The owner of an F45 gym franchise who faked her own death to obtain a $700,000 life insurance payout has been sentenced to three years in prison.
Karen Salkilld, who claimed to have died in a car crash, was sentenced in Perth District Court on Monday.
In February, the 43-year-old posed as her partner Kelly Winter to tell Insurance Line that she had died in an accident in Broome, WA, two months earlier.
He submitted a claim using a false death certificate, a forged letter from the Coroner’s Court of Western Australia and a simulated death inquest record.
The deception was initially successful and a week after the false claim was made, the insurance company paid $718,923 into a bank account opened by the mother of two in Ms. Winter’s name.
But the fraud unraveled when Salkilld began making large withdrawals from the account.
The bank flagged the payments and froze the account before the police intervened.
Despite facing serious allegations of fraud, the so-called “dead woman walking” had been regularly seen nonchalantly going about her business.
Karen Salkilld (pictured) has been sentenced for faking her own death by posing as her partner by “displaying her image” on a passport and driving license in her partner’s name and posing as her to claim insurance payout .
Salkilld used the documents of his partner Kelly Winter, who is not involved in the scam, to impersonate her after faking his own death to defraud $718,923.
At Monday’s sentencing hearing, Judge Vicki Stewart said Salkilld’s crime required effort and perseverance and was not “opportunistic.” WA today reported.
“You were living beyond your means and overcommitted yourself,” he said.
Salkilld returned to Perth in 2019, bought an F45 gym and co-owned a farm with her mother in Beverley, 133km southeast of Perth.
In 2023, with mounting debts, she decided to sell the farm, but the deal fell through and she had already said she would buy another F45 gym, the court heard.
The farm eventually sold for less than he expected to get and Salkilld came up with the plan to fake his own death.
Mrs Winter, who the court heard had nothing to do with the fraud, wrote a character reference in support of her ex-partner, saying she was worried about Salkilld’s children if their mother was jailed.
But Judge Stewart said her offense was too serious to give her a suspended sentence and jailed her for three years.
Salkilld also has to return $101,771 to TAL Insurance, owner of Insurance Line, after the judge ordered the return of $617,191 held by MyState Bank.
He will be eligible for parole in February 2026, after serving half of his sentence, which dates back to August 2024; However, police indicated he could also face more fraud charges.