Melissa Caddick [Source: BBC]

Australian police say they have found the partial remains of a fraud suspect who vanished from her Sydney home four months ago.

Businesswoman Melissa Caddick’s disappearance has captivated public attention, amid allegations she stole millions of dollars from her clients.

Police had found no trace of her until last week when campers spotted a shoe containing a decomposed foot on a beach 400km (250 miles) south of Sydney.

DNA testing matched it to Ms Caddick.

The financial adviser’s “time and cause of death” would now be determined by a coroner, New South Wales Police assistant commissioner Mick Willing said on Friday.

“It remains a mystery as to when and how she came into the water,” he told reporters.

“At this point we can’t rule out anything. We have kept an open mind, however given the circumstances of her disappearance… we have always considered the possibility that she may have taken her own life.”

He said ocean drift modelling done by the police had shown it was possible that Ms Caddick could have entered the water near her Sydney home.

Police were scouring a national park near Tathra on the state’s south coast in the hope of finding more clues, he added.