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Police suspend search for Melissa Caddick’s remains in water close to her Sydney home

The conwoman's husband Anthony Koletti  has vacated the Dover Heights property in Sydney's eastern suburbs.

The conwoman's husband Anthony Koletti has vacated the Dover Heights property in Sydney's eastern suburbs. Photo: Supplied

The search for human remains belonging to alleged fraudster Melissa Caddick off cliffs in Sydney’s eastern suburbs has been suspended because of dangerous surf conditions.

Police divers spent about three hours on a boat below Rodney Reserve at Dover Heights assessing the area but determined it was unsafe to go into the ocean.

A hazardous surf warning remains in place for the area and a southerly is expected to strengthen this afternoon.

Police are expected to return to the area in coming days as they explore the theory the 49-year-old may have entered the water only a few hundred metres from her home.

A human torso found washed up on Mollymook Beach on the NSW South Coast was on Tuesday confirmed to belong to an identified man following forensic analysis.

The remains were found almost a week after two campers found a foot, which DNA testing showed was Ms Caddick’s, on Bournda Beach near Tathra.

Other bones have washed up on surrounding beaches over the past week but the majority are now confirmed as belonging to an animal.

It is unclear where or when Ms Caddick entered the water, but investigators believe it is possible she went in around the Dover Heights area.

Sources close to the investigation initially believed Ms Caddick may have taken her own life around the time she disappeared from her $7 million Dover Heights home.

Doubts now surround that theory given green growth was found on the bones in one of her sneakers, suggesting her foot may have only been in the ocean for a short period of time.

Detectives are now exploring the possibility that Ms Caddick was alive for possibly weeks if not months after she vanished without her keys, wallet or mobile phone early on Friday, November 12.

Police divers have been searching for the remains of Melissa Caddick. Photo: ABC News

Investigators from the corporate watchdog raided her property, seizing documents, mobile phones and computers as part last of a massive fraud investigation late on Thursday, November 11.

Her 15-year-old son told police he heard the front door close about 5.30am on the day his mother went missing and had assumed she had gone for an early morning run.

But according to police, there has been no CCTV from surrounding streets, marinas and shops that show any sign of Ms Caddick, and there has been no plausible witness sightings.

Ms Caddick is accused of stealing more than $20 million from investors – including close friends and family – and promising them huge returns of their retirement savings.

The Federal Court heard only $5600 remains in Ms Caddick’s bank account, but the corporate watchdog ASIC said it remains a priority to retrieve investor funds.

A two-day hearing will take place next month.

-ABC

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