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Speaker 1: Now.

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Speaker 2: As most Territorians will know, Patty Moriarty disappeared without a

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Speaker 2: trace in December twenty seventeen from the tiny town of Larimer.

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Speaker 2: His disappearance has sparked so many questions, many wondering how

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Speaker 2: the well known local could just disappear without a trace.

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Speaker 2: The Northern Territory Coroner is today going to reopen the

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Speaker 2: inquest into his apparent death. Now joining me on the

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Speaker 2: line is Kylie Stephenson, the co author of Larimer, a

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Speaker 2: book which investigated the death of the well known local.

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Speaker 3: Good morning to you, Kylie.

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Speaker 1: Good morning Katie.

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Speaker 3: Thanks so much for your time this morning. Kylie.

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Speaker 2: This is a story which has really gripped the territory

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Speaker 2: and the nation to some degree, and one which you

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Speaker 2: and Carolyn will wrote together.

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Speaker 3: Wrote a whole book about.

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Speaker 2: There will be some people listening this morning, though, who

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Speaker 2: really don't know a huge amount about the story walk

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Speaker 2: us through when Patty went missing.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, so it was, as you said, December twenty seventeen.

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Speaker 1: He lived in the town of Larama. He'd been there

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Speaker 1: for a long time, about ten years, and he and

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Speaker 1: his dog had been at the pub, which they had

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Speaker 1: done every day. The Pink panther in Larama, which probably

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Speaker 1: a lot of people know. He'd been there drinking his

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Speaker 1: usual afternoon sort of routine. About dusk, he left the

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Speaker 1: pub and jumped on his squad bike with his dog Kelly.

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Speaker 1: They drove over the road over the other side of

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Speaker 1: the Stuart Highway to their home and no one ever

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Speaker 1: saw him again. There was food on the table as

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Speaker 1: if they were about to have their dinner. The back

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Speaker 1: door was just closed with a block up against it,

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Speaker 1: as if they'd gone out for a walk or something.

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Speaker 1: But a huge police search in the area didn't uncover

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Speaker 1: any evidence of anything, didn't uncover you know, the dog

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Speaker 1: or any sign of Paddy. So it's really been a

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Speaker 1: mystery that sort of gripped a lot of people in

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Speaker 1: the territory, I think because a lot of us do

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Speaker 1: drive up and down the track and do pass through

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Speaker 1: Larama and it's a place we all kind of know.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it really has, and it just seems to be

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Speaker 2: one of those out back mysteries that you know that

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Speaker 2: it feels like we've never gotten any answers about. I

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Speaker 2: know that you and the co author of Larimer, Carolyn Graham,

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Speaker 2: spent quite a bit of time out there interviewing the

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Speaker 2: locals and getting to know plenty of the characters out

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Speaker 2: that way.

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Speaker 1: Yeah, So the year before Patty went missing, I'd spent

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Speaker 1: a bit of time in Larama doing a writer's retreat

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Speaker 1: through the Anti Writer's Center, and I've gotten to know

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Speaker 1: some of the locals that, including Patty, who had been

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Speaker 1: at the pub most days. He was there helping out

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Speaker 1: as well. He used to work there in the mornings,

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Speaker 1: just sort of you know, raking up the leaves and

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Speaker 1: mowing the lawns and things like that. So I've gotten

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Speaker 1: to know a few other people then, and when he

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Speaker 1: went missing me later, I sort of got back in

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Speaker 1: touch with some of those people, and Carol and I

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Speaker 1: went down there and spent a few weeks sort of

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Speaker 1: interviewing people and asking them what they know. But what

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Speaker 1: we kind of discovered was not only you know, was

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Speaker 1: this incident with Paddy disappearing fascinating, but the whole town

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Speaker 1: was really fascinating, and all the people who lived there

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Speaker 1: just had really interesting life stories. And Larimer itself has

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Speaker 1: this incredible history. It was this hub during the war

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Speaker 1: where thousands of soldiers were stationed for quite a long

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Speaker 1: period of time. It was the head of the rail

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Speaker 1: for a long time, so there was always this kind

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Speaker 1: of big movement through the town and all these interesting

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Speaker 1: things happening there. But over the years, as obviously the

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Speaker 1: war ended and the rail was scrapped, Larimer has just

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Speaker 1: become this sort of tiny town home to yeah, around

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Speaker 1: twelve people.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, now I know that your book, Larimer, it does

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Speaker 2: take readers on that journey of who done it. As

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Speaker 2: you've said, you've spent quite a bit of time out there.

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Speaker 2: What did you guys glean while you were out there?

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Speaker 2: You know when it came to the appearance of Patty.

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Speaker 1: Well, what we kind of came to was that there

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Speaker 1: are just so many possibilities of what could have happened

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Speaker 1: to him that it's really difficult to rule any of

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Speaker 1: them out. Some are more likely than others. Certainly, police

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Speaker 1: have pursued this as a murder investigation. They believe someone

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Speaker 1: has done something to Patty and to his dog, Kelly,

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Speaker 1: and that's certainly a possibility. But when you look at

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Speaker 1: that landscape out there, there are other possibilities. People have

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Speaker 1: told us about sinkholes in the area, there are you

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Speaker 1: know a lot of sort of snakes and other wildlife

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Speaker 1: that could potentially harm a person and a dog. You know,

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Speaker 1: the chances of both a dog and a man disappearing

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Speaker 1: at the hands of wildlife is probably pretty slim, but

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Speaker 1: it's still a possibility. So what we kind of found

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Speaker 1: was that there are just so many possibilities and all

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Speaker 1: of them sound quite impossible, but something has to be

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Speaker 1: the truth.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, and this is the thing, and that's exactly what

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Speaker 2: the Norse Territory Coroner, well, they're certainly hoping to finally

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Speaker 2: uncover what happened when he today reopens that coronial inquest

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Speaker 2: into the seventy year old suspected death. Kylie, what are

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Speaker 2: you expecting to hear today in that coronial?

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Speaker 1: Yeah, I think it will be interesting. I attended the

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Speaker 1: first half of the coronial, which was quite soon after

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Speaker 1: Patty went missing. It was about six months after. And

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Speaker 1: the reason for that, which is it's quite unusual. The

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Speaker 1: reason given was that a lot of the residents from

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Speaker 1: Larama were aging and they wanted to get that evidence

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Speaker 1: while they could. So there's been a few years intervening

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Speaker 1: since it's to today where it's being reopened, and I

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Speaker 1: think what we're probably going to hear today is from

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Speaker 1: the police to hear an update of what has been

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Speaker 1: going on with their investigation in the last few years.

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Speaker 1: They did only last year offer a reward for any

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Speaker 1: information that might lead to what has happened to Patty,

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Speaker 1: and I think a couple of key residents will also

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Speaker 1: be recalled to the case to give evidence today, So

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Speaker 1: it's running over two days. We've got today and tomorrow,

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Speaker 1: possibly Friday, I'm not really sure yet, but we'll find

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Speaker 1: out more when we get there this morning.

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Speaker 3: Well, Kylie, let's hope that there are some answers.

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Speaker 2: We really appreciate your time this morning, and of course

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Speaker 2: people are able to get out there and purchase that

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Speaker 2: book that yourself and Carol and Graham Roche Larimer, we

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Speaker 2: really appreciate you speaking to us this morning, and it

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Speaker 2: would be good let us know how things go in

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Speaker 2: that inquest, but we'll be keeping close on it as well.

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Speaker 1: Thank you so much, Katie.

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Speaker 3: Thank you