Everything we know about girl, 17, who vanished mysteriously on way to airport
Pheobe Bishop vanished after she failed to check-in for a flight to see her boyfriend - several worrying developments have come out during the 15 days she has been missing
Shocking new claims have emerged in the desperate hunt for missing Australian teen Pheobe Bishop, 17, who vanished on her way to the airport.
She was last seen leaving her home in Gin Gin, Queensland, on May 15, to head to the airport but she mysteriously never made it onto her flight. She had been due to board a flight to Brisbane and then continue on to Peth, where she planned to meet her boyfriend. Pheobe had been living with a couple - Tanika Bromley and James Wood - at the time of her disappearance. Shocking new claims about the teen have since been revealed.
Police said Pheobe was due to board an 8.30am flight on the day she was last seen, and have suggested the couple she lived with drove her to Bundaberg Airport - but it is not known if she was dropped off. It is also not clear why the teen was living with the pair. They were questioned by police and charged with unrelated weapons offences.
Police have not charged any people in relation to Pheobe's disappearance and it is not suggested the couple were involved. Cops have sealed off their house, where the teen had spent recent weeks, as forensic investigators search through the property.
Several worrying developments in the 17-year-old's missing persons case have emerged as this search enters its 15th day...
Worrying last phone call
Pheobe's heartbroken boyfriend, who was meant to meet the teen at Perth Airport, shared the concerning final call he heard from his girlfriend before she vanished. He said Pheobe rang him while she was being driven to the airport on the morning of May 15.
Her high school sweetheart said he was unable to hear anything on the other end before the call cut off. Despite this, he didn't think anything of it and went to Perth Airport to wait at the terminal for her but she did not arrive. Queensland Police are reportedly "quite confident" Pheobe didn't make it to Bundaberg Airport because she did not check-in to her flight.
Key CCTV footage
A car, similar to that Pheobe was driven in before she vanished, was caught on CCTV after she was meant to be on her flight. A grey Hyundai ix35 was spotted driving through Gin Gin at 10.30am the day she was last seen.
Cops have since seized a grey Hyundai ix35, owned by Wood, and have declared it a crime scene. The couple told detectives they gave Pheobe a lift to the airport that morning.
Shock weapons twist
Police discovered weapons inside Bromley's SUV. Detectives said these gun offences were "unrelated" but they have not completely ruled out possible links with the disappearance.
Bromley had already been on bail for other weapons offences after a sawed-off shotgun and flick knife were found in her car, back in February. Police confirmed Wood was charged with an unrelated weapon offence on Sunday.
Police said: "Police have charged a man with weapons offences, after police allegedly located a shortened firearm and ammunition during a search of a grey Hyundai ix35 and a Gin Gin home, both of which had been declared crime scenes for an unrelated matter."
Worrying messages Pheobe sent to friend
Pheobe told a friend days before she vanished that she had "been better" in concerning messages. The 17-year-old also told the pal, who was checking in, about her plans to go to Perth.
The teen wrote: "I've been better but I focus on the good s***. I take of (sic) to WA in three days! Get out of this s**t home for a bit so that will be good, just packing atm."
When asked how long she would be away for, Pheobe wrote: "10 days beautiful x"
Concerning family comments
Although it was not exactly clear why the teen has been living with the couple, social media posts she made before her disappearance suggested Pheobe has fallen out with her mum. Despite this, mum Kylie Johnson released a statement after her disappearance and said this was out of character for her daughter.
She said: "Pheobe would never not touch base with the people she loves. She would never go this long without contacting someone or anyone."
Kylie's sister, and Pheobe's aunt, Caz Johnson, however hit out at the mum and claimed the 17-year-old sent messages out of the blue on April 26. The messages from Pheobe said: "Up s*** creek but s*** happens." She added: "I'm flying the f*** out of here to see my boyfriend...If it goes to plan I'm not coming back. I can't do s*** anymore. I need to get out of this hell hole."
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Daily Mail
11 hours ago
- Daily Mail
EXCLUSIVE The five key questions that must be answered in the hunt for Pheobe Bishop - as mystery surrounding the missing teen deepens
More than two weeks after missing 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop was last seen in Queensland 's Bundaberg region, unsettling questions about her fate remain. Retired detective Charlie Bezzina, who spent 38 years with Victoria Police including 17 years as a homicide investigator and team leader, has been following the case. He's drawn on his years of experience to give Daily Mail Australia an insight into what may be happening behind the scenes on the investigation into her disappearance. Pheobe was due to fly from Bundaberg to Brisbane and then on to Perth to visit her boyfriend on May 15 but did not board her flight and was not sighted at the airport. Her housemates, Tanika Bromley and her partner James Wood, have been charged with unrelated firearm offences and the home they shared with Pheobe at Gin Gin has been sealed off, with forensic experts sent in. Bromley and Wood told detectives they drove Pheobe the 40 minutes from Gin Gin to the airport in a silver Hyundai ix35 hatchback, which was also seized. The couple has not been charged with any offence related to Pheobe's disappearance and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest either is involved in any way. Police have used cadaver dogs to search bushland in Good Night Scrub National Park, about an hour away from where Pheobe was last seen. Pheobe has not contacted family or friends and not accessed her bank account or social media. She has not used her phone since a last-minute call to her boyfriend before she was due to fly out to meet him. Bezzina told Daily Mail Australia detectives were right to be treating Pheobe's disappearance as a potential homicide and not simply a runaway teen. 'These type of jobs are problematic in themselves, given the high number of missing persons that occur during the year state-wide and Australia-wide,' Bezzina said. 'You need to look at the circumstances.' Since Pheobe vanished, a picture has emerged of an unsettled girl who had a strained relationship with her family and had been in and out of home for years. She had found accommodation with Wood and Bromley in a dilapidated house surrounded by rubbish from where a number of dead dogs were removed by police. In March, Pheobe had posted a video on TikTok saying she was not 'built for this town' and that those around her were not her 'people'. Pheobe's mother, Kylie Johnson, has said she was going through hell not knowing what had happened to her daughter: 'The tears come, the anger and frustrations come and most of all our hearts are shattering more and more each day.' Is Pheobe dead or alive? Police say there is no evidence Pheobe was ever dropped off at Bundaberg Airport. They have not found her luggage and there is no CCTV footage of her at the terminal. 'What we have here is a lady who was due to fly out, and she never made that flight, which is of concern,' Bezzina said. 'So that would heighten the anxiety of investigators to say, "Well, why hasn't she met that flight?" 'They would be gleaning as much information as possible in relation to her background, the facts of her living [circumstances], associates, friends, family and that type of thing to establish whether foul play has occurred. 'Whatever picture has been built up by the police would be indicative of their continued response in relation to it. 'Whilst it may appear sinister to us, there's been no indication of foul play, like any bloodstains.' Detective Acting Inspector Ryan Thompson has confirmed police were investigating reports Pheobe had been fighting with someone in the car on the way to the airport and was kicked out of the vehicle. Asked whether police believed Pheobe had met with foul play, he said they were not ruling out any scenario. Anyone with dashcam footage of the silver Hyundai in the Airport Drive, Samuels Road and general Gin Gin area on May 15 has been urged to contact investigators. Where are police searching and why? Police began a search of Good Night Scrub National Park last Saturday, nine days after Pheobe went missing. They introduced cadaver dogs to the bushland on Sunday. That search was suspended on Wednesday when police announced the 'greater Gin Gin' area remained the focus of their investigations. 'You can only go where the evidence takes you,' Bezzina said. 'And clearly, the evidence has taken them to a particular location. 'It is indicative that they've got certain intelligence in relation to why they've gone to that particular area. 'They've started the ground search with cadaver dogs and cadaver dogs are looking for human remains, which is indicative of possible foul play.' Bezzina said police would not have begun searching the national park until they had a good reason to do so, given the vastness of the bushland in the area. 'You just can't go and say, "You know what? We'll just look in this search area." It's got to be fact-driven in relation to the amount of resources you would then place in there. 'So, I wouldn't be critical of the police taking those days [before commencing that search]. 'Because at the end of the day, it's all about costings and justifying it to command and saying, "We need to give a full concerted effort to search in this location."' Acting Inspector Ryan Thompson said on May 27 police were trying to establish if evidence had been removed from the national park after they 'received information'. What if Pheobe has just run away? Bezzina said the worst mistake police could make in the case of a missing person was to have closed minds and therefore be complacent. 'It's quite easy to get tunnel vision,' he said. 'To say, "Ah well, she's a 17-year-old, she's got no family ties. She's a bit of an itinerant type of person. She comes and goes, and whatever her background may well be." 'The biggest flaw investigators can make is having a closed mind and saying, "Well, you know, she's just a runaway."' Retired detective Charlie Bezzina said investigators would be pushing their inquiries as hard as possible because time was vital in missing persons cases Bezzina cited the case of William Tyrrell, the three-year-old boy who disappeared from Kendall on the NSW mid-north coast in September 2014. 'Time and time again, investigators pay a significant penalty by not doing the job appropriately and to the full extent,' he said. 'When they do find a person is deceased and they say, "Jeez, what have we lost in the meantime?" 'So you've got to go full bore. You've really got to and put in as much resources as you can.' Are police putting in enough resources? Bezzina noted the investigation into Pheobe's disappearance was being handled by senior criminal investigators. 'I think from what I'm reading in the media, they are going full out,' he said. 'They are committing resources to it. 'They're looking at her bank movements, telephone, any other places that they might be able to track her in her movements, and they'll continue.' Bezzina said it was vital that senior investigators drive their junior officers to chase down every lead and then review that information. 'You've got to follow every avenue,' he said. 'And that's what separates a specialist squad like the homicide squad or the missing persons unit, because they know the pitfalls, as opposed to a general detective.' What's next in the investigation? Bezzina said investigators would be pushing their inquiries as hard as possible because time was vital in missing persons cases. 'As time goes on, we lose evidence, we lose witnesses, we lose memory, and we lose the impact from the community being involved,' he said. 'So it's keeping it alive in the community mind to be able to say, "We need you - you are the eyes and ears of us as investigators." 'it's really keeping that interest up and keeping that momentum up, from a team leader to your frontline investigators.' Bezzina said it appeared police were doing all they could to find Pheobe and anyone who might be responsible if she has met a grim fate. 'It's heartening to see that the police have taken this action given the thousands upon thousands of people that do go missing,' he said. 'I can't see any criticism for what the police are doing. It takes time. It's not a quick fix. It is being methodical, and there's no going back. 'We have got an individual, a 17-year-old individual, that for no apparent reason that we know of has gone missing, which is a cause of concern. 'And the buck stops with the police to give the family answers one way or the other.' Charlie Bezzina has for the past 14 years been assisting the family of 12-year-old Terry Floyd who went missing from Victoria's Central Highlands in June 1975.
Daily Mail
16 hours ago
- Daily Mail
BREAKING NEWS Mum of missing teen Pheobe Bishop admits the 'worst could have happened' in heartbreaking video
The grief-stricken mother of missing teenager Pheobe Bishop has admitted the 'worst case-scenario could have happened' to her daughter as she begged the public to share any information about her disappearance with police. Kylie Johnson's voice wavered as she fronted cameras for a video appeal shared by Queensland Police on Saturday, over two weeks after Pheobe was last seen leaving a home in Gin Gin, Bundaberg, on the morning of May 15. 'This investigation will not be over for me until we find Pheobe,' she said. 'I still hold hope that Pheobe will come home but I have to consider the possibility that she also won't. 'If the worst-case scenario has happened, I at least need to know where she's resting. I need to know where Pheobe is. 'My daughter wouldn't just disappear. Someone knows something. 'As a mum, I'm asking you to come forward with your information. 'Please speak to police if you have any information, big or small. You can report information to police anonymously, via PoliceLink or CrimeStoppers.
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a day ago
- Scottish Sun
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