True Word

May 6, 2018·27 min·2 clips

Paddy Moriarty's own mates describe him as sometimes 'a pretty obnoxious shit' who would 'give you a wave or give you the finger' depending on his mood.

The road comes first. The Stuart Highway is long, straight, and risky at dusk, all red dust, wildlife, and stories about people vanishing. Paddy lived close enough to feel the wind off a road train from his front doorstep, so the place does not sit quietly in the background. It starts to feel involved. The hosts call Kirsten Jimmy. Her remote community of Kalkaringi is about 500 kilometres southwest of Catherine, which pulls the story out of Larrimah and into a wider, lonelier stretch of country. Then Kelly appears in the story. Someone floats the idea that the little dog chased a kangaroo and Paddy followed him into the evening. For a second, it almost works. But a missing man plus a missing dog leaves a stranger hole. Detective Sergeant Allen remains confident searchers would have found something, even with rain, animals, and heat working against them. Crocodiles get checked too. Police set traps near a pond to protect divers and inspected Sneaky Sam, Barry's three-and-a-half-metre saltwater crocodile. Sneaky Sam is cleared, which is odd enough on its own, but the show keeps coming back to Kelly. Suicide does not fit for Paddy's mates or police, and the hosts do not milk it. Hit-and-run starts to fall apart too. Allen says there was no road evidence, and Karen asks why someone would take Paddy and the dog but leave his money and key card. By the end, one disappearance has become a pressure test for the whole town.

As heard by us

An outback disappearance shaped by harsh country, local voices, and slow, unsettled questioning.

This episode stays with Paddy Moriarty's disappearance on a remote stretch of the Stuart Highway, and the setting carries a lot of the weight. The road, the heat, the distance, and the hard country make the mystery feel lived in.

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Why you'd press play

If you want a disappearance on the Stuart Highway, with red-dust heat and local voices, start here tonight.

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