Missing Dover Heights woman Melissa Caddick’s lavish lifestyle exposed as AFP marks three months since disappearance
It’s a true-crime podcast unfolding before our eyes.
How did a millionaire – who allegedly made her fortune scamming those closest to her – vanish off the face of the earth?
How did she evade the cameras on her multi-million dollar home in a suburb surrounded by paranoid neighbours? Where has she been ever since?
They’re questions that Melissa Caddick’s many alleged victims fear may never be answered.
She was added to the Australian Federal Police’s national missing person’s list on Friday.
It may seem insignificant in the grand scheme of things – but it also marks three months to the day since she was last seen.
Caddick went for a run on the morning of November 12.
She left without her phone or wallet, which police say was out-of-character. The only thing missing from the $7.5 million Dover Heights home was some Nike-branded activewear.
Her teenage son told police that he heard the front door of the home close about 5.30am.
That detail was relayed on to police more than 30 hours later, when her husband Anthony Koletti finally reported her missing.
Police have lamented that the time gap between Caddick’s disappearance and the missing person’s report being made was the first set-back.
Koletti explained the delay by telling police he expected her to just come home.
There is no suggestion he had any involvement in her disappearance.
But a knock on the door days earlier may explain why she didn’t come back.
Days before she walked out the door, officers from the AFP walked in.
The purpose of their visit? Caddick had allegedly made her millions through misappropriated funds invested with her by family and friends.
Federal Court hearings, in which Caddick was unsurprisingly absent, stated she was involved in “serious misconduct”.
Financial records show more than $20 million had been dropped into her account. All but $700,000 had been withdrawn.
Caddick “lived large” off the fortune she acquired from the friends and family she’d betrayed, her alleged victims claim.
As charges are prepared for Caddick, 15 investors who allegedly fell victim to her ploys have combined to put forward a “Position Paper” for the Federal Court.
Supplied to 7NEWS.com.au on the condition of anonymity, the document details how the victims felt they were betrayed by “someone they trusted”.
“The evidence against Ms Caddick/Maliver (her company) is overwhelming,” Dominic Calabria, a partner at Bridges Lawyers detailing the investors’ plights, said.
“Each of the investors became an investor following a strong personal recommendation from people they trusted – people who were long-standing friends of Melissa Caddick or her family members.
“In almost all cases, the relationship with Melissa Caddick or her family member spanned a period of two or more decades.”
But what exactly did she spend her millions on?
In addition to her multi-million dollar Dover Heights home, Caddick had an affinity for luxury.
Documents show she spent hundreds of thousands of dollars at Christian Dior. She spent a further $120,000 in ski trips to Aspen and $108,000 at Flight Centre in under three years.
ASIC identified 25 international holidays between 2010 and 2020, Calabria said.
The case against Caddick will return to court on February 22.
Administrators of her company have been conducting an investigation into where investors’ money has gone.
Their findings are expected to be revealed in the Federal Court.
“No-one is seeking to ‘punish’ any other innocent member of the Caddick family,” Calabria said.
“The Bridges Investors are sympathetic to the extent that those family members are also victims.”
