Missing Music Producer Found, Hospitalized

LOS ANGELES - The nearly weeklong search for a Grammy-nominated producer ended Friday after a resident spotted the man sitting naked in a backyard creek, washing his jeans. ADVERTISEMENT

The Topanga Canyon resident found a distraught Christian Julian Irwin saying he feared he was being pursued by Nigerians who had contacted him in an Internet scam, sheriff's Capt. Ray Peavy said.

Peavy said there was no evidence anyone was actually pursuing the 48-year-old producer, who has worked with Carly Simon and David Bowie, among others.

Irwin was taken into custody because he was deemed mentally incompetent and possibly dangerous to himself, Peavy said. He was found at about 4:30 p.m. and agreed to go with police about two hours later after negotiations in which authorities, at Irwin's request, located his sister to help calm him.

Irwin was questioned by medical and mental health workers and taken to a hospital to make sure he was in good physical health. He was to be transferred to another hospital for observation.

Authorities began looking for Irwin on Sunday after he made a panicked phone call to a friend, saying he was being pursued by people with dogs. He told his friend he was running through water and had lost his glasses and shoes in a creek.

Topanga Canyon, a rustic area long a favorite with artists and musicians, is about 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles in the Santa Monica Mountains.

Olivia grieves as evidence points to lover's suicide
By Matthew Benns and Peter Mitchell
August 28, 2005
The Sun-Herald

Olivia Newton-John and Patrick McDermott in 2001. Photo: Reuters

Olivia Newton-John's missing boyfriend appears to have committed suicide. After weeks of interviews, US Coast Guard investigators have not found one person who saw Patrick McDermott walk off the fishing boat Freedom when it docked in San Pedro on July 1.

And The Sun-Herald has discovered Newton-John did call the police and Coast Guard to raise the alarm - but not until almost three weeks after her lover vanished.

"Nobody has positively identified Patrick McDermott walking off the boat," said Coast Guard spokesman Nathan Henise.

McDermott's car was found in the marina car park and his bumbag and tackle box were found in the boat with his wallet, driver's licence and passport inside.

But suspicions that McDermott staged his own disappearance remain. Frank Liversedge, manager of the 22nd Street landing, said fishermen on board the Freedom told him they saw McDermott make it safely to land.

He believes the witnesses may have changed their stories when questioned by authorities.

"What these guys tell me man to man and what they do when they get up and swear to it, that's two different things," he said.

But one of the 23 fishermen on board the Freedom, Tony Mayo, added weight to the suicide theory. He said he spoke to McDermott early in the trip, but when he looked for him later in the expedition he could not find him on the boat.

The Coast Guard investigation continues and McDermott remains "a missing person". Investigators have not concluded what happened to the 48-year-old.

Newton-John has hired Gavin de Becker, who saved her from a stalker in 1983, to find the truth. While he works she has locked herself away and grieves in private.

Eyebrows were raised when it was revealed it was McDermott's ex-wife, actor Yvette Nipar, not Newton-John, who first alerted Los Angeles authorities on July 11 that McDermott was missing.

Nipar has been involved for more than a decade in a bitter child custody battle with McDermott, whom she married in 1992, but divorced just 14 months later.

Newton-John, often separated from McDermott because of her schedule, was in Australia at the time of his disappearance and dealing with her own tragedy - her goddaughter Jerusha McGrath had been seriously injured in a car accident.

She had also met music producers to discuss the launch of daughter Chloe Lattanzi's music career and promoted National Tree Day. She did not call emergency services in Los Angeles for nearly three weeks.

The Coast Guard confirmed that an alarmed Newton-John first contacted them on July 21 about McDermott.

Her first call was to Los Angeles police. "The LAPD told her the Coast Guard was handling the matter," Henise said. "She then contacted us and was interviewed."

The unusual nature of Newton-John's relationship with McDermott, with extended periods apart, has prompted speculation that their relationship was purely platonic.

But Phil Stone, sales manager for Newton-John's Koala Blue wines in Australia, said: "As far as I am aware they were still very much together."

Papers contained in a thick file at the San Fernando Valley court building where Nipar and McDermott have fought their custody battle include snippets showing how besotted McDermott was with Newton-John.

Nipar said that McDermott, on "scores of occasions", opted to spend time with his girlfriend, rather than with son Chance during his allotted custodial time.

"He claimed on several occasions that he could not care for Chance because he needed to work on his taxes and needed to spend time with his girlfriend," Nipar wrote in one document obtained by The Sun-Herald.

The papers also revealed the heated and violent nature of their dispute. It has been suggested that this, depression and money problems - he filed for bankruptcy in 2000 - may have led him to contemplate suicide.

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