Queensland Police confirm human remains found in bushland are those of missing teenager Pheobe Bishop
By Lottie Twyford and Johanna Marie for ABC News
Pheobe Bishop was last seen on 15 May when she failed to board a flight.
Photo:
Supplied
Australian police have confirmed human remains found almost two weeks ago are those of missing Queensland teenager Pheobe Bishop.
The 17-year-old from the Wide Bay area was last seen on 15 May when she failed to board a flight from Bundaberg airport.
Her housemates - James Wood and Tanika Bromley - have since been charged with one count each of murder, and two counts each of interfering with a corpse.
Police found human remains on Friday, 6 June in the Good Night Scrub National Park area near Gin Gin.
At the time, police had been unable to formally identify them, but said they were in contact with Pheobe's family.
Flowers, photographs and notes at the end of Airport Drive in Bundaberg, in memory of missing teenager Pheobe Bishop.
Photo:
ABC Wide Bay / Scott Lamond
In a statement released on Tuesday, Queensland Police confirmed the remains belonged to the missing teenager.
"Investigations into locating more items of interest in relation to this matter remain ongoing," it said.
Police said earlier this month that neither Pheobe's luggage nor mobile phone had been found.
Speaking on Tuesday, Bundaberg mayor Helen Blackburn said the formal identification was a "relief".
"We've been waiting to have the confirmation that it was Pheobe that was found... to have this now confirmed just means that we can move forward together," she said.
"The family will be able to lay her to rest in a respectful manner."
At the time of her disappearance in mid-May, Pheobe had been living in the town of Gin Gin, about four hours north of Brisbane, with her housemates.
Police allege all three were in the car on the way to Bundaberg airport, but the 17-year-old never made it into the terminal or onto the plane she was due to catch to Western Australia.
Her disappearance was declared suspicious on 21 May and the car and the house she had been living in were identified as crime scenes.
One of two crime scenes established six days after Pheobe Bishop went missing.
Photo:
ABC Wide Bay / Grace Whiteside
On 23 May, more than a week after she disappeared, police started searching Good Night Scrub National Park, an hour south-west of Bundaberg.
Cadaver dogs, water police, drones and State Emergency Service personnel combed through thick scrub and items of interest were collected for forensic examination.
That "physical" search was suspended after five days on 4 June.
Wood and Bromley were charged with her murder the next day, on Thursday, 5 June.
At the time, Pheobe's mother Kylie Johnson posted to Facebook "begging anyone that knows anything to come forward".
The next morning, Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield said police expected to find Pheobe's body in the greater Gin Gin area.
Detective Inspector Mansfield said police would allege her body "was moved more than once".
Suspected remains were found on the Friday afternoon, with police saying they hoped to bring "closure" to Pheobe's family.
Wood and Bromley's matters are due back in court in August.
- ABC
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