Patrick "Paddy" Moriarty: Australian Man Vanishes Without a Trace
In a tiny village of less than a dozen people, everyone would become a suspect
Disappearance in the Australian Outback
On December 16th, 2017, Patrick "Paddy" Moriarty, 70, left the Larrimah Hotel's Pink Panther Pub with his dog Kellie and was never seen again.
Since he had moved to Larrimah, Australia, Paddy had made some friends and a few enemies. His outspoken, and often mischievous, nature didn’t endear him to everyone. Soon, in this tiny village of 11 residents, everyone would become a suspect in his disappearance.
What happened to Paddy Moriarty?
Patrick "Paddy" Moriarty
Paddy Moriarty was born on March 30th, 1947, in Croom, County Limerick, Ireland, to Mary Theresa Moriarty. His birth certificate doesn’t list the name of his father, whose identity remains a mystery.
Paddy grew up in the small town of Abbeyfeale and worked on a cattle ranch as a station hand, ringer, and grader driver. He enjoyed participating in rodeo competitions, and even won a belt buckle in 1996.
He relocated to Australia in 1966 and eventually moved to the small town of Larrimah in 2008, where he purchased a disused service station and made a home there with his dog Rover. After Rover passed away in December 2016, Paddy was given a red kelpie pup mix named Kellie the following year.
Paddy worked for the Larrimah Hotel and was entrusted with a variety of tasks such as gardening, cleaning and maintenance. He brought Kellie to work with him every day and, when his shift was over, he’d typically drink beer in the hotel’s bar, the Pink Panther Pub. Afterwards, normally around 4:30 p.m., he and Kellie would leave on Paddy’s red Ford quad bike.
He was known to be neat and orderly and always kept his home spotless.
While some described Paddy as a loyal friend, others found him to be a mischievous and mean-spirited individual with a short temper.
Feud With Fran
Paddy’s nearest neighbor was Fran Hodgetts, 75, a business owner—the proprietor of Fran’s Tea House—who lived across the street from him. The two had once been friendly, but that changed when Fran divorced her husband Bill and kicked him out of their house. Much to Fran's chagrin, Paddy took Bill’s side in the drama.
Fran went on to ban Paddy from her property, which appears to be what kicked off a feud between them that lasted several years—until Paddy’s disappearance—ranging in tone from merely petty to far more serious.
Over the course of seven years, Fran filed complaints with the police against Paddy nine times. She accused him of stealing items from her (such as books and a red umbrella), poisoning her plants, placing bottles under the tires of her patrons’ cars, switching her sign from "Open" to "Closed" without her permission, and leaving dead kangaroos on her property.
However, law enforcement was unable to prove that Paddy had done any of these things.
Fran became convinced that her ex-husband and Paddy had joined forces to make her miserable and that they had not only poisoned her plants, but also cut CCTV cables and caused flooding at her place.
Paddy reportedly went around telling anyone who would listen that Fran’s pies were subpar and that even his dog wouldn’t eat them.
"Fran has got the worst pies," Paddy said in a 2011 interview.
He also erected a sign in his yard which read: "LARRIMAH HOTEL BEST PIES IN TOWN." He accused Fran of buying her pies from the supermarket, contradicting her claim that all of her baked goods were homemade.
For his part, Paddy denied Fran’s allegations and, in turn, accused her of leaving kangaroo corpses on his property.
In 2016, Fran applied for a restraining order against Paddy, but her application was ultimately dismissed by the court and she was ordered to pay her rival $500 in legal costs.
In September of that year, Fran and Paddy signed a mediation agreement, promising to be civil with one another.
Owen Laurie
Fran hired a man named Owen Laurie, 71, as a groundskeeper in August 2017. Owen, a former boxer, took up residence in a bungalow on the property and was said to be reclusive.
Early on, Owen came to Fran and informed her that he could smell glyphosate, an herbicide, on her plants, reinforcing her belief that Paddy had been sabotaging her garden.
According to Fran, Owen stated that he would kill anyone he caught putting poison on her plants. However, he would later tell investigators that he’d made this remark in jest. He also said that Fran was prone to exaggeration and dramatics, casting doubt on her credibility.
Regardless, Owen developed his own contentious relationship with Paddy—primarily over Kellie, Paddy's dog. Owen believed that Kellie frequently spent time in Fran’s yard and became angry one day when he saw the dog crossing the street, although she wasn’t actually on Fran’s property that day. Owen also objected to Kellie's barking.
This led to a heated argument between the two men just days before Paddy vanished. Neighbors witnessed the verbal altercation, and their version of events lined up with what Paddy would tell the bartender at the Pink Panther Pub on December 13th, 2017.
"Keep your f—ing dog at home. You need to shut that f—ing dog up or I’ll shut it up for you," Owen allegedly threatened.
Paddy fired back: "You mind your business, old man. My dog can bark where it wants. It’s none of your business. Shut your mouth or I’ll take your knees out from under you."
It was at this point that Owen reportedly asked Paddy to "come over here." Paddy refused and both men went back to their respective activities, the argument over.
Paddy Goes Missing
December 16th, 2017, started off like any other day for Paddy. He took Kellie for a walk in the morning, then the two of them left on his quad bike for the Larrimah Hotel, located roughly 1,000 feet away from his residence. He completed his duties, then had a few drinks in the pub.
Barry Sharpe, the pub's owner, told ABC News that Paddy drank more than usual that day.
"He used to always have eight beers, but sometimes he'd have another couple, and I think this day he had another couple," Sharpe said.
Paddy and Kellie departed at approximately 6:30 p.m. The last person known to have seen Paddy was a tourist who was passing through, according to Detective Sergeant Matt Allen. The tourist gave Paddy a cooked chicken for his dog to eat.
What Was Found at Paddy's Home
Paddy’s uncharacteristic absence was noticed over the next two days. His friends went to his home on December 18th to check on him. They found a scene which suggested a hasty departure—leftover chicken sitting in the microwave, uneaten food in Kellie’s bowl, food on the table, and an unlocked back door.
His quad bike and four-wheel-drive vehicle were both parked under the carport. The rain gauge was full, which was unusual since Paddy was known to empty it every morning, and it had been nearly two days since the last rainfall.
The bed did not appear to have been slept in and a fan was running. Both of Paddy’s hats were inside the residence—notable because he never went out in public without a hat, as he was insecure about the shape of his head.
There was also a calendar, the dates of which Paddy crossed off each day. The last date struck out was the 15th, the day before Paddy's final visit to the pub.
His wallet was on the kitchen table and the keys to his quad bike were inside as well. However, the keys to his four-wheel-drive vehicle were missing and have never been found.
"The physical evidence at the scene is completely undisturbed, so the assessment is he's voluntarily left his residence," Allen told ABC News.
Fearing that Paddy had a medical emergency while out for a walk, his friends began searching the surrounding area and roads for him, but saw no sign of either the missing man or his dog anywhere.
Paddy Moriarty was reported missing on December 19th.
Inquest Findings
Police struggled to find any solid evidence of what might have happened to Paddy, and both he and Kellie remained missing. Searches were conducted on foot, in helicopters and on motorbikes, but nothing was found.
Though the land surrounding Larrimah is notorious for sinkholes, Allen did not think Paddy would have been walking through the more sinkhole-prone areas if he had known about them.
Kellie's disappearance was also a significant clue for investigators. With no signs of the dog's whereabouts, Allen believed it was unlikely that Paddy had simply gone for a walk.
"If Paddy had met with misadventure, had gone for a walk, we would be able to find a sign of him or his dog Kellie," Allen said.
Despite the lack of evidence, it was the belief of law enforcement, as well as local residents, that Paddy and Kellie had likely been murdered.
"We're treating his disappearance as suspicious. [...] The current status is it's an unsolved homicide investigation," Allen told ABC News.
No Family Ties
It didn't help that Paddy had no clear family ties in Australia. Police launched birth, death, and marriage checks and found no record in the country that Paddy had a brother, sister, or child or had been married. They confirmed a link to Paddy's mother, Mary, who died in 1995.
Two people believed to be distant relatives of Paddy's submitted DNA, but no links were confirmed, according to Allen.
Everyone's a Suspect
Each of the locals, especially those known to have had issues with Paddy, was considered a potential suspect. One such individual was Richard Simpson, the bartender at the Pink Panther Pub, who allegedly argued with him on occasion and was accused of resenting the fact that Paddy was getting more shifts than him.
Richard denied any involvement in Paddy’s disappearance and said the idea that he was resentful was ridiculous, as anyone who knew him knew that he "hated" working and didn't envy any man's busier schedule.
Mechanic shop workers Mark and Karen Raynor felt that the culprit had to be someone who Kellie knew and liked—otherwise they wouldn’t have been able to grab her.
"I don’t know how a stranger would’ve gone up and killed the dog," Karen said. "That’s the part that confused us. Barry or Richard Simpson could’ve patted her, only a few people. How’d you get the dog?"
Yet the most obvious suspects to many were Fran and Owen.
Fran and Owen Become the Focus of the Investigation
Fran vehemently denied any knowledge of or part in Paddy’s disappearance and quickly cast suspicion on her groundskeeper.
"I don’t like to blame somebody for something they didn’t do," Fran said, "but I was worried, because Owen said to me, 'Something’s going to happen.' Also, when they were searching across the road, he said to me, 'I thought they came for me.'"
Fran and Owen had installed new plants and watering devices on the day that Paddy went missing, causing investigators to wonder if Paddy had gone over to do something to the plants that evening.
It was rumored that Fran had previously offered to pay up to $100,000 to have Paddy killed, but this has never been proven and she has refuted this claim.
Though Fran feels that Larrimah is "a better place" without Paddy Moriarty, she is adamant that she had absolutely no involvement in whatever became of the missing man and his furry companion.
"I never, ever, ever, ever paid anyone to bump Paddy off. I swear on my mother and father’s grave," Fran said.
But many people, including locals and tourists, continued to suspect Fran and frequently hurled accusations at her, including the suggestion that she had chopped Paddy up and put pieces of him into her pies.
"It was so bad because, knowing I’m such a good person … I was going through all this for nothing," Fran said. "That put a life sentence on me."
Police Record a Disturbing Rant
Detectives planted a recording device in Owen’s bungalow early in the investigation and obtained six recordings.
In them, a man’s voice—presumably Owen’s—is heard singing and speaking to himself and his dog, Ruby.
Here are a few excerpts from the transcript of these recordings:
You killed Paddy, and hit him on the head. Smacked him on the f—ing nostrils … smacked him on the f—ing nostrils with me claw hammer. [inaudible] ... well they didn’t f—ing find the hammer, well they can’t get me for anything?
Ruby, what did you do with my book? I kill you myself, I kill pup dog, I kill pup dogs …
I killerated old Paddy. I f—ing killerated him … struck him on the head and killerated him … basherated him, doof, yes he did, basherated him.
When questioned about the damning audio, Owen denied that his was the voice heard admitting to the murder of Paddy Moriarty and stated that he never laid a hand on him, explaining that he was too old for violence.
Without bodies or DNA evidence to tie him to the crime, Owen Laurie has never been charged.
What the Coroner Thinks Happened
Northern Territory coroner Greg Cavanagh ended his 32-page inquest report with the following conclusion:
"In my opinion Paddy was killed in the context of and likely due to the ongoing feud he had with his nearest neighbours. [...] There is no evidence as to where he went, however it is likely that the new plants at Fran’s place were of some attraction."
The Mystery Remains Officially Unsolved
Fran fired Owen, believing that he was responsible for Paddy’s murder.
Paddy’s and Kellie’s bodies have yet to be recovered. No arrests have been made and forensic evidence remains elusive.
"Murder investigations are challenging, particularly without a body," said Allen. "The case doesn’t get closed until it is solved. We need to find a body."
Sharpe and Bill Hodgetts, Fran’s ex-husband, passed away in 2019 and 2022, respectively.
Paddy Moriarty’s case was the subject of the 2023 HBO docuseries Last Stop Larrimah.
In April 2024, The Daily Mail reported that Paddy's home was up for sale.
Sources
(This article was originally published on HubPages)