It’s one of Australia’s most enduring mysteries – what happened to notorious fraudster Melissa Caddick?
On Thursday morning it’s anticipated that after more than two and a half years, a coroner will finally shed some light.
Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan will hand down her findings after a long-running coronial inquest examined the circumstances surrounding the 49-year-old’s mysterious disappearance.
Ms Caddick disappeared from Sydney’s eastern suburbs in November 2020, just hours after her Dover Heights mansion, which doubled as her business premises, was raided by the AFP and ASIC.
The corporate watchdog has accused Ms Caddick of operating a Ponzi scheme and misappropriating $24m, including from her friends and family, to fund a lavish lifestyle including holidays, designer jewellery, watches, clothing and shoes.
The case has ignited countless conspiracy theories and inspired a television series.
The inquest examined Ms Caddick’s final hours, the actions of her husband Anthony Koletti, as well as the police investigation.
The court has heard that police suspect Ms Caddick took her own life by jumping off the cliff at Rodney Reserve, approximately 500m from her home, on the morning of November 12, 2020.
Ms Caddick was heard walking out her front door at about 5.30am before vanishing, failing to turn up to a court appearance the following day.
However, Mr Koletti did not report his wife missing until he contacted Rose Bay Police Station at 11.45am on November 13 – a full 30 hours after she was last seen.
During his evidence, Mr Koletti told the court he was under the mistaken belief he had to wait 24 hours to report someone missing.
“Did you delay reporting her missing until that point in order to give her time to try to go somewhere?” Counsel assisting the coroner Jason Downing asked.
“No,” Mr Koletti said.
NSW Police Sergeant Trent Riley told the court during the inquest that he found it “extremely strange and unusual behaviour” that Mr Koletti had initially told police he did not want them to come around to his house or go to the station to make a statement.
“I thought it was strange that a husband would ring the police station, report his wife missing from two days ago and wasn’t prepared to come to the police station and didn’t want police to go around and speak with him because he had too much work on that day,” Sergeant Riley told the court.
Sergeant Riley also told the court that Mr Koletti provided differing versions of when he had last seen his wife alive.
He also described Mr Koletti as “evasive, vague and inconsistent”.
Melissa Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti explains why he didn’t tell friends that she was missing.
Mr Koletti has been persistently critical of the ASIC investigation.
In an affidavit tendered to the court, he claimed he and Ms Caddick were denied food, water and medical attention during the 12 hours when ASIC and the AFP were present at their home.
However, the court heard that during the raid, Ms Caddick drank a protein shake, Mr Koletti made her several coffees and they on occasions smoked cigarettes in their backyard.
In a statement he said: “I believe (Ms Caddick) died as a direct result of ASIC’s negligence, cruelty and inhumanity.”
Despite conceding Ms Caddick was responsible for defrauding millions from investors and that they were allowed to roam freely around the house on the day of the raid, he still maintained ASIC was responsible for her death.
A foot – which was later identified as belonging to Ms Caddick – was found washed up on Bournda Beach on the NSW south coast in February, 2021 – three months after she vanished.
The court has previously heard that Ms Caddick’s shoe was covered in 250g of goose barnacles when it washed ashore.
According to an expert’s report, the barnacle growth suggested the shoe would have been free floating on the surface of the water for three-seven days before washing up.
The court heard that it’s possible the shoe drifted on the ocean floor for several months before floating to the surface and onto the beach on the NSW south coast.
Oceanographer Dr David Griffin said that according to calculations using ocean currents, it’s plausible the shoe went into the water at Dover Heights in November and was found 400km south three months later.
Pathologist Jennifer Pokorny told the inquest in a statement that it was not possible to determine the full extent of Ms Caddick’s injuries, given all that was recovered was a decomposed foot inside a right running shoe.
Nor was it possible to determine a cause of death, she said.
Forensic psychiatrist Dr Kerri Eagle told the inquest that after reviewing Ms Caddick’s medical record, as well as witness statements, it appeared she had narcissistic personality disorder.
She said that for people suffering the disorder, their self-esteem and sense of self-worth hinged on external admiration and impressing others.
Dr Eagle told the court that as a result of being charged, she would have seen herself as being in danger of losing her work and the “respect and admiration” of others.
She told Ms Ryan that when ASIC raided her home, it was plausible it had a “very huge” impact to her self-esteem.
“Ms Caddick appeared to experience problems with low mood, depression and anxiety and problems coping with extraordinary stress … the low mood symptoms persisted as long as the stress persisted,” Dr Eagle said.
She said that people with similar disorders have been known to take their own lives after a “major insult to their self-esteem”.
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