A NSW coroner has ruled that Sydney fraudster Melissa Caddick died after she mysteriously disappeared in November 2020.
She was 49 when she went missing. Her home in Dover Heights was raided by federal and corporate authorities.
Her foot was discovered on a beach in NSW in February 2021. It was later revealed that she had been operating a massive fraud scheme, which involved deceiving her many investors.
Following an inquest into her disappearance, Deputy NSW Coroner Elizabeth Ryan ruled that Caddick was dead.
She stated that there have been no credible sightings of her and that she had not made contact with her son.
Ryan noted that it was most likely that she would have contacted her son if she were still alive.
Despite the finding, Ryan was unable to provide details about Caddick’s death. Following her disappearance, some people claimed that she might have taken her own life by jumping off the cliffs near her home.
According to Ryan, it’s possible that Caddick committed suicide due to her professional and personal problems.
However, she noted that it’s not feasible to make this finding based on the evidence presented during the inquest.
An inquest regarding the disappearance of Caddick was held in 2022 and heard from her family, as well as investigators from the Australian Securities and Investments Commission and NSW Police.
It also examined the investigations into her disappearance and the credibility of her husband, Anthony Koletti.
After the findings of the inquest were handed down, Koletti went through the media to a waiting car.
On November 12, 2020, after going for a run, Caddick failed to return home. Her phone and wallet were found in her car. Her teenage son also told police that he heard the doorbell close at around 5 am.
According to Koletti, he last saw his spouse the night before. That was the day that authorities raided her home in Dover Heights.
Since she hasn’t been seen or heard from since, her husband has reported her missing.
Although Koletti thought his wife would come home, she didn’t. Ryan, the deputy coroner, ruled that Koletti was unreliable as a witness due to the multiple accounts he provided to the police.
A crime scene was then established a few days after Caddick went missing.
During the two-month period that elapsed following her disappearance, the police were still looking for Caddick even though her right foot had already been discovered on a beach.
The coroner who conducted the inquest then offered her condolences to the family.