Family of New Zealand fugitive on the run for almost four years with his children plead for his return

The Guardian

a day ago

The family of a fugitive father who has been hiding for more than three years in New Zealand's rugged wilderness with his three children has pleaded with the man to come home, in some of their first public comments since he vanished.
Just before Christmas 2021, Tom Phillips fled into the Waikato wilderness with his children Ember, now 9, Maverick, 1o, and Jayda, 12, following a dispute with their mother. Phillips does not have legal custody of his children.
'I miss you, miss being part of your life and I really want to see you and the kids,' said his sister Rozzi Phillips, in her first interview since he disappeared.
Rozzi Phillips told New Zealand journalist Paddy Gower she hoped her public appearance would reach her brother, after other attempts to contact him through email and phone had been met with silence.
'I hope that just maybe, maybe, he is going to see this and maybe he is going to get to see that he can come home and we are here for him and it might just be OK,' she said.
Rozzi Phillips wanted her brother to know she missed him and loved him, and his children to know she wanted to be in their lives.
'No day that goes by that I don't think about all four of them,' she said.
Phillips' mother wrote a letter to her son, which his sister read out in the interview.
'It hurts every time I see photos of the children and of you, and see some of your stuff that is still here, thinking what could have been if you had not gone away,' she wrote.
'Jayda, Maverick, Ember, I love you so much and really miss being part of your lives every day I wake up, and hope that today will be the day that you will come home.'
Rozzi Phillips spoke highly of her younger brother, revealing details of the man whose ability to evade detection has fascinated New Zealand for years.
He was a good brother with an 'amazing sense of humour', she said, adding he was an excellent outdoorsman who could build, hunt and survive.
The vast Waikato region, where Phillips is presumed to be hiding is made up of long sweeping coastline to the west, forested terrain and farmland in the centre, limestone cave networks to the north and a smattering of small rural towns and settlements throughout.
Phillips comes from a farming family in Marokopa – a tiny coastal settlement of fewer than 100 people which has became inextricably linked with his story.
Before he disappeared, many New Zealanders would have struggled to pick it out on a map. It is a quiet, isolated settlement in the Waikato, two hours from the nearest city, Hamilton, with one long winding road in and out of the densely forested and hilly landscape.
The remoteness of the landscape has frustrated police attempts to locate Phillips.
While there is no suggestion his family helped Phillips, the question of how he has managed to conceal himself and his three children – and survive – in the harsh terrain has led to speculation others in the community may be aiding him.
Phillips' sister said part of her hoped he was being helped but that she would also 'be very angry' with anyone who did and failed to update the family on her brother and his children's wellbeing.
Phillips recent lengthy disappearance was preempted by an earlier – albeit shorter – stint where he went bush with his children. In September 2021, the four were reported missing and his ute was found abandoned along the Marokopa shoreline, resulting in a major search operation across land and sea.
Nineteen days later, Phillips and the children walked into his parents' farmhouse just outside Marokopa. Phillips claimed he had taken his children on an extended camping trip in dense bush in an effort to clear his head. He was charged with wasting police time and resources.
But fewer than three months later, the four were reported missing again and when Phillips failed to show for a January court appearance, a warrant was issued for his arrest.
Sightings of Phillips and his children over the three and a half years have been rare and fleeting. They have had little contact with society during this time – though Phillips took at least one child out of the bush in May 2023, when he allegedly committed a bank robbery in nearby Te Kūiti, and in November that year when he allegedly attempted to rob a small grocery store. While there were several other sightings in mid-2023 and an $80,000 reward was put up for information in June, the trail went cold.
Police have described Phillips as someone who 'doesn't live a mainstream lifestyle', eschewing social media and limiting his use of mainstream banks. Meanwhile, his purchases of camping items and seedlings suggested he was living off the land.
In October 2024, footage emerged of an adult and three children walking through Marokopa farmland, after a chance encounter with teenage pig hunters who pulled out their phones and began filming. Police believed it to be Phillips and his three children. A police search of the area the following day failed to find them.
In the interview with Paddy Gower, Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders said police were open to negotiations with Phillips and anyone who may be assisting him.
'Let's get everyone out of there safely,' Saunders said.
'Everything can be worked through … it's been long enough now and it is time to get those children out and let them get on with their lives, and Tom can deal with whatever he needs to deal with.'