Is this Olivia Newton-John’s missing love who vanished 12 years ago?

THE missing former partner of actress and singer Olivia Newton-John is not dead but is living in Mexico under a new identity, investigators claim. They say a grainy photograph, above left, proves Patrick McDermott, who vanished during a fishing trip 12 years ago, is alive.

He was declared dead in 2008 but some believe McDermott, a US cameraman who dated the Grease star for nine years, faked his own death to escape spiralling debts. The newlydiscovered photograph, published by Australian magazine New Idea, claims to show McDermott sporting a tan and relaxing on the beach in the hippy town of Sayulita.

McDermott was 48 when he went missing from the fishing boat Freedom, 30 minutes before it was due back in Los Angeles from an overnight trip in June 2005. It was believed he had gone overboard, although none of the other 22 passengers saw him fall. He had paid his bills and left his belongings in a neat pile on his bed. He was not reported missing until a week later, when he failed to show up for a party. Although no body was found, the US Coast Guard declared three years later that he had ‘most likely drowned’.

Investigators discovered the father of one, pictured above right with Ms Newtown John, owed thousands in child support fees to his ex-wife, plus $31,000 to creditors.

Ms Newton-John took years to deal with the grief and uncertainty about what had happened, close friends say. The pair had broken up months before his disappearance and she had been in the middle of a promotional tour in Australia at the time. Last year, the 69-year-old singer and actress said she refused to believe her boyfriend had faked his own death. She said: ‘It was very hard, he was lost at sea and nobody really knows what happened.’

She has since found love with businessman John Easterling, 65, whom she married in 2008, and has yet to comment on the latest claims about McDermott.