Over two years since Melissa Caddick mysteriously vanished, a coroner has found the alleged Sydney fraudster is dead.
Delivering her findings on Thursday following a long-running coronial inquest, Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan said that the 49-year-old is dead but there are problems determining how she died.
"I believe it is appropriate for me to say at the outset, I have concluded that Melissa Caddick is deceased," Ryan told the NSW Coroner’s Court.
"However, a more problematic issue is whether there is enough evidence as to how she died."
The coronial inquest delved into the circumstances leading to the Caddick's disappearance in November 2020 and her mindset at the time.
Police and investigators from corporate regulator ASIC raided Caddick's Dover Heights home on November 11, 2020.
Two days later, she was reported missing by her husband Anthony Kolleti.
Caddick's decomposed right foot was later found in a running shoe washed up on a beach on the south coast of NSW, three months after she vanished, leading authorities to presume she was dead.
The inquest heard from a number of key witnesses including Koletti, a part-time hairdresser and DJ, who told the court he had no knowledge of her Ponzi scheme.
The officer-in-charge of the investigation into her disappearance, Detective Sergeant Michael Foscholo, told the inquiry last year he believed the fraudster took her own life.
Listen to No Filter, where Mia Freedman speaks to Kate McClymont, the Chief Investigative Reporter at the Sydney Morning Herald, about the case. Post continues below.
Caddick, a self-styled financial adviser, preyed on mostly friends and family to steal up to $30 million through her investment scam, using the money to fund her lavish lifestyle before disappearing.
Her eastern suburbs mansion was sold for close to $10 million in January.
A collection of jewellery, once owned by the fraudster, has also attracted large sums, with a recent auction garnering $800,000 that will go towards paying back victims.
More to come.
Read more:
A four-letter code and "strange" behaviour: What we've learnt from Melissa Caddick's inquest.
- With AAP.
Feature Image: Facebook.
Love watching TV and movies? Take our survey now to go in the running to win a $100 gift voucher.