Video reveals why Caddick’s husband phoned friend pretending she was safe after fraud vanished

A police officer who spoke to Melissa Caddick’s husband after the fraudster vanished has told a coroner’s court of his “unusual behaviour”.

When Melissa Caddick’s husband Anthony Koletti phoned her friend hours after she disappeared, he didn’t let on that she had vanished from their Sydney eastern suburbs mansion, an inquest heard.

Instead, the inquest heard he told Scott Little that she was safe in her bed and later explained to police he did so in the hope of eliciting a response that Ms Caddick was with him.

The inquest into Ms Caddick’s disappearance has heard that Mr Koletti appeared to police to be “evasive, vague and inconsistent”, “sweating profusely” and gave conflicting versions of key events in the days after the fraudster vanished.

Despite this, the senior cop who initially spearheaded the investigation into the mystery has defended the decision not to conduct a forensic crime scene examination of her Dover Heights home or consider Mr Koletti a suspect in her disappearance.

Anthony Koletti and Melissa Caddick. Picture: Facebook

Ms Caddick’s disappearance is being examined by an inquest before deputy state coroner Elizabeth Ryan after the 49-year-old went missing amid an ASIC investigation into a Ponzi scheme in which she stole millions from duped investors.

Detective Sergeant Michael Kyneur was the officer in charge of the investigation for a brief 10-day period in November 2020 before he was replaced.

During his time in charge of the investigation, Sergeant Kyneur said he considered three possibilities – that she was killed by Mr Koletti, that Ms Caddick had committed suicide or that she had gone on the run.

However, he said he ruled out the theory that Mr Koletti, a hairdresser and part-time DJ, was involved in foul play.

Mr Koletti has never been charged with any crime related to her disappearance.

Anthony Koletti reported his wife missing. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

Melissa Caddick’s mother Barbara Grimley arrives at the NSW Coroner’s Court. Picture: NCA NewsWire/Gaye Gerard

The court heard on the evening of November 12 - after Ms Caddick had failed to return home that morning - Mr Koletti rang Ms Caddick’s friend, Mr Little.

As Mr Koletti later explained to Sergeant Kyneur, he wanted Mr Little’s “honest opinion”.

“She wasn’t there, so I’ve called Scott on the Thursday night and I’ve told Scott ‘awww she’s asleep’, just so he didn’t think that I thought anything suspicious, because I wanted an honest opinion whether he was with her or not,” Mr Koletti told Sergeant Kyneur in an interview which was electronically recorded and released during the inquest.

During his testimony before the inquest on Tuesday, Sergeant Kyneur said of the incident: “It didn’t make sense to me.”

Detective Sergeant Michael Kyneur said the phone call to Scott Little “didn’t make sense” to him. Picture: NCA Newswire/Gaye Gerard

Mr Koletti took 30 hours to report Ms Caddick missing, the court was told.

He heard her walking out the door of their home early on November 12, hours after ASIC and the AFP had raided the property.

Mr Koletti was interviewed by police on the afternoon of November 13 when police attended his home.

One of the officers who spoke to Mr Koletti that day reported to Sergeant Kyneur that Mr Koletti didn’t appear “overly concerned” that his wife was missing.

“I thought it was unusual … In my experience, if the spouse of a loved one goes missing, there is some genuine concern or some sort of emotion,” Sergeant Kyneur told the court on Tuesday.

Sergeant Trent Riley, who spoke to Mr Koletti that day, reported that he was “evasive, vague and inconsistent”.

Sergeant Kyneur said Sergeant Riley intimated to him that she might have “gone to ground”.

Ms Caddick has been accused of ripping off investors. Picture: Andy Baker

Ms Caddick and Mr Koletti. Picture: Facebook

He told the court that many of Mr Koletti’s representations to police were “unusual”, in particular phoning officers to tell them that he found a footprint at a reserve close to his house.

“It’s like saying ‘I found a shoe print at Bondi Beach’,” Sergeant Kyneur said.

The court heard that Mr Koletti was “sweating profusely” while speaking with officers and had made conflicting statements about when he last saw his wife.

Mr Koletti also texted their cleaner from Ms Caddick’s phone, pretending to be Ms Caddick, the court also heard.

Ms Caddick speaks to ASIC investigators hours before her disappearance. Picture: NSW Police

But Sergeant Kyneur said it was “not a viable proposition” in his mind that she was killed by Mr Koletti.

“There was no evidence in the house of any struggle or violence, I was mindful that (Ms Caddick’s son) was present at the time that she left,” Sergeant Kyneur said.

The court heard that police did not conduct a crime scene examination of Ms Caddick’s home, or cars owned by her and Mr Koletti, until 19 days after she was reported missing.

Asked by counsel assisting the coroner Louise Coleman why a forensic search of the home was not done, Sergeant Kyneur said “for what offence”.

He noted that Mr Koletti had consented to police entering his home on several occasions.

He was involved in a search of the home on November 20, because at the time he suspected that Ms Caddick may be alive and hiding out inside.

However officers took just 14 minutes to search the three-storey, five-bedroom home.

The inquest continues.