What has happened to Melissa Caddick?
Many agree that if fraudster Melissa Caddick had the audacity to rip off her friends and family, she would have no issue going on the run and continuing her scam, this time via the underworld.
“This woman would have had offshore accounts in other names which other people could access for her,” one person shared on the Facebook group ‘Melissa Caddick Discussion Group. Alive and in Hiding.’
“She would have connections to the underworld who could help her with new ID.”
Another member claimed Caddick could be in the possession of hundreds of thousands of dollars.
“She has plenty of missing money to pay people to help her out. Lots of people might take up that offer,” they said.
Is Melissa Caddick still alive?
In July, New Idea exclusively revealed a firsthand account of Caddick allegedly being spotted at a popular beach bar in Bali earlier this year.
But the sightings haven’t stopped there.
Caddick could be hiding in Canada, according to claims by one local. He says he saw her “limping” at a wedding reception in Gatineau, a city in Southwestern Quebec.
“I was at my cousin’s wedding when a destitute woman appeared that no one seemed to know. She was leaning over the food table, eating like she hadn’t in days,” the man explained.
He added: “She had bleached blonde hair clearly from a box, walked with a limp, maybe because of a prosthetic, and obvious plastic surgery.
“After learning about Melissa Caddick and seeing her photo I had an immediate flashback. It was her.”
However other commenters disagreed.
“I highly doubt [this]. She’s more likely hiding in plain sight in [Sydney’s] Western Suburbs where she can see her son regularly,” one person wrote.
Did Melissa Caddick fake her disappearance?
When bone fragments matching Caddick’s DNA washed up in a sneaker on the NSW South Coast in February 2021, there were people who took issue with the evidence.
Some struggled to believe there was no other matter found, while others refused to believe it was hers at all.
Some group members think Caddick, who stole $23 million from clients while posing as a financial adviser, staged the evidence herself by using bone fragments from a surgery.
“Every con artist usually has an escape plan … Melissa had some bone fragments frozen from a plantar wart removal surgery,” one member posted.
It’s also been suggested that Caddick had the bones in her feet ‘shaved down’ due to her having unusually wide feet so she could better fit her designer shoe collection.
Where is Melissa Caddick now?
When Caddick vanished without a trace from her Dover Heights home in November 2020, many were baffled by the fact she never once appeared on CCTV.
The cliffside Sydney suburb is known for its sprawling mansions, rich residents, and fancy cars, so there’s little doubt the homes are also decked out with tech-savvy security measures.
“My theory was she was hiding in the house for about a week,” one commenter suggested. They also went as far as to claim she could have slid into her husband, Anthony Koletti’s, car before making a run for it.
It was claimed Caddick went out for a morning jog on the day she disappeared. The 49- year-old never returned.
While a 2023 coronial inquest declared Caddick was dead, it was noted there wasn’t enough evidence to determine how she had passed away.
Is there a reward for Melissa Caddick’s arrest?
With so many people convinced that Caddick is alive and living a secret life, there have been calls for the Australian Federal Police to offer up a reward for her arrest.
“Unless someone speaks up, she could be anywhere, if the police offered like a million for info leading to her arrest, maybe that amount might trigger a memory,” a post in the group stated.
Interestingly, others were curious as to why a reward was never offered for information on Caddick’s disappearance at the time.
