Examining the mystery of Melissa Caddick and the missing, swindled millions of dollars

It is one of many low-profile South Coast spots where at this time of year, most of the holidaymakers have moved on, good camp spots are plentiful, the fishing is good and the scenery most pleasant.

And so it was for a group of campers wandering along the beach late last month.

But that beach walk took a rather grotesque twist when they found an Asics running shoe washed ashore on the tide line. The grisly addition was that part of a decomposed foot was inside it.

That bizarre discovery has triggered one of the year's most forensically fascinating stories, about which, even in the several weeks since the shoe was found, experienced police investigators in the case continue to be speculative, curious and engaged.

The mystery surrounds the discovery of the foot of 49-year-old Melissa Caddick, missing from her multimillion-dollar Dover Heights home in Sydney's eastern suburbs since November 12 last year. It is a case both morbidly captivating and puzzling.

Using DNA extracted from a toothbrush, NSW Health Pathology confirmed it was Ms Caddick's foot.

NSW Police have launched Strike Force Cordillera to investigate the full circumstances, reviewing the original missing persons report and all other related matters. These related matters are extensive, which we will endeavour to condense.

Even more bizarrely - and proving yet again that truth is even stranger than fiction - more human remains were found five days later on Mollymook Beach, sparking some highly excited social media posts.

But the pathologists quickly doused the fanned embers of a possible human dismemberment angle when they determined that the external stomach flesh was that of a 39-year-old missing Sydney man, last seen using an ATM in Kiama last month. His death is not being treated as suspicious.

And so the Melissa Caddick mystery deepens.

Ms Caddick is a Sydney financial adviser alleged to have defrauded millions - the preliminary number is $13.1 million, but it is suspected to be almost twice that amount - from 61 clients between 2018 and 2020. For most of her victims, this was their retirement savings and/or superannuation.

In affidavits lodged to the Federal Court by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission, Ms Caddick is accused of serious misconduct and "a number of contraventions of the Corporations Act 2001", resulting in "the misappropriation of consumer funds".

The accounts paint a picture of a clever, deceitful and disingenuous person, who even manipulated friendships to obtain financial advantage.

Operating without a licence, her "boutique" investment company, Maliver Pty Ltd - of which she was the sole director and shareholder - opened trading accounts with Commonwealth Securities Limited (CommSec) and other providers.

However, ASIC found "consumer monies are co-mingled in bank accounts held in the name of Ms Caddick and Maliver". Investigators found faked documents "detailing account numbers and transactions which do not, in fact, exist". They revealed that Ms Caddick dipped into the accounts to buy high-end Chanel and Christian Dior products.

After a lengthy, secretive investigation so as not to tip off their target, ASIC raided Ms Caddick's home on November 11 last year and a large volume of documents were seized. Around 5.30am the next day, she left home on a jog, wearing her Asics running shoes, leaving her keys, mobile phone and wallet behind. She never returned.

The Federal Court heard that there is no trace of the missing investment funds, and only $5600 remained in the corporate account.

A brief is being prepared by police for the NSW Coroner, who will ultimately sift through all the available evidence and deliver a finding. The timing of that hearing has not been announced but could take some months.

Software modelling of offshore drift conditions at the time has revealed that a bouyant lightweight item, such as a running shoe, could find its way as far south - some 430 kilometres - as Bournda Beach.

No further remains have been found. Police divers searched extensively off Dover Heights, where there are steep cliffs which shear away to the ocean below. Even experienced rock fishermen found the conditions too difficult to negotiate.

What is unknown is whether Ms Caddick's off-the-books financial dealings may have ventured into dangerous territory, where revenge for a multimillion-dollar swindle may be exacted in nasty and terminal ways.

If Ms Caddick had crossed that line - and the missing millions is no small beer - then the outcome could have been grim.

Only one scenario. There are a number of anomalies about this scenario which have not escaped police attention.

The first is that Ms Caddick has a husband and a 15-year old son. They are understood to be a close and loving family. Both were reported to be enormously distressed when news of the discovery of the shoe reached them.

Although Ms Caddick's son heard the front door close of their home on November 12, her husband Anthony Koletti didn't report her missing until a full 30 hours later. There is no CCTV vision in that part of Dover Heights, so police have been unable to trace where she went after leaving the house.

Investigators have revealed Ms Caddick and her husband enjoyed a lavish lifestyle. The family took lengthy ski trips to Vail, and she enjoyed all the trappings of a wealthy, Sydney eastern suburbs socialite.

But to spend so much money in such a relatively short amount of time beggars belief. The money was siphoned off somewhere, and ASIC strongly suspects she owns other properties in Australia and the US.

If it was her intention to fake her disappearance, "do a runner" and lay low, she had the time, money and the cleverness to organise it properly.

But that still leaves the mystery of the shoe, and the recovered DNA.

No one would go that far to fake a disappearance, would they?