ANTHONY_KOLETTI ANTHONY_MARCUS_KOLETTI AUCTIONEER DR_RABHYA_DEWSHI FEMALE JODI_BLANCHFIELD JUDY_SWAN KATE_HORN KATE_MCCLYMONT MICHAEL_MICHAEL PRODUCER ROBBIE_HIGGENSON SARAH_SWAN UNIDENTIFIED_FEMALE WOMAN PRODUCER Kate, soon after Melissa�s foot washes up on the beach, Anthony does some TV interviews talking about Melissa�s investors. I just want to show you. PRODUCER How does that make you feel about Anthony? KATE HORN It really hurts. The denial of Anthony really hurts. Anthony lived a lifestyle that we were paying for. And yet is still not acknowledging the damage, the carnage. ANTHONY KOLETTI I can�t say what anyone else�s opinion is. But, in my opinion I don�t believe it. KATE MCCLYMONT What is this guy on about? What is he saying? Why is he saying these crazy things? If Anthony Koletti thought doing these interviews was going to take the public spotlight off him. KATE MCCLYMONT It spectacularly backfired. Because, as a result of his appearance there was even more suspicion about Anthony. JODI BLANCHFIELD I�d say you're a [BLANK] idiot. Like. MICHAEL MICHAEL I thought why are you distracting, why are you trying to divert my attention? ROBBIE HIGGENSON Or, what were you covering up? You know. ROBBIE HIGGENSON When that foot landed, according to most people there were three plausible scenarios at that time. One, she was murdered. Two, suicide. And three, she escaped and is living overseas. KATE MCCLYMONT Everywhere, people stopping you in the street. People I didn�t even know. I'm just paying for my butter and somebody wants to tell me what their theory is. Every single person had a belief. KATE McCLYMONT The next popular view was that she had cut off her own foot. KATE McCLYMONT The conspiracy theories just went crazy, crazy, crazy. KATE McCLYMONT And then on top of this there was a major question around what Anthony Koletti knew about his wife going missing. In television interviews Anthony starts talking about what he thought actually happened to Melissa Caddick. KATE MCCLYMONT So, investors came under the microscope. Did they have a motive to kill her? PRODUCER Did the police at any point interview you as someone who needs to be ruled out? KATE HORN I was interviewed, um, uh, early in the piece. Where was I on the such and such a day. But, her investors, we had no idea that she was up to this. You know. MICHAEL MICHAEL Anthony, what he was doing was distractions. And it�s trying to put people off. Instead of him being put on the spot. So, it�s just a diversion. KATE MCCLYMONT People certainly believed Anthony knew more about his wife�s disappearance than he was letting on. KATE MCCLYMONT And a lot of people are going to great pains to criticise the police for letting him off the hook. JODI BLANCHFIELD Why didn�t they take him in and requestion him? ROBBIE HIGGENSON Let�s get him in. Let�s interview him for hours. Send him home, bring him back until he breaks. KATE MCCLYMONT And then we get another twist. KATE McCLYMONT We finally get some insight as to what police beliefs are about Melissa�s disappearance. ROBBIE HIGGENSON No, I'm calling bullshit on that. That is just total bullshit. In my opinion, no way Melissa suicided, she has a son. JODI BLANCHFIELD Knowing Melissa and how she felt about heights, no. It just seems that that�s a nice way to wrap the story up. MICHAEL MICHAEL Suicide, I think a cover-up so that the police can close the case. KATE McCLYMONT If she died by suicide where was the rest of her body and was it possible for her body to have washed down to a remote beach on the south coast. KATE McCLYMONT The foot. How did it get there? Was she murdered? Was she hiding herself or had she jumped off the cliffs near the house? And what did Anthony Koletti know? KATE McCLYMONT Whenever there's an unusual death there is a coronial inquest. The police prepared their brief for the Coroner but we did not know what was in that brief. After months of waiting, waiting and waiting, finally the inquest begins. KATE McCLYMONT The inquest will finally provide the answers to what happened to Melissa. KATE McCLYMONT I can�t wait to see how this ends. KATE McCLYMONT Sergeant Riley clearly thought that Anthony Koletti�s behaviour was suspicious. Then Anthony Koletti�s own lawyer, Judy Swan, she says �Sergeant Riley, my client in that video, he was crying�. KATE McCLYMONT And Sergeant Riley said, �No, they were fake tears�. KATE McCLYMONT Anthony was clearly a prime suspect in their minds. KATE McCLYMONT All we journalists are scrabbling. FEMALE We�ve got to file. JODI BLANCHFIELD �At least one senior police officer was of the view that Koletti had likely killed the deceased the inquest has been told�. Oh my god. JODI BLANCHFIELD Shit. ROBBIE HIGGENSON Yeah, it's possible. JODI BLANCHFIELD It now sort of explains Anthony�s demeanour at that press conference. Jeez, I've got a headache. JODI BLANCHFIELD The question that we all wanna know is what was he doing for the hours that Melissa was missing? KATE McCLYMONT The next stage of the inquest, we're going to be hearing from Anthony Koletti in person. KATE McCLYMONT This is what we've all been waiting for. JUDY SWAN You look lovely. SARAH SWAN You look lovely. JUDY SWAN Very natural, you look natural and young. SARAH SWAN It's really hard work looking natural you know. JUDY SWAN I know. Luckily, I don�t have to look natural anymore. SARAH SWAN I was about when I first met Anthony Koletti. He cut my hair. JUDY SWAN He was a junior at this hairdressing salon that I attended. WOMAN Anthony, this is Natalie. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI How you doing? JUDY SWAN He always went the extra mile. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Comfortable? WOMAN Yes. Thank you. JUDY SWAN I mean he was just so sweet, it was sickly. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Loving the colour. Yeah, it's really nice, I like it. JUDY SWAN The reaction of the public has been �he�s an awful person�. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I will have to give it two shampoos if that�s cool. SARAH SWAN Well he was being portrayed as a violent criminal. Which was just not the Anthony that we knew and that Anthony was a toyboy. JUDY SWAN I don�t know what a toyboy is cos I've never had one. [Laughs] So, if someone�s willing to show me what a toyboy is I might be able to make a comment on it. What is a toyboy? I have no idea. Do you know what a toyboy is? SARAH SWAN Well I've never had one either. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Come on over. JUDY SWAN Anthony said �Can you help me?� ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I'll fix the length first. WOMAN Great, thank you. JUDY SWAN And I said �Are you prepared to do my hair? I just really want you come do my hair�, and he came and did a home visit, and my husband, bless his cotton socks, he said �You really have to help this guy�. WOMAN Beautiful. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI You're welcome. JUDY SWAN When I started in all of this I said to him, �Anthony, if you speak to another person in the media, um, I will blow you up. Because you're just making a fool of yourself. JUDY SWAN Next, we received the documents for the inquest. Anthony and I were in my office. I was sitting behind my desk, I said �Anthony, I'm going to show you the evidence now of not only, uh, Melissa defrauding third parties, but her own family.� And I had to sit him down and said �Anthony, you have to look at this. You have to see money going in and money going out.� Anthony was in denial and refused to acknowledge Melissa�s crimes. He was like, he was like this. He was sitting with his hands and I had to get him Coca-Cola, and I said I don�t, no one�s allowed to drink Coca-Cola in my house. Anyway it was just like�and I said �Anthony, you're gonna have to admit it because if you don�t admit it people are gonna think and continue to think that you were complicit. JUDY SWAN And I said �Anthony, you're gonna have to face reality.� MICHAEL MICHAEL All the people in the discussion group had many questions that they would like answered. The main one is Anthony, what part did you play? JUDY SWAN So, Anthony came to the stand. SARAH SWAN Council Assisting was putting to Anthony propositions which required Anthony to think objectively about the circumstances. So the phrase �from an objective perspective� was put to Anthony. It became quite clear� JUDY SWAN The language of the questions were beyond his... SARAH SWAN Vocabulary. JUDY SWAN Yeah, absolutely. SARAH SWAN He's being asked to relive the trauma of his wife having gone missing. JUDY SWAN Anthony was not understanding. He�d shut down. SARAH SWAN He just couldn�t take it anymore. KATE MCCLYMONT I feel totally bamboozled. JUDY SWAN Coroner sitting said that he should go and be medically checked. JUDY SWAN I tried many of my medical practitioner friends and no one would see Anthony. All Anthony could think of was �What about you know, the poor son? What about my poor son? Just take me to McDonald�s�. [Laughs] I remember him saying that �Take me to McDonald�s� and I started to laugh, and then Anthony and I � I took him to McDonald�s. [Laughs] In a nutshell. ROBBIE HIGGENSON I mean it just � there's red flags everywhere. JODI BLANCHFIELD It seems like he's trying to buy time. MICHAEL MICHAEL Anthony got what he wanted � to be stood down. I think he's not willing to disclose the truth, this is like a miniseries. KATE McCLYMONT So, the inquest, it escalated. A lot of doubts about Anthony Koletti. KATE MCCLYMONT Supposedly the cars weren�t examined. KATE MCCLYMONT The house wasn�t examined properly. KATE MCCLYMONT Which means key evidence might not have been noticed. But of course the police were saying they believed Melissa Caddick took her own life. KATE McCLYMONT And just when you thought this whole story could not be more bizarre, we learn the police�s main theory on how that foot had become detached from the body. JODI BLANCHFIELD What the? ROBBIE HIGGENSON Rubbish. KATE McCLYMONT I don�t know. KATE McCLYMONT You know, without hearing from Anthony, it's hard to know what to believe. Was it that she died by suicide, and that there was no-one else involved? Or is it that Anthony Koletti is hiding something? MICHAEL MICHAEL Yeah, well let�s see if he's gonna turn up again. [Laughs] KATE McCLYMONT A lot of speculation as to would he be well enough to resume? JUDY SWAN He's gonna soldier on no matter what. SARAH SWAN No matter what. PRODUCER And you are talking to me so you can keep looking at me. PRODUCER Let�s watch this one now. Okay, let�s watch this. PRODUCER So you're giving the police inconsistent accounts of when you last saw Melissa. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Yeah. I couldn�t even tell them what � what day it was on. Right? PRODUCER So � ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI It's trauma. PRODUCER Right, you're saying it's trauma? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Yeah. PRODUCER It seems like you're changing your story. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Yes. PRODUCER For the sake of being caught out here so you're changing your story. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Yeah, that�s right. PRODUCER I mean are you hiding something? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI No. No. I�m traumatised and, you know, I�m erratic. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI That�s not me being calm at all, that�s like hard to watch for me as well. PRODUCER Can you see how suspicious that makes you look? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Erm, yeah, maybe, to an untrained eye, yes. Yes. To a trained eye, no. JUDY SWAN I know there's been a lot made of his inconsistent statements. Well, people who have been through a traumatic event have memories of a sieve. SARAH SWAN Saying things which are inconsistent. SARAH SWAN � does not mean that you had anything to do with the disappearance or suspected death. It just doesn�t mean that. PRODUCER But she didn�t go for a run consistently. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI So that, yeah, refers to her training schedule, so she would train every morning, consistently. Whether it was running, walking, weights, whatever it was. PRODUCER Don�t you wanna be specific about what she's doing for the sake of giving the police as much clear information as you possibly can? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI At that point of time I was unable to because I was so frantic. PRODUCER If you're not specific can you see that it makes you look suspicious? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Ah, yeah, I can. I can. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI By saying, you know, everything�s taken care of, is that, everything�s okay. I didn�t wanna keep pushing on the fact that there was an ASIC search warrant prior, so that that made her feel comfortable. PRODUCER Do you, can you see how it looks like you�re casually lying? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I�m avoiding telling the truth to make my wife come home, so, so be it. PRODUCER Anthony, why did you wait hours? What were you actually doing? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI The last time that I spoke to Melissa was the night of the raid at around o�clock. I�ve come to bed and I�ve just kind of said �love you� and given her a kiss. I�ve fallen asleep sometime after that. And woke up at . or in the morning and she�s gone. You know, just - just like that. About . a.m. I took Melissa�s son to school. I�ve gone out, looked for her. PRODUCER You avoided going to the police station? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Only because I didn�t believe that she was missing at that point. But as time goes on I started to get a little bit more worried, and a little bit more worried, and then a little bit more worried. PRODUCER So why did you wait hours to report her missing? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I didn�t think that you were supposed to report until hours, that, I know, is, is not the case now. But it was a requirement of ASIC that she appeared in court on the th. I�d said in my mind right, if she doesn�t go to court then I�m gonna absolutely report her missing. So, when she didn�t show up to court, that�s when I called the police. How could you expect that you�re never gonna see your wife again? How could you expect that? You couldn�t. KATE McCLYMONT Having heard him today, I had a shift in sympathy towards him. KATE McCLYMONT And interestingly we�ve heard from the police that Anthony was never a real suspect in either the disappearance or the possible homicide of his wife. KATE McCLYMONT Yes, there were officers at the beginning who certainly believed that Anthony had something to do with his wife�s disappearance. KATE McCLYMONT But as detectives dug further into the story, this interest in Anthony vanished. JUDY SWAN I can say from my experience from the inquest and speaking to the police officers that not one of the police officers believed that Anthony was a suspect by the time they�d finished interviewing him. KATE McCLYMONT And so we were back to wondering, someone like Melissa could have killed herself. PRODUCER Why do you think Melissa did this? ANTHONY KOLETTI I don't know. PRODUCER Let�s get going everybody. So, this here, can you see that okay? DR RABHYA DEWSHI Yeah. So, I�m looking at an extract from the Forensic Psychiatrist report that was done for the inquest into Melissa Caddick�s disappearance. To address the question of whether Melissa would have been capable of suicide or, or of disappearing. Adult personality form from earliest childhood. Emotional needs are absolutely essential to healthy development as physical needs. So, if a child doesn�t feel safe on an emotional level some children become pleasers, you know, they're very obedient, they might behave badly or they might be the look at me child. DR RABHYA DEWSHI And they go back to Melissa�s early history. There was some problem with her hips which meant that she had to wear special boots and she had to wear nappies until the age of . That probably involved humiliation and shame for Melissa. It sounds as though Melissa compensated for the feelings from that earlier period by wanting to impress people. DR RABHYA DEWSHI I would say like lots of us have features of narcissism in what we do in an everyday sort of way. But these narcissistic behaviours or aspects of character, with Melissa, it seems to have developed into an intense level of narcissism. A set of characteristics and a way of functioning where a person needs admiration to a greater extent than is usual. The next thing that stands out is when she had a child, her husband reported that she experienced postnatal depression. Motherhood, and you put on weight and it�s really hard to maintain the image. She told her husband she wasn�t coping. She became obsessed with her appearance. She lost kilos and had liposuction. DR RABHYA DEWSHI There were also quite a few people who commented on how she was very organised. Which might sit quite nicely with a narcissistic strategy of everything�s in control. And then as time progresses, that theme seems to grow. PRODUCER How far would someone like this go to maintain their image? DR RABHYA DEWSHI I think that�s, erm, probably to any length. PRODUCER What would the raid have done? DR RABHYA DEWSHI Um, her cover was blown and there was no way out. It�s not a coincidence that she disappeared the, what was it, the day after the raid. In terms of the emotional self, that feels like dying. The exposure would have been too much for her. PRODUCER So would it be fair to say that someone with a narcissistic personality could very well have taken their own life? DR RABHYA DEWSHI Yeah. There is a barrier to overcome in terms of �what about my kid?� But if the pressure towards suicide is strong enough then mothers do. KATE HORN You know, she�s done a terrible thing and she won�t face justice. I think [Laughs] well, what a terrible, pathetic person. And still, Anthony Koletti is showing a lack of care for the hurt that Melissa has caused us. It is very painful. He knows what she did. So, it just, just that lack of consideration for our pain is, is hurtful. There seems to be denial. PRODUCER Her investors. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Yeah. PRODUCER Can you see they�ve been defrauded? JUDY SWAN Well, I said to him �at some stage you're gonna have to acknowledge the investor�s pain.� He, he said to me �I wish I�d never had that lifestyle. I would never have wanted this life. At least I would have had my wife. I would have had my wife. And my stepson would have had his mother.� KATE MCCLYMONT So, we're, we're in the media room and it�s been put to him do you now accept that your wife was in fact a thief who stole millions and millions of dollars from her friends and family? And he reluctantly just said �yes.� JODI BLANCHFIELD The husband of missing fraudster, Melissa Caddick, now accepts that she was a thief, an inquest has heard. That blew me away when I saw that headline. He�s finally realised that the person that he loved and lived with for all these years has conned him too. PRODUCER You've been on quite a journey with your relationship to the financial aspect. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Yeah I have. What, what, what do you believe Melissa Caddick�s done? PRODUCER Um, she�s taken money her clients have given her to invest. And instead spent it on herself. ANTHONY KOLETTI Yeah, yeah, for sure. And, and that�s, that�s what the, um, judge has, has enlightened me on. I, I do agree with that. PRODUCER Do you? ANTHONY KOLETTI Yeah, I do. Um� PRODUCER Tell me about that. ANTHONY KOLETTI Look, I can definitely understand that, um, she�s done the wrong thing. I can, I can see that. I've, I've, I've had to, um, try and put together with my very limited capacity, you know, what, what has happened by comparing it to who Melissa was to me as a person. And this is very hard. SARAH SWAN Progression from denial is not linear. He�s already lost his wife. A lot of his denial is his own emotional preservation. PRODUCER Her investors. ANTHONY KOLETTI Yeah. PRODUCER Can you see they've been defrauded? ANTHONY KOLETTI Yes, I can. I can. Um, I definitely can. A lot of the investors I'm really fond of. There�s a lot, um, people involved that I really care about. So, I do feel like they would feel pretty bad that they've lost money. I would say that I am sorry for that. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE I can�t even imagine what the Grimley�s and Adam, her son, are going through. UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE Papers and news outlets didn�t help either because it was an absolute shit show. AUCTIONEER Ladies and gentlemen, welcome to our evening sale of fine jewellery, luxury design. Lot in the matter of Melissa Caddick. And I have $, to start it. WOMAN Yes sir. AUCTIONEER We will sell it at ,. , now. Are we all through? Selling at $,. Sold. KATE HORN For my th, the last time that I saw Melissa, she gave me a gift which I still have. KATE HORN If you�d care to come through . Alright, so, this is a present Melissa gave me for my th. That�s a fairly expensive bottle of perfume and I, erm, I use it in the bathroom to, I spray my poo with it [Laughs]. Oh, it gives me a little bit of closure I suppose, I think, yeah. KATE HORN You know, I can�t help my kids now like, not in the way that I anticipated. I can, as a demonstration, if something goes wrong� KATE HORN Give it a spray. KATE HORN Then, you just get on with it. So, maybe being more of a role model might have more value even than something monetary. JODI BLANCHFIELD This is all really upsetting because the Melissa that I knew, she was honest to the bone. I'm not condoning what she done because I�m really angry with what she�s done. And if she was standing here right now I�d rip her a new one because and then I would say to her �what have you done to your family and your friends�. And this is where it�s been hard for me, the person that I've known all these years is all a load of bullshit. PRODUCER What does the future hold for you and this case, Robbie? ROBBIE HIGGENSON This case is virtually over for me. Unless Melissa is found alive somewhere. I�ll be moving onto other stuff. KATE McCLYMONT In the end, we are never, ever going to know what actually happened to Melissa. But, it�s a rare privilege to participate in recording history. Our journalism, it holds people to account, it helps inform people to make decisions about their lives. It really is a vital part of the daily life of our city. PRODUCER Anthony, this story has captivated the nation. How does it sit with you? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I think it�s bullshit that is entertaining people. The police have ruled me out of any wrongdoing years ago. That the six o�clock news, four o�clock news, late night news. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI � newspapers, every form of media basically, I believe insinuate that I�ve done something wrong. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI It�s blackened my name forever. I�ve had people sitting out the front of my house. I�ve had PIs following me. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I�ve been asked ah, you know, �have you murdered your wife� for example. People that don�t know me, that are influenced by mainstream media presume that I�ve done whatever they�ve heard. PRODUCER Do you think Anthony�s responsible for Melissa Caddick�s disappearance or death? KATE McCLYMONT I don�t. PRODUCER If the consensus from the police is he�s not responsible why wouldn�t you make a headline, �Police....� KATE McCLYMONT What do you think is more interesting? Like, it�s one of those things, you are painting a picture and you need to, you know, present something that captures their imagination. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Senior officer thought Melissa Caddick�s husband, Anthony Koletti, �likely killed� her, inquest hears. MICHAEL MICHAEL As far as I�m concerned he�s playing dumb. That�s a strategy. PRODUCER Is there anything that would convince you, anything, that Anthony�s not involved? MICHAEL MICHAEL No, Anthony is involved in her disappearance, he�s helped her. PRODUCER So nothing would convince you? MICHAEL MICHAEL No. KATE McCLYMONT In other opening lines we�ve said, police do not believe that he killed her. So, there has been a balance of how the information presents itself. PRODUCER Well the bottom line is no one fundamentally thinks Anthony�s guilty and yet the narrative seems to be he�s suspicious, and I wonder how that would make him feel. KATE McCLYMONT I can�t imagine how it would make him feel. ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI I�ve lost the love of my life. And I�ve done nothing wrong. I can accept that she has committed crimes, but it doesn�t make me love her any less. PRODUCER Despite? ANTHONY MARCUS KOLETTI Despite everything. Because we all need someone that cares about us and someone that understands us a person. I want to be that person for Melissa. I � I loved her and that, it doesn�t change that. It�s not about a financial crime to me. It�s about a dead wife. 5 The Missing Millionairess � Episode 5 Post-production script prepared by So Speedy www.sospeedy.co.uk