Missing Australian fraudster Melissa Caddick Declared Dead

Australian fraudster Melissa Caddick has been declared dead by coroners after disappearing in November 2020.  Melissa Caddick went missing on November 12, 2020, the morning after ASIC and the Australian Federal Police raided her Dover Heights home.

In February 2021 a severed foot was washed on shore on a remote beach and was linked to Melissa by DNA. After a coronial inquest in May 2023, the deputy state coroner declared Caddick deceased but was unable to determine how she died.

Her husband Anthony Koletti delayed reporting his wife’s disappearance, and there were significant discrepancies in his accounts to police, according to the deputy coroner, raising the strong suspicion that he was aware of his wife’s movements over the previous two days but chose not to disclose them.

The deputy coroner also stated that the circumstances surrounding Caddick’s death remained “problematic.” Coroner Elizabeth Ryan said, “I do not consider the evidence enables a positive finding as to how she died, or when and where this happened.”

Other theories proposed by criminologists include Caddick going into hiding or even cutting off her own foot as a red herring. It’s also possible that Koletti was assisting her in hiding