," Klein said. "We got to Sayulita, we began to show his picture around to witnesses in the area, and we found people who said, 'Yeah, I know him, he comes here all the time.' We have witnesses, including five Americans, willing to give us signed affidavits that they've seen him.' ... He asked waiters to put him in corners, he had changed his appearance once or twice. He's moving as a lone wolf."

Newton-John's publicist declined to comment on the investigation, ABC News said.