Police suspect CCTV footage shows father of missing children months before new sighting in wilderness
New Zealand father Thomas Callam Phillips vanished with his children in 2021
Police think CCTV footage shows a fugitive dad who went on the run with his three children months before all four were spotted together for the first time in three years in the wilderness.
Thomas Callam Phillips is a fugitive in New Zealand after evading the police for three years since disappearing with his children Ember, Maverick and Jayda, now aged 8, 9 and 11 years old, into the rural North Island of the country following a split with his partner in December 2021.
New Zealand's North Island features a hilly landscape that serves as the backdrop to classic Hollywood film series' such as Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit, making it a lot harder to find people if they head over there to hide from the law.
Phillips headed to Marokopa with his children, where he grew up and his parents still reside, though his mother told TVNZ last year that she did not know of his whereabouts.
Missing since 2021
It's the second time Phillips has taken his children and disappeared.
In September 2021, after a police search on land and sea with helicopters and drones, they were found 'camping in a bushland', Phillips said.
Charged with police resources, he was given a court date for wasting police resources, but never showed up and instead disappeared again, though they weren't found near the beach this time. They never came home.
Police suspect CCTV shows Phillips committing crimes
In 2023, footage emerged that suggested that the father was making his children partake in criminal acts
In May last year, two masked people held up a branch of ANZ bank, eventually getting away with some cash while on a motorcycle, while the police later said that Phillips was the suspect, along with a female accomplice, both said to be armed.
According to a witness, the accomplice was small, 'even shorter than me', with Phillips now wanted for aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding and unlawfully possessing a firearm, on top of previous charges regarding his children.
Former detective inspector Lance Burdett said it suggests that the wanted man needed cash, explaining that 'you can only live so much on the land'.
In November 2023, Phillips and a child were alleged to have smashed the window of a shop at 2am before escaping on a quad bike.
It's not just crimes, as Phillips has allegedly been seen on CCTV in a hardware store, buying supplies, as police stated: “We know Tom has been sighted at retail locations across the Waikato region disguised with various masks.”
Phillips spotted with all three children for first time in three years
But now, new footage has been released, as a teenager that was hunting with a friend on his family's 8,500 acre property in Marokopa saw four people carrying backpacks in the distance and filmed it on his phone.
His grandfather John McOviney spoke to CNN, as the boy didn't want to be named or interviewed, revealing: “The guy had a big, long beard, and the kids were all masked up, and they were carrying packs, and they weren’t very keen to talk to them at all.”
The man wore camouflage gear and had a long beard as the rest of his features were covered, and police believe it could be Phillips.
This new footage, filmed a couple of weeks ago, is believed to be the first of all three missing children since 2021.
It was the first proof of life of the missing children since they vanished, as the country longs for authorities to find the missing kids and return them to their family.
Possible accomplices
The mayor of the Otorohanga district, which includes Marokopa, says that he believes that they aren't hiding alone.
“We absolutely believe that somebody, or some people, are helping them,” Baxter stated.
“Tom still has a number of supporters out there believing that he is doing the right thing for him and his children.”
The children's family beg for them to come home
Just, 5, 7 and 8 when they disappeared, Ember, Maverick and Jayda are still firmly in their mother's thoughts.
The children's mother Cat told the NZ Herald she was 'relieved' to see her children alive in the new footage, saying: "I’m so happy that they’re all there.
“I’m so relieved to see all three of my babies. They’re all alive."
A reward of NZ $80,000 dollars (£37,288) is being offered for additional information about the children's whereabouts.
The trio's older sister, Jubilee Dawson, also sent an emotional message out, speaking about how each of them is different to each other, but says that she thinks they are 'traumatised and scared', while the family is just 'waiting for them to come home'.
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