Nederland private investigator Phillip Klein featured on Dateline

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Private investigator Philip Klein, founder of Nederland-based Klein Investigations and Consulting, was featured Sunday in an hour-long Dateline special on NBC detailing his efforts to uncover the truth behind the disappearance of Patrick Kim McDermott.

McDermott, a former boyfriend of singer Olivia Newton-John, vanished in 2005 after leaving San Pedro, Calif., for a fishing trip.

Dateline producers first came into contact with Klein, whose company routinely investigates cases where children are taken by their non-custodial parents, after interviewing him for another story.

"Phillip's an interesting guy and it seemed like a waste to just interview this guy once," Dateline producer Joe Delmonico told The Enterprise by phone. "We asked him to take a fresh look at the case and followed him from his office, to Los Angeles, and all the way to Mexico."

McDermott's case was investigated by the Coast Guard, Delmonico said, but no answer emerged. For the past few years it has remained a mystery as to whether McDermott fell overboard, jumped, or whether he "made himself disappear," Delmonico indicated.

According to a Web site set up by Klein, FindPatrickMcDermott.com, McDermott joined 21 others on the fishing trip and was seen by at least one witness departing the vessel and entering the pier parking lot after the trip concluded and was not reported missing July 6 after failing to attend a family event. Witnesses, the Web site states, have since reported seeing McDermott in Mexico.

Klein said by phone Thursday that he could not discuss any particulars of the investigation per agreement with Dateline.

Overall, he said, though he had some initial concerns about how he might be portrayed, he soon discovered that the Dateline crew was very professional and enjoyed working with them.

"This is an experience we hope people can learn from. The viewer will actually get to see the inside of an investigation," Klein said.

"I tell everybody I've got the greatest job in the world," he said. "I hunt people, people who abduct children."