A New Zealand woman is frustrated after a farmer found her fugitive ex-partner and their three children, who have been missing since 2021, but police were unable to find them, according to the New Zealand Herald. It was reported that it was announced. reported Wednesday.
Kat Phillips revealed that on October 3, footage of her ex-partner and bank robbery suspect Tom Phillips and their children Jada, 11, Maverick, 9, and Ember, 7, was released. After the leak, he spoke to the same media. The four disappeared in September 2021 and were reportedly found on Saturday near Phillips’ hometown of Marokopa on New Zealand’s North Island.
“He’s trying to teach me a lesson,” Kat said of her ex-partner. “He doesn’t care [the children]they are just pawns in this game. ”
A 16-year-old pig hunter who worked on his grandfather’s farm captured footage of what he believed to be the missing foursome trudging across the farm’s rugged terrain, carrying backpacks. said Outlet. He also said the children asked, “Who else knows we’re here?”
Hunter claimed to have seen Phillips armed with a gun and reported the footage to police.
WATCH: Missing New Zealand father Tom Phillips and three children found alive and well three years after disappearing without a tracehttps://t.co/YyPK1u2wJ3 pic.twitter.com/mX8H67ZcjW
— Video Forensics (@Video_Forensics) October 9, 2024
When Kat saw the children alive in the video, she said it was “overwhelming, amazing, the best thing that happened.” “I’m feeling a little unwell…”
The sighting prompted a three-day search using aerial surveillance, but police later announced that “nothing more significant was found,” the newspaper reported. (Related: Hundreds of missing children rescued in U.S. Marshals operation)
Kat lamented the minimal progress in the search, saying, “There have been confirmed sightings, but we don’t know anything yet.” She said finding the children seems to be “outside the scope of the police.” Ta.
“I expected them to be down to earth and not have marked police cars driving around the area,” she said. “I would expect them to be on the scene in secret and not draw attention to the situation.”
Phillips’ truck was originally discovered underwater after a quartet performance disappeared from the beach A major search and rescue operation was launched near Marokopa in 2021, the New Zealand Herald reported.
After the four returned about three weeks later, police charged Phillips with “wasting police resources,” but Phillips said he needed a time-out. Authorities issued a warrant for Phillips’ arrest after she disappeared with her children a month ago and failed to appear at her December 2021 trial.
Mr. Catt made a public complaint in May 2022, claiming that someone must be helping Mr. Phillips “off the grid.” The missing children’s maternal families have also offered a $10,000 reward for their rescue in September 2022.
Phillips is accused of robbing a bank and shooting a supermarket employee in May 2023, and a warrant has been issued for his arrest on charges of aggravated robbery, aggravated assault and unlawful possession of a firearm.
Police confirmed that Catt found Phillips in disguise in a parking lot in August 2023. Catt pursued his allegedly stolen truck, but Phillips managed to escape. Police reported 14 sightings of Phillips throughout September 2023, but searches ultimately turned up nothing.
Phillips was allegedly caught on surveillance footage entering a store with one of her children in November 2023. He is also said to have stolen a bicycle from a rural property.
Police offered an $80,000 reward in June for information on the quartet’s whereabouts, but that offer expired in two weeks.
