F45 instructor Karen Salkilld caught faking her own death in Perth

By Candace Sutton for Daily Mail Australia

05:41 June 21, 2024, updated 06:19 June 21, 2024

A woman who allegedly died in a car crash in Western Australia last December actually faked her own death to claim more than $700,000 in life insurance.

Karen Salkilld, 42, was caught by a 9News reporter going about her business in Perth – shopping, running her F45 studio and returning home – after committing insurance fraud.

Ambushed while leaving the North Lake mall parking lot, Salkilld reacted sharply when asked, “Why did you fake your own death?”

Gripping her hands to her chest, she replied, “What is it! Who are you guys? I’m not talking to you guys.

The reporter followed her as she was about to cross the road and asked her: “How did you think you could get out of this?” You are accused of serious fraud offenses.

Salkilld’s elaborate fraudulent scheme involved posing as his female partner to claim a massive life insurance payout after faking his own death.

Karen Salkilld (above), who is believed to have died in a car crash in Broome, Western Australia, last December, had actually faked her own death to claim more than $700,000 in life insurance.

The F45 fitness instructor, 42, became angry when challenged over her elaborate fraud, which included impersonating her own partner to claim compensation life insurance.

According to Nine, Salkilld initiated the fraud on February 7 by starting a life insurance claim with a company while posing as his partner.

The statement said Karen Salkilld had died in a car crash in Broome two months earlier.

Salkilld included a falsified death certificate, a letter from the WA Coroner’s Court and an inquest file into the alleged death.

A week later, the insurance company paid $718,923 into a bank account opened by Salkilld in the name of his partner, who was not involved in Salkilld’s fraud.

When journalist Michael Stamp asked Salkilld why she faked her own death, she replied: “Jesus Christ, go find someone else.”

Fraudster Karen Salkilld is an assistant football coach for the East Fremantle Sharks club.

Salkilld is pictured in Broome, where she claimed to have died in a car crash last December.

Salkilld is seen at her F45 fitness studio, where she was casually going about her business this week after pleading guilty to a $700,000 fraud.

Over the next few days, Salkilld made several payments from the account, but due to their nature the bank flagged the payments and froze the account.

In an attempt to unblock the account, Salkilld went to the Palmyra police station with various forms of identification, including a Medicare card and a driver’s license, certified by a police officer.

These copies of ID documents were heavily altered before being submitted to the bank, but did not pass the verification process, Nine reports.

Police arrested Salkilld in March. At her first court appearance, she pleaded guilty to offenses including profiting from fraud and intending to defraud by knowingly using a false record.

Salkilld is an assistant football coach for the East Fremantle Sharks club and operates the F45 fitness studio in Applecross, Perth.

Her social media pages feature photographs of her with her two children in Broome.

She is due to be sentenced in the Western Australian District Court in July and faces up to seven years in prison.

When 9News followed her to her Perth home, she turned on the reporter and said: “Are you trying to make things worse? Or are you trying to bring the F45 back under the banner or what?

After entering her property, she shouted through the fence, “Jesus Christ, go find someone else.”