Melissa Caddick and husband Anthony Koletti. Photo / Supplied
Melissa Caddick and husband Anthony Koletti. Photo / Supplied
A criminologist has weighed in on the mysterious disappearance of Sydney conwoman Melissa Caddick.
Dr Xanthe Mallett said it is technically impossible to know if Caddick died because she essentially vanished - with a single foot the only trace of her left behind.
The last known footage of Caddick alive is Australian Federal Police bodycam video of the 49-year-old inside her house at 7am on November 11, 2020.
NSW Police declared Caddick dead after her foot was found washed ashore on a south coast beach on February 21, 2021, some three months after she vanished.
Mallett said the ongoing coronial inquest is likely to shed more light on the grim case that captured the attention of millions.
"It's possible (she is alive), at the extreme end of what's possible, in that what's been recovered is a foot and medically you can survive without a foot," Mallett told Daily Mail Australia.
Caddick's severed foot was discovered in her Asics shoe after it washed up on NSW's south coast on February 21. Photo / Supplied
"It wouldn't be impossible to disappear when you have that much money. As an investigator, I couldn't rule it out. But what's possible and likely are two very different things."
Mallett said she didn't support "wild speculation" that the conwoman is still "hopping around somewhere spending her fortune".
Further analysis of the foot found may point to evidence on whether Caddick was dead or alive when it was severed.
"I know fact is stranger than fiction, however I don't think we can stretch the fact this far," she continued. "Based on her personality profile I don't thinks she's likely to have committed suicide.
"I think the most likely outcome is she was sadly murdered, second that she took her own life and third is that she's still alive."
Caddick's money and other matters are still being investigated by ASIC and are going through the courts.
The remaining money in her accounts and shares was handed over to liquidators earlier this year.
In February, The Federal Court ruled that money remaining in her multiple bank accounts, credit accounts and shares would be given to liquidators as they were looking to sell off Caddick's Dover Heights home.
The ruling was opposed by Caddick's husband, Anthony Koletti.
"I disagree to the access because they've been in numerous times – probably five, six, seven, eight times," Koletti, who represented himself, told the court via audiovisual link.
"I just don't see the point at this point in time and I don't have the time. I need to make all the money that I can."
Caddick bought the lavish Dover Heights mansion for $6.2m in 2014 using money misappropriated from clients.
