Astonishing Melissa Caddick theory reemerges four years after she vanished without a trace - so could the conwoman still be alive?

Aussies continue to speculate on whether Melissa Caddick is alive and in hiding almost four years after the notorious fraudster disappeared.

Caddick, 49, vanished on November 12, 2020, after she fleeced $30million from investors, including her family and friends, while working as a financial advisor.

Police declared the case closed after a foot that matched Caddick's DNA washed up on Bournda Beach, 500km south of Sydney on the NSW South Coast, in early 2021.

They believe Caddick took her own life by jumping from cliffs near her Dover Heights mansion in Sydney's eastern suburbs just hours after Australian Securities and Investments Commission agents raided her home.

Then, in May 2023, NSW deputy coroner Elizabeth Ryan ruled that Caddick was deceased but noted there wasn't enough evidence to determine how she had died.

She said Caddick would have contacted her son, who she loved dearly, in the time since her disappearance.

Despite the coroner's ruling, the question of what happened to Caddick continues to play on the minds of thousands of Australians, including criminal psychologist Tim Watson-Munro.

'The whole story is dodgy in my view,' he told Daily Mail Australia on Monday.

'I don't know if she's alive or deceased. I made a comment a couple of years ago that with that sort of money, you could organise just about anything surgically.

'But of all the beaches in the world for the shoe to wash up with her foot in it. All of that just struck me as a huge coincidence.

'All things considered, the degradation of the shoe wasn't great, but there are a number of theories that were raised, one was that she may have met foul play.

'The shoe may have been planted to prove that she was deceased or that she'd gone out to sea.

'Who knows? More likely than not she's deceased. That's my view. How has she died? That's speculative, whether it was by suicide or by foul play.'

Mr Watson-Munro explained that missing criminals who were discovered to be still alive were usually found due to a simple mistake they or a third party made.

'It's either a postcode, a stamp or a phone call that alerts the authorities to the possibility that they are alive as well as their exact geographical location,' he said.

'You would have thought, she has a son, the son would be curious about her.

'But I would say, without being too brutal for someone who's deceased and to a family which has experienced immense loss and trauma, that her son didn't seem to be looming large in her decision-making when she disappeared.

'I've obviously not spoken to the son so I'm speaking in general principles, not specific terms to him. But when kids lose mothers or fathers in mysterious circumstances, there can never really be foreclosure.'

Mr Watson-Munro said that although losing a foot might seem extreme to some people, it paled when compared to serving a 10 to 15-year prison sentence. 

'She could afford a good surgeon who could perhaps remove the foot and have a prosthetic foot made that's fitting and comfortable,' he said. 

'Now, for some that may seem pretty drastic but when you're faced with what she was facing in terms of probably decades in prison, certainly more than 10 to 15 years you would think for that amount of money, it's a softer option.

'She was the queen of the con, the Queen of the Ponzi scheme. 

'In terms of character, I've not examined her, but from what I've read and observed, there's no real remorse when you start ripping off family members.

'And when you've abandoned a son at a very vulnerable age, you really have to question that whole issue of the maternal bond, versus self-interest.'

Dozens of Australians have shared their own theories in dedicated forums such as the popular Facebook page 'Melissa Caddick is Alive and in Hiding'. 

One theory said: 'She is alive and living overseas, she had the money for new ID to be organised. She will see her son after he is 18 and old enough to travel alone undetected by the public.'

A second added: 'With all the money she had and the type of person she is, she would have had plan B all planned out and she could be living anywhere with a totally new identity and prosthetic foot. Not too hard to imagine really!?' 

A third said: 'Definitely not dead, if she was smart enough to rob her family and friends without them knowing, she's smart enough to to have escaped without detection under the cover of darkness.'

'When years have passed and she is a memory, her partner and son will go to where she is. She will have a new identity and probably money from off shore investments.' 

A fourth added: 'Anyone can just hop on a 40ft cruiser, sail out past the heads and avoid customs. She had the money to hire or buy a boat. Seems feasible.

'I think she is alive, had her foot removed. She is overseas living a quiet non exclusive life.'

Another added: 'Still wealthy but not flashy. New face and some surgery to blend in where ever she is. Her husband was just a pawn in her game of life. She will call for her son when he can travel without an adult overseas.

'But honestly where ever she is she was a horrible person.'