Australia Australia - Paddy Moriarty, 70, & his dog Kellie, Larrimah, NT, 16 Dec 2017

[JLZ]

The article says that the pub "sold over the weekend" but the heading says it's for sale

I think the part about it being sold is new since this morning.

Anyone know if OL and Fran are still local? Because . . . I know who I'd like to be operating the pub. Just quietly.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

The Lost Man of Larrimah


The lost man of Larrimah | Russell Marks


Not sure if anyone has posted this article, I looked but couldn't find anything.

 

[Bohemian]

The Lost Man of Larrimah


The lost man of Larrimah | Russell Marks


Not sure if anyone has posted this article, I looked but couldn't find anything.

Interesting to hear from Mr Laurie:

‘“Would you regard yourself as a social creature?” Currie asks Laurie. He says no.

Later, he says, “I like to stay inside. I go on the computer and muck around on there.”

“At the end of your time on the computer, do you log off?” Currie asks.

“Yes.”

Following Moriarty’s disappearance, police had seized Laurie’s desktop. “See,” Currie tells him, “your computer remained logged on from 16 December through to 18 December.” December 16 was the evening Moriarty vanished. “The only time it wasn’t logged off?” Currie adds. Was something about Laurie’s routine different for those couple of days?

“Could be,” Laurie says.

Currie asks him what he did about a virus message he received the evening of the 16th.

“There’s a web page that you go to, but you’ve got to pay money for them to answer your question,” Laurie explains. “There was a telephone number … I think by then I might have gone to the phone box and rang that number and got no answer.”

Larrimah’s only phone box happens to be just next to Hodgetts’ tea house – and directly opposite Moriarty’s place. Its records show two calls made to an IT company, at 6.30pm and 6.31pm. Both went unanswered. Coincidentally, that’s just about the time Paddy Moriarty left the Pink Panther on his quad bike.

Owen Laurie declares he neither saw Moriarty nor heard his bike.’

 

[JLZ]

Not a social creature, but not fazed in a courtroom either. Guessing a criminal background. In the pictures outside Katherine court, he's practically in disguise--long sleeves, hands in pockets, hat, tinted glasses, beard.

 

[Bohemian]

Not a social creature, but not fazed in a courtroom either. Guessing a criminal background. In the pictures outside Katherine court, he's practically in disguise--long sleeves, hands in pockets, hat, tinted glasses, beard.

Hmm.

Also, was Mr Laurie the last person to give evidence at the inquest before it was suspended?

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Larrimah may be home to a killer

"Mrs Hodgett, who has legal representation at the inquest, is due to give evidence before the inquest tomorrow morning.

The final witness is listed to be her employee, Owen Laurie, who also has a lawyer"

 

[JLZ]

Mr Laurie and Mrs Hodgetts became aware something had happened on December 20 when they saw police on Mr Moriarty’s property.

Mrs Hodgetts said the first thing Mr Laurie said was: “I thought they came for me.”

She was driving to Katherine when she was pulled over by police, who told her Mr Moriarty had disappeared, to which she replied: “Well I never murdered him.”

“It was a joke, which doesn’t turn out to be very funny,” she told the inquest.

Nocookies

That sounds like an innocent reaction from Fran. On the other hand, what OL first said to her . . . did he mean he thought the police were coming to him because of Paddy, or had he told Fran he had some other reason to be hiding?

Still, was the bartender ruled out? Did anyone else confirm that Paddy left the Pink Panther? Presumably the chicken could have been placed later.

 

[JLZ]

Looking at Google street view and satellite view, I find it very hard to believe that OL didn't see Paddy returning if he once set out. Although the pub is off the Stuart Hwy around some corners, it's within line of sight of the telephone booth and the back of Fran's place generally. If Paddy walked home in a straightish line, cutting through the block beside Fran's, he would have almost bumped into the telephone booth. If he walked sedately along the roads and up Stuart Hwy, he would still have been in clear view of the booth. If he came via Miller St, that was along the back and side edges of Fran's block, and if OL didn't see him from the booth (although he may have done if he was on the lookout), still OL had to get to and from the booth from the back of Fran's place as I understand. Paddy would have been all the more noticeable being in the company of a dog.

 

[TootsieFootsie]

Did he go out again on his quad bike? Was it sort of like a new toy to him?

Was the quad bike found at his home?

Did anyone hear any noise that night, like a fight, and/or Kellie barking?


The lost man of Larrimah | Russell Marks

"The various witnesses more or less agree that between 6pm and 6.30pm on Saturday, December 16, Moriarty left the Pink Panther with his kelpie, Kellie, drove his quad bike the couple of hundred metres to his home, put a leftover Woolworths chicken (given to Kellie by a tourist) in his microwave, and vanished"

 

[JLZ]

Did he go out again on his quad bike? Was it sort of like a new toy to him?

Was the quad bike found at his home?

Did anyone hear any noise that night, like a fight, and/or Kellie barking?


The lost man of Larrimah | Russell Marks

"The various witnesses more or less agree that between 6pm and 6.30pm on Saturday, December 16, Moriarty left the Pink Panther with his kelpie, Kellie, drove his quad bike the couple of hundred metres to his home, put a leftover Woolworths chicken (given to Kellie by a tourist) in his microwave, and vanished"

I forgot about the bike. Surely if it was missing we would have heard, it would have been something to track down like Kellie.

 

[kiwi50]

Good to this case being discussed again.Lol gosh you’d think we could solve this when there are really so few potential suspects

 

[JLZ]

Good to this case being discussed again.Lol gosh you’d think we could solve this when there are really so few potential suspects

The problem is to prove it without a body.

 

[Bohemian]

Mr Laurie and Mrs Hodgetts became aware something had happened on December 20 when they saw police on Mr Moriarty’s property.

Mrs Hodgetts said the first thing Mr Laurie said was: “I thought they came for me.”

She was driving to Katherine when she was pulled over by police, who told her Mr Moriarty had disappeared, to which she replied: “Well I never murdered him.”

“It was a joke, which doesn’t turn out to be very funny,” she told the inquest.

Nocookies

That sounds like an innocent reaction from Fran. On the other hand, what OL first said to her . . . did he mean he thought the police were coming to him because of Paddy, or had he told Fran he had some other reason to be hiding?

Still, was the bartender ruled out? Did anyone else confirm that Paddy left the Pink Panther? Presumably the chicken could have been placed later.

All very good questions.

By the way, I thought this little snippet about Mr Laurie’s employment history from the link in Tootsie’s post (above) was interesting:

‘Laurie, a former tent boxer and retired
bore runner, [...]’

The lost man of Larrimah | Russell Marks

 

[Bohemian]

Could the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty end up unravelling an entire town? - ABC News (Australian Broadcasting Corporation)

 

[JLZ]

Nocookies
I'm not sure if this link was ever posted--it's a June article about the inquest, some focus on Simpson.

 

[Sprockett7701]

Poor Paddy...

O/T Funny how the article mentions people not stopping in Larrimah...when me and my ex husband did a road trip through NT we indeed visited Mataranka springs and did not stop at Larrimah at all!

Even further O/T but we got a flat tire whilst at the springs...funny what makes you remember certain places.

Hoping they find out what happened to Paddy and Kelly soon...

 

[rosieposy79]

Hello I’ve just finished watching A Dog Act: Homicide on the Highway, what a bizarre & unique case! Some very interesting local characters too. I’m glad I found this thread & also glad the case is receiving more exposure.

 

[Bohemian]

Nocookies
I'm not sure if this link was ever posted--it's a June article about the inquest, some focus on Simpson.

The article’s paywalled for me, JLZ. Could you elaborate please?

 

[Bohemian]

Hello I’ve just finished watching A Dog Act: Homicide on the Highway, what a bizarre & unique case! Some very interesting local characters too. I’m glad I found this thread & also glad the case is receiving more exposure.

Hi Rosie Yes, a very strange case. Poor old Paddy, and Kellie. Nearly a year gone and there’s still no news about what has happened to them.

 

[JLZ]

The article’s paywalled for me, JLZ. Could you elaborate please?

Damn, now it's paywalled for me too. As I remember, then, the article reported Simpson being questioned at the inquest. He was asked if he, I don't remember the phrasing, was responsible for Paddy's disappearance. He denied it, said something like, why would he do that, Paddy was a mate. The article said some people in town suspected Simpson. The pub owner agreed to the reporter's suggestion that it looked like Simpson was jealous of Paddy's popularity at the bar. There was something about Simpson being temperamental or irascible or unpredictable or something, and he ceased employment at the pub a week previously (so May or June this year?), not sure if it said he was sacked. One of the town's women (not Fran) agreed about Simpson's peculiar behaviour and said she thought he might have been on drugs. Simpson has since left Larrimah. Billy Light Can, Fran's ex-husband, was mentioned too, I think as a friend of Simpson. I'm not sure, but I think there was more about Paddy being hard to get along with, provoking people.