Tidal mapping pointed to area where Melissa Caddick’s remains were found

Police had vital clues about the whereabouts of businesswoman Melissa Caddick as early as November, but failed to uncover her remains because they had not yet washed ashore.

Police had vital clues about the whereabouts of businesswoman Melissa Caddick as early as November, but failed to uncover her remains because they had not yet washed ashore.

Three months after the conwoman was first reported missing by her family, a group of campers helped solve one of the state’s most high-profile missing persons cases with the discovery of a shoe containing her decomposed foot at Bournda Beach south of Tathra.

But detectives held crucial information as early as November which suggested that her body may in fact wash up on the south coast if she had fallen off or jumped off the cliffs near her Dover Heights home.

Campers made the grim find of Caddick’s shoe on Bournda Beach south of Tathra. Picture Robert Hayson

Flowers left at Melissa Caddick’s home. Picture: John Grainger

According to NSW Police Assistant Commissioner Michael Willing, specialist police conducted modelling not long after she was reported missing on November 12, suggesting her body may have floated as far as the south coast if she had suicided.

“Marine Area Command … raised the possibility an object – a body – may have entered the water around the Dover Heights area and could drift as far south as the Bermagui area,” he said.

Melissa Caddick during ASIC raid on her home. Picture: NSW Police

A police source confirmed with The Saturday Telegraph that this mapping was conducted using specialist software just days after Caddick was reported missing but failed to locate her because, in part, of the absence of additional evidence.

“As part of the original canvass we used software. We dropped in the area, input the data in the system and calculated that based on the remaining information … This was right after she disappeared,” they said.

“But it is not an exact science and we didn’t have an exact time frame [for her disappearance].”

While police did conduct large-scale searches in the days following her disappearance – some of which were informed by the tidal mapping – Caddick’s remains were not located until three months later.

Police conducted tidal mapping as early as November which suggested Melissa Caddick’s remains may have drifted to the south coast. Picture: Police Media

In the days after her decomposed foot was found, the same police marine unit conducted similar tidal modelling to determine whether the remains could have in fact been hers.

The exact cause of Caddick’s death is still under investigation by police, who have not ruled out foul play but are also looking into the likelihood of suicide.

“Given the circumstances and the fact she left her personal belongings behind, we’ve always considered the possibility she may have taken her own life,” Assistant Commissioner Willing said on Friday.

Police have failed to locate any of Caddick’s other remains, despite scouring the shoreline along Boundra Beach and surrounds in the days after her foot was discovered last Sunday.

A report will be prepared for the NSW Coroner.