Paddy whacked: The suspicious disappearance rocking tiny town of 12 people

If you were planning to knock someone off, it’s best you don't do it in a remote village hundreds of kilometres from anywhere where only 12 people live.

So when a resident of Larrimah in the Northern Territory went missing feared dead in suspicious circumstances, you'd think it'd be a fairly open and shut case for police, given there's not a lot of suspects.

But no.

Four months on, there's still no sign of local 70-year-old Paddy Moriarty, but the rumour mill in Larrimah is certainly alive and well.

Most of the village has a theory on what happened to him, pointing the finger at a few of the locals.

But all this time on, police are no closer to catching their man – or woman.

Fran Hodgetts is a key suspect.

The 75-year-old has told us she's been under house arrest, her property searched numerous times and she's still being interviewed by investigating police.

You see, Fran and Paddy weren't mates. To be blunt, they hated each other's guts.

And their feud is all over meat pies.

Fran has a tea-house that sells exotic outback pies, like camel and buffalo, to the visiting tourists.

Paddy didn't like them and even put a sign up at his place promoting the local pub's pies.

Fran claims he was killing her business, but she says there's no way she killed Paddy.

And despite extensive searches of the local tip, lakes and scrubland, police have yet to find a body.

But they suspect Paddy is dead, and not of natural causes.

His home had a chicken in the microwave and the table was set ready for his evening meal.  His hat, keys and vehicle were all at home. The fan was going. The lights were on. But Paddy disappeared, along with his beloved dog Kelly who was always by his side.

The outback is full of interesting characters, as well as people perhaps hiding from society. Larrimah, six hours south of Darwin, is such a place.

There is nothing here, and nothing either side of the highway that runs through it.  Nothing has ever happened in Larrimah.

Until now...