Police are continuing their search for missing Perth businessman Craig Puddy, after a pool of blood was found at his home and his four-wheel drive was found burned out in bushland near Perth.
Puddy, who was reported missing on Tuesday by his sister, is the son of NSW rugby league player Laurie Puddy, and was also an investor with his father in a forklift rental business called Merlo Group.
According to news site WA Today, Puddy resigned as a director of Merlo Group on Monday and sold his shares in the business to an Italian firm which was a joint venture partner in the company.
The site says Puddy was in the process of moving to Sydney to start his own forklift business, and was selling his home in Perth for $3.2 million.
Removalists turned up to his house on Tuesday, but the millionaire was nowhere to be found.
Police have confirmed they are also looking for an associate of Puddy, Cameron Mansell, the manager of a Perth bar that Puddy part owns. Mansell has also been reported as missing.
It has been reported that Puddy and his other business partners were in the process of trying to sell the bar.
Police have scoured Puddy’s property and divers were sent into the nearby Canning River to look for clues.
Of most interest is a wheelie bin that was spotted at Puddy’s home on Monday but is no longer there.
“There may be any number of items that are able to assist us or any amount of evidence that we can gain from that bin, so we don’t know what that bin may provide us, but clearly it was at the house, it’s no longer there and that’s why we need to find it,” Detective Senior Sergeant Greg McDonald of the WA Police told the ABC.
James was the editor and publisher of SmartCompany and LeadingCompany for five years. He is now the Australian Financial Review‘s companies & markets editor, and a former BRW editor.
