The small town of Larima is located in the arid outback of Australia,
If it weren't for a strange case in 2017, most people wouldn't have noticed this humble place at all...
[Handymen and dogs mysteriously disappeared, no one dead or dead]
December 16, 2017 was a sweltering day, and the tavern handyman Paddy Moriarty went to work as usual.
No one knew at the time that this was the last day everyone would see him.
Paddy, 70, with a mustache, is retired and suffers from heart disease.
Born in Ireland, he worked as a ranch worker in Australia and now works as a handyman in a bar in the small town of Larima.
The bar is called Pink Panther, and in addition to drinking beer and eating, there are also guest rooms where you can stay.
Every morning around 9 a.m., Paddy would get on his red quad bike, bring his dog, Kelly, and leave from his home converted from a gas station to work at the bar.
A highway runs through the town, and Paddy's home is at one end of the road, and walking along the road, almost all the shops and homes in the town pass on the way to work.
Paddy needs to clean up the bar in the morning, clean the bathroom, and sweep the leaves in front of the door.
When it starts to open, he will also help to greet guests.
There is a highway next to the town, and some passers-by may be attracted to the quiet town, stopping at bars and getting a bite to eat.
In order to attract guests, sharp, the owner of the bar, has set up a small zoo in the backyard, raising cockatoos, Australian parrots and other parrots and finches, honey bag shrews, snakes, manatees.
However, most of the guests still came to a crocodile that the owner has kept for many years, and the crocodile usually lives in the man-made pool in the backyard, surrounded by rusty iron fences for guests to visit.
Paddy is very good at greeting guests, and every time he takes the initiative to warmly greet him: "Hello, guys, where are you from?" "Then talk to them."
Townspeople often say that Paddy is also a "sight" for the Pink Panther Bar.
After a few hours at work, Paddy was able to rest and he began his favorite pastime—drinking.
His salary for working in the bar includes a few cases of beer a week, and most of the time he drinks 8 cans of beer a day, one can is not much, one can is not more.
On this day, Paddy also went out to work and drank beer as usual.
In the afternoon came a group of tourists who chatted with Paddy, and one of the children liked Paddy's dog, Kelly.
Before Paddy came home, the child's mother went back to the guest room and took half of the roast chicken she bought at the supermarket and asked Paddy to bring it back to feed Kelly.
Doppardy was leaving work at 6 p.m., and before leaving, he told sharp, the bar owner, that he would go to the owner the next Sunday to get the lawn mower.
"See you tomorrow."
"Okay, Paddy, see you tomorrow."
The boss saw Paddy riding his quad bike, with his dog Kelly, and walked down the road in the direction of home.
(Sharp, bar owner)
But the next day, Paddy broke the appointment, and the boss Sharp did not wait for him to come to get the lawn mower.
But it's not too strange, Paddy does sometimes leave town without saying hello, going to see old friends where he used to live, or hanging out elsewhere.
The boss Sharp didn't take it too seriously, but after another day, it was already Monday, and Paddy didn't come to work, and this time the boss was a little worried.
He came to Paddy's house and found the front door locked, so he went around to the back door and walked through a gauze door into the house.
"Paddy, are you there?" Are you there? The owner Sharp shouted.
No one answered, and no dog Kelly barked.
The owner looked around, everything in the house was normal, there was no sign of destruction,
He saw Paddy's hat on the fridge, glasses on the table, and the half roast chicken in the microwave.
Paddy and his dog both seemed to have disappeared out of thin air.
Sharp, the owner, immediately contacted the two youngest people in town, Karen and Mark, both of whom were in their 40s and 60s, both of whom were regulars at the bar.
And until a few months ago, Karen was still working for her boss Sharp, working as a manager in a bar, and now although she doesn't do it, she still helps keep the money.
Both the couple consider Paddy friends, the two have a good relationship, and Karen will watch cooking shows with Paddy.
(Karen and Mark)
The boss Sharp asked, these two days Karen and Mark couple have not seen Paddy,
The two of them kind of blamed the boss Sharpe for why they told them when they found out paddy had been missing for two days, and immediately asked him to call the police.
Karen and Mark worry that Paddy was bitten by a poisonous snake while out for a walk, or had a heart attack.
They looked around Paddy's house and in the well, and along the road that intersected with the highway, and they went farther and farther, and they looked for a long time.
It took so long that Mark had suffered from heat stroke, and not only did he not find Paddy, but even his dog, Kelly, was missing.
Paddy and the dog Kelly are really missing, and the situation is serious.
【A slow-paced and peaceful town?】 In fact, the undercurrent is surging 】
The police conducted a comprehensive search for 3 days, some people on foot, some people driving, also called helicopters, searched the garbage dump, sent divers to check the waters around the dam, and also searched nearby caves.
Turning the 50-kilometer radius of the town of Larima upside down, it still found nothing.
Paddy was missing for 8 days, and Detective Alan and his team drove 5 hours to the town of Larima to take over the case.
He is a veteran detective with 22 years of experience in handling cases, and he is no stranger to missing cases, and people disappear from time to time in the north.
There's something special about Paddy's case this time —
Because the police deduce that Paddy may have died, but there is no one alive or dead, and it is impossible to make up his mind;
The whereabouts of the dog Kelly is also a mystery, the police contacted the surrounding stray animal income center, did not find Kelly,
If Paddy is out in an accident or falls ill, the dog should stay by his side or bark for help.
The police came to Paddy's house to investigate, and there was no special trace, as if he had temporarily left the house.
Because of the showers for several days in a row, some traces around the house were washed away by the rain, and there were not many clues.
But there are still some doubts, such as a hat on the refrigerator, because Paddy is very concerned about his baldness and rarely goes out without a hat;
The eyes he wears every day, which contain a wallet of more than 200 yuan, are kept at home;
His truck and quad bike were parked in the yard, proving that he wasn't taking his own transportation when he went out.
Witnesses also provided a clue,
It is said that on the day of the incident, Paddy drank more than 8 cans of beer, more than usual, maybe he has something to worry about?
Richard, the bartender at the bar, told police that Paddy was a little toe that day, but he wasn't very drunk either.
Another night before Paddy's disappearance was heard from outside the Pink Panther Bar;
A few days ago, Paddy and another unknown man were seen arguing along the highway and almost getting into a fight.
There are clues, but they are very unclear.
In this case, in paddy's town, everyone becomes a suspect.
It sounds like finding a needle in a haystack, but in fact, there are not many people-
There are only 12, and one post-it note can write down all their names.
(Town dwellers at the bar)
The town of Larima was once the terminus of the North Australian Railway.
During World War II, there was an army base nearby, which was the largest military base in Australia during the war.
So the town was once prosperous.
But in 1976 the railway was abandoned, and the town began to become more and more deserted.
The population has decreased from 100 to 50 and from 50 to 25,
Later, the permanent population here was only 13 people,
Now Paddy is missing, and all 12 others have become suspects.
The town's residents are not young, most of them are in their 70s, and the youngest is almost 50 years old.
Everything here is slow, everyone is not in a hurry,
A resident who had lived in the town before said: "We don't have the concept of Friday, Thursday, Tuesday. Get up and go to work. ”
Some people like this peaceful life, and there are also tourists who like to be quiet and stay here for two days.
But for the only 13 residents in the town, living in a place with the size of a palm, usually looking down and not looking up, more or less some disagreements, accumulating some resentment.
Seemingly peaceful towns, in fact, there is an undercurrent.
For example, on the issue of how to protect and repair the abandoned railway in the town, the opinions of the residents were divided into two factions, and there was even two opposing conservation associations;
Because of the names of two streets in town, because of a pet cow that was shot dead, because of a peacock that was fed crocodiles in revenge, because of a speed bump that was secretly installed, residents can quarrel.
The missing Paddy has some broken mouths, sometimes it's funny, but sometimes it's annoying, and some of the contradictions are provoked by him.
Sharp, the owner of the bar, said: Paddy used to provoke people a lot, and I called him a stick. ”
And as the investigation deepens, the police find that Paddy seems to be the center of many contradictions.
This provided a new way of solving the case, and Detective Allen began to focus on the investigation of criminal cases, and anyone who had a conflict with Paddy became the focus of investigation.
[Turning against each other, he fell out with his colleagues and neighbors]
Anyone close to the missing Paddy, let's talk about them one by one.
The first is the bar owner Sharp.
The suspicious point in him is that after noticing that Paddy did not appear for no reason, he called the police after two days.
And he had the perfect way to destroy the body— he had a crocodile in his bar backyard, and it was no problem to dispose of the corpses of a man or a dog.
However, after investigating the background of the boss Sharp, the police found that he and Paddy had no vendetta and were still friends.
The two not only work together, but are both members of the local progressive association and deal with each other very frequently.
Sharp, the owner, commented that Paddy was an excellent employee, talkative, liked to deal with strangers, always took the initiative to talk to guests, and was very suitable for working in the bar.
In the end, the suspect of the boss Sharp was temporarily ruled out.
The second person investigated was Richard, the bartender at the bar, a colleague of Paddy's.
Richard was in his 50s with a round ruddy face, a wheat-colored beard and thick curly hair.
He was an alcoholic, so often so drunk that he could not come to work until noon the next day, and a few times a month, the boss saw that he was not awake from drinking, and could only let him go home and rest.
(Left: Boss Sharpe, Right: Bartender Richard)
Richard, the bartender, sometimes loses his temper from being drunk.
The night before Paddy's disappearance, karen, the aforementioned former bar manager, came over to help with the bookkeeping.
Richard, who was already drunk, suddenly attacked her and ran into the office to accuse her of stealing.
"What do you say?" Karen was confused.
Richard, the bartender, went on to tell her that she and her husband Mark were no longer welcome at the bar.
The more he spoke, the more incoherent he became, and finally he said with a threat: "Your family is in big trouble here." ”
"Alcoholism" is a problem, but what really police pay attention to is that there is indeed a contradiction between the bartender Richard and the missing Paddy.
Everyone in the town knows that Paddy loves dogs and used to be inseparable from a black-and-white-sided shepherd.
After Paddy's wife Rover died a few years ago, he started raising his current dog, Kelly.
Kelly became his only companion, Paddy took it with him wherever he went, and the townspeople knew about it and respected Kelly.
Kelly is a mild Australian Shepherd who is timid and shy in the face of strangers and animals, so Paddy is always protective of him.
Richard, the bartender, raised a pair of grumpy American Stafford Terriers, who liked to bark and often frightened Kelly.
Both of them are suspicious of the dog thing,
If you quarrel over this and do something irrational, it is also very likely.
In addition, richard, the bartender, was the last person to see that Paddy was still alive.
Witnesses confirmed that the bartender was working at the bar when Paddy came home from work on the day of the incident.
But it is not known exactly when Paddy disappeared, nor is it certain that the bartender went to him later.
Detective Alan didn't find anything useful from the bartender Richard.
However, because of the investigation, there was a lot of gossip, and Richard was overwhelmed, calling the people who secretly talked about him as "damn fools".
The third respondent was Fran, the teahouse's landlady and Paddy's neighbor, and the conflict between the two of them has a long history.
Fran's teahouse was on the side of the highway, just across the road from Paddy's house.
The two had known each other for decades and had been very close friends in the past, and after Paddy had heart bypass surgery in 2006, it was Fran who fed and drank to take care of him.
But later, the relationship between the two deteriorated.
The teahouse owner, Fran, put up several large signs in black and white outside her shop, saying "Waffles", "Buffalo or Beef Pie", "No Toilet", etc.,
And some tourists go to the tea house to fight tooth sacrifice, will park the car on the side of the road,
Paddy felt that all these things disturbed his purity, was very disgusted, and began to argue with Fran.
Paddy began to say bad things, belittling the teahouse owner Fran's pie was not delicious,
In an unaired media interview, he told reporters,
"The pie Fran made was the worst. I used to go to her house and not even eat her pie with my dog. ”
Later, because the Pink Panther Bar where Paddy worked also began to sell pies, the conflict was intensified.
Paddy put up a sign opposite Fran's teahouse that read, "Best Pie in Town in Pink Panther,"
It was also deliberately written that it was only 5 yuan, which was much cheaper than the pie that Fran sold for 13 yuan.
Doing so would be tantamount to cutting off the teahouse owner Fran's financial path, and the two began to retaliate against each other.
For example, throwing dead kangaroos into each other's yards.
From time to time, there are kangaroos that are killed by cars on the town's highways.
Once, the teahouse owner Fran threw a dead kangaroo into the yard of Paddy's house;
In retaliation, Paddy shoved the butt of a dead kangaroo into the shop from the shutters behind Fran's teahouse, and set it in that position, so that the kangaroo's ass could be roasted the next morning when Fran opened the oven and started cooking.
Fran's garden was also poured with oil, and a $5,000 golden vine palm was poisoned, which she suspected Paddy had done.
From time to time, Fran, the owner of the teahouse, went to the nearby police station and asked them to send someone to investigate.
A "protective order" was also applied to the police, but it was dismissed for lack of evidence.
In an interview, teahouse owner Fran said that the missing Paddy used to make trouble for her.
Stealing her umbrella, damaging her furniture, cutting wires from surveillance probes, telling guests not to come in, and putting broken glass under the wheels of her car.
In October 2016, 14 months before Paddy's disappearance, the two went to court.
Fran, the owner of the teahouse, made a bunch of allegations to the district court, each of which was very finely fragmented, and the court eventually dismissed the charges for lack of evidence.
Angry, Fran yelled at Paddy's house every day: "Why don't you go back to your hometown of Ireland!" ”
The teahouse owner Fran has an incinerator, a meat grinder, a freezer and an oven.
During the investigation, it was suspected that Fran could use the equipment to destroy the body.
However, the police conducted a test and found that the remaining meat on the device was neither human nor dog meat, or ordinary meat filling.
Moreover, the teahouse owner Fran suffers from arthritis, and his physical strength is not Paddy's opponent at all, and the possibility of murder is unlikely.
The "Paddy's Disappearance" case was bizarre, and it was reported by the Australian, British and American media, and the teahouse owner Fran became a celebrity.
She enjoyed the media attention, while denying the case, while complaining about the missing Paddy,
"I don't know where he is, but I'm not upset about it."
Teahouse owner Fran is the most watched suspect,
The police also found that people close to her were more or less in contact with the missing Paddy.
One of them was Fran's ex-boyfriend Bill.
The two had been together for decades, and Fran had taken Bill's last name, but the two had never been married.
Ex-boyfriend Bill was a downright alcoholic who drank two cases of beer a day, or 48 cans, "at his peak," and later relented.
Ex-boyfriend Bill and the missing Paddy have also known each other for many years, and when they were young, the two met when they were drinking, Bill was a truck driver, and Paddy worked as a worker at the ranch.
After moving to the small town of Larima, Paddy and the teahouse owner Fran have a deteriorating relationship, and the ex-boyfriend is sandwiched between the two, and they are in a dilemma.
Later, Fran and Bill broke up, kicked him out of the house, and the two had a big fight over money.
Ex-boyfriend Bill was diagnosed with jaw cancer and moved into a trailer near the Pink Panther Bar.
Soon, Fran discovers that her ex-boyfriend is helping Paddy deal with himself, and he cut the wires of the surveillance camera mentioned above.
There were also two people close to Fran, the teahouse owner, Ms. Bobby, who worked as a dishwasher in her shop, and her husband, Carl.
Because Paddy was rude after drinking, Bobby and The Carl couple didn't like him.
Carl now works as a handyman and has had a bit of a conflict with Paddy in the last year.
Because Paddy started a fire outdoors during the windy and dry season of the year, there was a danger of causing wildfires, and Carl had worked in firefighting and rescue work for 18 years, and he couldn't stand it, and the two clashed.
(Bowlwasher Bobby and husband Carl)
As mentioned above, someone heard gunshots outside the Pink Panther Bar the day before Paddy's disappearance, and the person who gave the testimony was none other than Bobby, the dishwasher.
Several people in the small town of Larima have guns, including Bobby's husband, Carl, who served in the Australian Army and is a gun enthusiast, with 8 guns at home;
Sharp, the owner of the bar, also hangs a shotgun in the bar, and occasionally an eagle comes to hunt his birds, and he will use the gun to fight the eagle.
The gunshots of the previous day, perhaps the murderer was practicing in advance,
But the investigation continued, and the police still did not find useful evidence.
[A hearing, found a major suspect]
After half a day of investigation, the suspect still did not run out of the town's 12 people.
Sharp, the owner of the bar, said: "I think one of us must be the murderer. ”
With the passage of time and media attention, detective Alan and the team are under increasing pressure to solve the case.
Authorities agreed to involve the two coroners in the investigation, which is unusual in criminal investigations, but Paddy's case is too special.
Later, in response to Paddy's disappearance, the court held a hearing,
Detective Alan, the coroner, the townspeople, and their lawyers all arrive.
At this hearing, everyone noticed a suspicious point.
Bowlie Bobby, a dishwasher, said the teahouse owner, Fran, had secretly given her $30,000 to keep it safe for her, saying it was to avoid the eyes and ears of her ex-boyfriend Bill.
But some time ago, Fran took the money away, which shows that something happened and she needs the money.
Police also found $7,000 in a plastic bag in the refrigerator during a search of Fran's home.
Fran did not keep the money in the bank, but entrusted it to someone to keep it or hide it in the refrigerator, which is very unusual,
Maybe she didn't trust the banks.
Perhaps, she wanted to pay for the money and hire someone to do things for her.
The suspicions again came to the teahouse owner Fran.
At the hearing, Deputy Coroner Curry asked her, "How many times have you said 'want to kill Paddy?'" ”
Fran said, "Millions of times! But I have arthritis, imagine I get a corpse and a dog alone, is this possible? ”
"That's what prevented you from killing Paddy?"
"No, no, no, it's not my nature to kill. I am a sentient and righteous person, not a belligerent person. ”
Fran also argued that she had cooperated with the police investigation, cooperated with them in inspecting the incinerator, drained the septic tank, and searched the house three or four times without finding anything suspicious.
She said she was under a lot of pressure and had only recently been diagnosed with breast cancer.
If it wasn't for the teahouse owner Fran's own doing, would anyone be able to stand up for her?
The deputy coroner's garage scanned the witness stand and found a suspicious person.
The man's name was Owen, a gardener hired by Fran, 71 years old.
As a young boxer who performed in entertainment venues, he later worked all over Australia and came to town to apply for a job when he saw Franfa's advertising for a gardener job in the newspaper.
During the interview, Fran told Owen, the gardener, that paddy, the neighbor opposite her, stole her things, harassed her, threw dead kangaroos into her yard, and poisoned her garden.
Owen doesn't like to get mixed up, but he needs a job, so he takes the job and helps Fran clean up and protect the garden.
Owen, the gardener, likes to be alone and usually works in the garden.
Fran told him to go to dinner, and he reluctantly went to dinner and talked to her.
In addition, he remained almost silent, taking the computer to the Internet at night,
In the small town of Larima, no one else knew much about him except Fran.
One afternoon, Fran saw Owen, the gardener, planting trees next to a fence.
"Don't plant them there, Owen, the bad boys might poison them."
Owen, the gardener, said, "Whoever bastard comes and dares to poison my garden, the first murder will happen in the town of Larima!" ”
What heightened the police's suspicions was a testimony from richard, the bartender.
Richard, the bartender, said that on December 13, 2017, three days before Paddy's disappearance, his dog, Kelly, ran to the opposite neighbor's House, Fran, and barked at the fence.
Then A man's roar was heard, and Kelly didn't run, he continued to bark.
At this time Paddy crossed the road and took the dog Kelly under control,
But Paddy still got into a fight with a man, and that guy was Owen the gardener.
Someone had seen Paddy arguing with a man on the side of the road before, and it was likely that this was the scene.
(Fran's yard)
And teahouse owner Fran said that on December 12, 2017, four days before Paddy's disappearance, she saw him throw dead kangaroos into her house.
The next day on the 13th, Fran was going to go to Darwin to buy, and she told owen, the gardener, about the previous day's events, and asked him to pay attention.
Owen said he knew, and had just talked to Paddy about Kelly the dog (the argument mentioned in the previous paragraphs).
Before leaving, Fran told Owen, "Don't do anything stupid, because I'm going to Darwin and don't want to come back and bail you out of prison." ”
Deputy Coroner Curry asked Fran, "Did Owen look angry at the time?" ”
Fran replied, "Yes, angry, if I say no, I'm lying, he's really angry." ”
A few days after Paddy disappeared, police officers flocked to his home to investigate.
Teahouse owner Fran recalls that when the gardener Owen called her upstairs and looked across the road from the window,
"The first thing Owen said to me was, 'I thought they [the police] were coming for me.'" ”
[After the suspect is interrogated and released, who is the "murderer"? 】
All of the above witness testimony pointed the finger of suspicion at Owen, the gardener.
He may hold a grudge against Paddy's dog or vandalism of the garden, or he may take revenge on Paddy and kill him at the behest of his employer, Fran.
Next, Irving, the gardener, became the focus of the police.
At the hearing, Owen defended himself.
He admitted to arguing with Parry over his dog, Kelly, but denied threatening each other with harsh words.
He also said: "I have osteoporosis, and if I fight with someone, the bones will be broken." ”
Deputy Coroner Curry asked him why he refused to come to the police station for questioning in the first place.
Owen, the gardener, said he was a reclusive man and that if it was at his home, he would be happy to cooperate with police questioning.
Deputy Coroner Curry asked him again of the words "Larima's first murder",
Owen said it was a joke, just like people usually say when they joke.
"I have no intention of murdering anyone."
Owen also stated his timeline for the day of the incident.
At dusk on the afternoon of the 16th, Owen's computer antivirus software popped up a message saying that a virus was infecting the computer, and provided a phone number, which could provide a solution.
Owen tried to dial the phone on Skype, but tried unsuccessfully.
Meanwhile, the missing Paddy finishes his beer, takes the roast chicken that the guest gave to the dog Kelly, rides his quad bike, and takes Kelly home.
The time to arrive home is around 6:30 PM.
When Owen, the gardener, saw that Skype couldn't get on the phone, he left Fran's teahouse and went to the only public telephone booth along the town's highway to make a call.
He dialed the phone twice more there, but no one answered.
The two calls were dialed out at 6:30 p.m. and 6:31 p.m., respectively, and the phone booth was diagonally opposite Paddy's house.
That is, when Paddy arrives home, Owen the Gardener may be at the public telephone booth opposite his house, and the two are likely to bump into each other.
The teahouse owner, Fran, had been defending owen the gardener, insisting that he could not kill anyone, that he was a good man,
But seeing such a suspicious timeline also shook.
The police have a new direction and begin to focus on the investigation of gardener Owen, but again find nothing.
Police did not find any physical evidence to support Owen's inference that Paddy killed him;
No suspicious DNA was found on Owen and Paddy's vehicle;
A search of Owen's home also did not uncover any suspicious clues.
In short, neither physical or personal evidence nor human evidence has found any evidence that the gardener Owen killed Paddy.
After a trial, Owen was found not guilty and drove home with teahouse owner Fran.
Soon after, Owen left the small town of Larima.
Fran, the owner of the teahouse, also left the town of Larima for a while, went to Melbourne to live with his daughter, and completed breast cancer treatment.
In a recent interview, she still insisted she had nothing to do with Paddy's disappearance and insisted that Irving, the gardener, had nothing to do with the case.
After recovering from cancer, Fran plans to return to the small town of Larima, hoping to be more comfortable without his "nemesis" Paddy.
"He's a terrible guy and nobody likes him. Before his disappearance, he caused a lot of trouble in Larima. ”
"No matter who did it, no matter what happened, it was arranged by God."
The "Paddy's disappearance" is still an open case, and no one has been charged.
Police said they had ruled out some suspects, but some could not be completely ruled out yet.
For example, Gardener Owen, Detective Allen said he was still staring at him: "The investigation into him is still ongoing. ”
In February, the police raised the bounty limit, and those who provided useful clues received a $250,000 bonus.
So far, no one has provided a clue.
People come and go, and now the population of the town of Larima is still only a dozen.
Paddy's friends would occasionally go to the Pink Panther Bar and ask if there was anything to say about him.
Perhaps, Paddy will never come back.
Maybe, it's just a prank that has been played for 4 years.
Maybe one day Paddy will suddenly come back to town, sit down in the bar, buy a can of beer...