Nestled along the coastal bluffs of Dover Heights, Sydney, is the mansion that Australia’s most notable conwoman, Melissa Caddick, called home.
The luxury property was where she was last seen in November 2020.
She disappeared shortly after an AFP raid as part of an investigation into her fraudulent investment scheme, where she allegedly pocketed around $23 million from her friends and family.
Just three blocks back from the Pacific coast, Melissa’s contemporary-style mansion features five bedrooms across two levels, along with a rooftop terrace that has views of the harbour and bridge, a garage that once housed her sports cars, and a glittering pool.
The home sold in October 2022 for $9.8 million to Tongha He, who was later photographed tying a bag of red chillies to the front door
after taking possession of his new home.
Red chillies are believed to ward off evil intentions and burglars in Chinese tradition.
“At the end of the day, it’s just a house to us,” a woman who accompanied the owner told the Sunday Telegraph around the same time.
The money went to Melissa’s victims as did the proceeds of another Sydney property sold earlier this year.
Until its sale, her parents had lived in the $4 million penthouse with harbour views and a three-car garage.
GRISLY HISTORY
The little green home on Moorhouse Street in Willagee, just south of Perth, WA, looks like a slice of suburban serenity. But underneath the facade lies a dark history.
The home was once owned by Catherine and David Birnie, who sexually assaulted and murdered four girls there between October and November in 1986.
While the house has been totally renovated since the killings took place, the property hasn’t managed to totally shed its dark past.
Thanks to consumer laws, real estate agents are required to disclose any crimes that have taken place in a residence.
Real estate agent Tony Papineau, who has sold the Birnie’s house three times in the last two decades, says it’s important to let buyers know what they’re buying.
“You should really do it the right way – be upfront,” he shared when the house was last sold.
“Any agent should have a disclosure like this.”
The three-bedroom home where Mary Neilson, 22, Susannah Candy, 15, Noelene Patterson, 31, and Denise Brown, 21, died was sold in January 2021 for $425,000, which was under the average market rate.
Tony says the new owners and others who came to inspect the property were made aware of the home’s sinister past.
“Some people were concerned about it, some weren’t,” he told Domain.
“Some of them were just lookers, and felt they had some psychic connection and wanted to feel the vibe.”
Now sporting a fresh coat of paint, there are no visible signs of the Birnies’ crimes anywhere around the property.
Despite its grisly history, there have been no reported cases of hauntings at the home.
A fifth victim of the Birnies’, Kate Moir, who was 17 at the time she was kidnapped by the couple, managed to escape by jumping out of a window when she was unchained.
Dashing into a nearby shop, Kate informed the owner and police of her ordeal, which led to the Birnies’ arrests and subsequent confessions.
In 1987, David and Catherine were both sentenced to four terms of life in prison.
David was 54 when he was found dead in his jail cell in October 2005, while Catherine is continuing to serve her sentence at Perth’s Bandyup
Women’s Prison after being denied parole in 2007.
COUNTRYSIDE CULT
In the leafy and secluded streets of Mt Dandenong, Victoria, lies the semi-rural home that was once owned by Anne Hamilton-Byrne, who infamously headed up The Family cult.
From the 1960s to the 1980s, the charismatic yoga teacher won followers by claiming she was a reincarnation of Jesus.
She fraudulently adopted children and kept them isolated from the outside world to create what she called a “master race” that would save the planet.
Dressed identically with platinum blonde hair, the children were starved, beaten and drugged with LSD, among other medications, under the care of Anne and her followers, known as “aunties”.
Built in the 1930s, the now rundown 12-bedroom home sits on 2.1 acres of land surrounded by pine, elm, cherry and oak trees.
It last sold for $1.2 in January 2022.
In 1987, the home was raided by Victoria Police and the children were removed from the cult’s care, while Anne and her husband William were only ever charged with falsifying documents.
Anne died in June 2019 at the age of 98 after battling dementia.
Share this post