More than two years after conwoman Melissa Caddick mysteriously vanished and her foot washed up on a South Coast beach, a coroner has found she died.
"I believe it is appropriate for me to say at the outset, I have concluded that Melissa Caddick is deceased," Deputy State Coroner Elizabeth Ryan said on Thursday.
"However, a more problematic issue is whether there is enough evidence as to how she died."
Caddick defrauded family and friends of between $20 million-$30 million in a Ponzi scheme before her disappearance.
The long-running coronial examination delved into the circumstances leading to the 49-year-old Sydney fraudster's disappearance in November 2020 and her mindset at the time.
Caddick's badly decomposed right foot in a running shoe washed up on Bournda Beach, south of Tathra, three months after her disappearance, leading authorities to presume her dead.
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
The inquest heard from a number of key witnesses including Mr 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.
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.
Ms Ryan's findings are continuing.
Australian Associated Press
