[ad_1]
Melissa Caddick is dead, police confirmed, after the missing businesswoman’s foot was found on a beach more than 250 miles from where she was last seen in eastern Sydney.
Millionaire Melissa Caddick lived in Dover Heights in eastern Sydney, but disappeared a day after investigators investigating her financial services company raided her home. In the photo: Dover Heights.
Photo: TORSTEN BLACKWOOD / AFP
Caddick, 49, had not been seen since leaving her home in Dover Heights without her cell phone, wallet or keys to go for a run just before dawn on November 12.
Police had previously said that they believed Caddick, which was the subject of an investigation by the Australian Securities and Investments Commission (ASIC), was still alive.
However, campers found his “badly broken foot” inside a shoe at Bournda Beach, near Tathra, on Sunday.
The DNA from the foot was compared to samples taken from Caddick’s home.
While the mother’s fate has been confirmed, how she got into the water remains “a mystery” to police.
“We just don’t know at this point,” said Deputy Commissioner Mick Willing. “At this point we cannot rule anything out. We have kept an open mind the entire time.”
Willing said Caddick’s family had been informed last night and was “very distressed” by the news.
Last month, New South Wales Police Commissioner Mick Fuller said authorities were “treating the case as if it were alive.”
“We are still actively searching for CCTV, downloading information from your car’s computers and again knocking on the door … to try to identify where it may be,” he said.
Today, Willing said that while the CCTV footage in Dover Heights was “extensive,” it did not cover the entire suburb.
He was informed that drift and wave modeling showed it was possible for Caddick to enter the water from Dover Heights before his body was carried south.
Before his disappearance, Caddick’s home was raided by ASIC officials who alleged he was embezzling funds from investors through his financial services company, Maliver, and operating without a license.
The ASIC investigation collided with police investigations last week when the shoe was found.
“That foot and shoe matched the size and description of a shoe that Melissa Caddick was seen wearing during the execution of the ASIC search warrant,” Willing said.
“DNA from the foot was compared last night with DNA from Melissa Caddick’s toothbrush and family members.”
Willing said there have been no confirmed sightings of Caddick off the south coast.
“Given the circumstances of his disappearance, the fact that he left his personal belongings, we have always considered the possibility that he took his own life,” he said.
He said police would continue to search the area where the foot was found to try to locate Caddick’s remains.
– ABC
