Missing Melissa Caddick: Family’s anguished plea as mystery grows

The family of missing Sydney businesswoman Melissa Caddick has made a desperate plea as police have yet to find a trace of the 49-year-old since her sudden disappearance.

The last sighting of Eastern Suburbs businesswoman Melissa Caddick alive was inside the bedroom of her Dover Heights home.

She was still shaken, hours after the Australian Federal Police had turned up at her front door holding a search warrant.

The Federal Court had a day earlier frozen her assets, including 17 bank accounts, and banned her from leaving the country.

A corporate watchdog investigation into how she managed her company, Maliver Pty Ltd, and handled investor money, was hanging over her head.

She had a lot on her mind when she went to bed on the night of November 11 and according to police, voiced some of those concerns with husband, Anthony Koletti.

When he woke the next morning, his wife of seven years was gone.

The 49-year-old’s suspicious disappearance has baffled detectives, who are yet to find any trace of Ms Caddick.

Missing for a week … Melissa Caddick.

Her teenage son, who lives at the family’s $7 million mansion on Wallangra Rd, told police he was in the home gym when he heard the front door open and close about 5.30am last Thursday, November 12.

Mr Koletti, a 38-year-old music producer, said he was asleep at the time.

The assumption was Ms Caddick went for a run along her usual route through Dover Heights and towards Watsons Bay. Her running gear — a black singlet, leggings and silver Nike runners — was gone from her wardrobe. But her phone hadn’t been taken.

“She always took her phone,” Mr Koletti said.

“In this case, this is the only time since I have known her that she didn’t have her phone with her.”

Anthony Koletti leaves after speaking to media outside Bondi Police Station on Friday. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett.

But police are yet to find anyone who saw Ms Caddick running, or indeed at any point, that morning.

Thirty-six hours after their last conversation, Mr Koletti went to an Eastern Suburbs Police Station and reported his wife missing.

One of the first port of calls for police was looking for CCTV that would confirm Ms Caddick left the house and in what direction.

There are two CCTV cameras outside Ms Caddick’s home but the system hadn’t been working since the AFP raided the place on Wednesday.

“We had some issues getting the CCTV at this point in time,” Detective Inspector Gretchen Atkins said.

“It is still a process and I am not sure it has actually recorded from Wednesday. Wednesday was the last time we knew it did record.”

Anthony Koletti and wife Melissa Caddick.

Mr Koletti told police that after waking up and finding his wife wasn’t home he went looking around the footpath near the Dover Heights clifftops.

At 9.45am the following day, Friday November 13, Ms Caddick was meant to appear in the Federal Court and hand in her passport. But in Ms Caddick’s absence, Mr Koletti turned up.

He informed the court his wife hadn’t come home from a run 24 hours earlier. Someone inside the courthouse told him to make an official missing persons report. At midday, Mr Koletti reported his wife’s disappearance.

Ms Caddick’s phone, which she left at home, hasn’t been used and her bank accounts haven’t been touched.

She hasn’t been in touch with her family or friends either.

Her visibly distraught brother, Adam Grimley, pleaded with the public to help bring his little sister home.

“It is extremely out of character,” he said outside Bondi Police Station on Friday.

Adam Grimley, older brother of Melissa Caddick, appeals for help. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Joel Carrett

Standing next to him was Mr Koletti, who read from a prepared statement on his phone.

Asked about the last conversation he had with his “beautiful” wife, Mr Koletti said it was “before we went to bed, it was normal”.

Asked if he could shed more light on those last moments with his wife he replied: “There is nothing else I can give you further.”

Speaking directly to his missing wife in case she was listening, Mr Koletti reminded her that she was loved and would not be in trouble if she came home.

Mr Koletti described his wife as a “dedicated mother and loving wife”.

The Federal Court had placed a tight net over Ms Caddick. She was required to detail all bank accounts under her control, the names of anyone she owed money to, shareholdings and money reposited to her by any investors.

The court order was a prelude to any action ASIC would take against Ms Caddick.

However, it is not known what Ms Caddick is being investigated for and it is not suggested she is guilty of these offences.

Details of the investigation are set to be revealed when the matter is next in court on November 27.