A Man and His Dog Disappeared Into Thin Air, Leaving Behind Only an Eerie Audio Recording
In the vast, sun-scorched expanse of Australia’s Northern Territory, where the red dirt meets a horizon that never ends, sits the tiny town of Larrimah. With a population that rarely climbs above ten, it is a place where everyone knows everyone—and everyone has a reason to dislike someone. It was here, in December 2017, that a 70-year-old Irish immigrant named Paddy Moriarty and his loyal red dog, Kelly, rode into the shadows of a mystery that would consume the nation. This is the complete, definitive account of the disappearance of Paddy Moriarty: a tale of small-town feuds, secret recordings, and a silence so thick the Outback itself seems to be keeping the secret.
I. The Man and the Town of Ten
Paddy Moriarty was a local fixture. Born in Limerick, Ireland, in 1947, he had spent his life under the harsh Australian sun as a station hand and fencer. In 2008, he settled in Larrimah, buying an abandoned gas station for a mere $30,000. He lived simply, his days revolving around his work and his evenings spent at the Larrimah Hotel—a quirky pub famous for a pet crocodile named Sneaky Sam and its collection of exotic birds.
Paddy was a storyteller, a man who loved a beer and the company of tourists. But behind the laughter at the bar, Larrimah was a pressure cooker of long-standing animosities. In a town with only ten residents, you don’t just have neighbors; you have rivals.
II. The Final Ride
December 16, 2017, was a typical humid evening. Paddy sat at the Larrimah Hotel, finishing his usual eight to ten beers. Around dusk, he hopped onto his quad bike. Kelly, his constant companion, jumped up beside him. They began the short 800-meter journey home. A passing tourist saw them—the last confirmed sighting—and even offered Kelly a bit of chicken.
When Paddy didn’t show up for work the next morning, the town’s fragile peace shattered.
Police arrived to find a chilling scene at Paddy’s house. His quad bike was parked. His hats—which the bald-headed Paddy never went without—were still inside. On the table sat an uneaten meal of chicken and vegetables. His medication, keys, and wallet were all accounted for. It appeared as though Paddy had been interrupted in the middle of his dinner, stepped outside for just a moment, and vanished into thin air.
The door was locked. The doormat and doorstop were neatly in place. It was a disappearance that was both sudden and strangely orderly.
III. A Web of Suspicion
In Larrimah, suspicion is the local currency. Investigators quickly focused on the people closest to Paddy—literally.
Across the road lived Fran Hodgetts, who ran a tea house famous for its meat pies. She and Paddy had been locked in a bitter feud for years. She accused him of scaring away her customers and poisoning her plants; he viewed her with open disdain. The tension had grown so toxic that a court-ordered mediation was required to keep them apart.
Just days before the disappearance, Fran had hired a new gardener, Owen Laurie, a man with a reported short fuse. Witnesses recalled a heated exchange between Laurie and Paddy. Laurie had allegedly shouted, “Shut that damn dog up, or I’ll shut it up for you!” Paddy, never one to back down, replied, “Shut your mouth, or I’ll take your knees out from under you.”
When Paddy vanished, Laurie denied everything, citing his age and osteoporosis as reasons he couldn’t have committed a violent act. Meanwhile, bizarre and gruesome rumors began to circulate: had Paddy been murdered and baked into Fran’s meat pies? While police found no evidence of this, the rumor highlighted the sheer level of distrust permeating the dusty streets.
IV. The Secret Tapes
The case remained cold until a coronial inquest in 2021 revealed a bombshell: secret police recordings.
Authorities had bugged Owen Laurie’s living quarters in the months following the disappearance. The tapes captured a man, identified as Laurie, talking and even singing to himself about the crime. The lyrics were hauntingly specific:
“I damn well killed Paddy… smashed him in the head… drove it right into his nostrils with my claw hammer.”
In another recording, the voice boasted: “Well, they never damn found the hammer, so they can’t pin me for anything… man, that’s if you don’t find the damn body.”
Despite the visceral nature of these recordings, Laurie exercised his right to remain silent during the inquest, and the tapes alone—without a body or a weapon—were deemed insufficient for a criminal conviction.
V. The Freezer Cash and the Hitman Rumor
The inquest dug even deeper into the town’s secrets. A witness named Wayne Ledwidge claimed that Fran Hodgetts had once offered a man $10,000 to “get rid of” Paddy.
Detectives also questioned Fran’s ex-husband, Bill Hodgetts, about $30,000 in cash Fran kept in her freezer. By the time police searched the house, only $7,000 remained. Suspicions swirled that the money had been used to pay someone off, though Fran vehemently denied this, swearing on her parents’ graves that she had nothing to do with Paddy’s fate.
VI. The Silence of the Outback
As of 2026, the case of Paddy Moriarty and Kelly remains one of the most baffling “Missing 411” style mysteries in Australian history. How does a man and a 15-kilogram dog disappear in a town of ten people without a single witness?
Forensic investigator Greg Kavanaugh maintains that Paddy was likely lured out of his house—perhaps by someone calling his name or a disturbance in the yard—and killed instantly. The fact that Kelly also vanished suggests the killer knew the dog would lead searchers to a body or stay by its master’s side.
Larrimah has changed since that night. Fran Hodgetts, aged and weary from the backlash, returned to the town in 2022 after cancer treatment. Her grandson now runs the tea house, facing occasional harassment from tourists who believe the dark legends.
Bill Hodgetts and the pub owner, Barry Sharp, have since passed away, taking whatever they might have known to their graves. Owen Laurie remains a free man, protected by the lack of physical evidence.
VII. The Ghost of Paddy Moriarty
The Northern Territory government eventually moved to manage Paddy’s abandoned estate. The gas station stands as a skeletal reminder of a man who was once the life of the Larrimah Hotel.
The mystery of Paddy Moriarty isn’t just about a murder; it’s about the terrifying isolation of the Australian Outback. It’s a place where secrets can be buried deeper than a septic tank and where the heat can melt away the truth.
To this day, if you pull into the Larrimah Hotel for a cold beer, the locals might talk about the Irishmen who vanished. They might point toward the tea house or the gardener’s old shack. But as the sun sets and the dingoes begin to howl, you realize that in a town where everyone knows everyone, someone knows exactly where Paddy and Kelly are buried. They just aren’t telling.
