Shirtless housemate of missing teen Pheobe Bishop shows off his bloody pickup truck and knife collection in outback documentary - as his text messages to her are revealed

Daily Mail​

26-05-2025

The housemate of missing teenager Pheobe Bishop once starred in a shocking documentary where he proudly displayed his pickup truck decked out with blood and knives.
James Wood, who lived with the 17-year-old Queensland teen before she disappeared 10 days ago, appeared in a 10-minute film called Bad Company, ahead of the Calliope Ute Muster in 2017 - a popular festival in Australia featuring pickup trucks.
Bishop was last seen on May 15, leaving a rundown home in Gin Gin near Bundaberg where she had been living with Wood and his partner Tanika Bromley.
The short documentary, still available on Charles Sturt University website, showcases Wood's heavily modified truck, complete with a fake blood-splattered tray and a menacing array of knives as part of his competition entry.
At the front of the vehicle, a bonnet sign reads: 'Such is Life', the infamous last words attributed to Australian bushranger Ned Kelly. Another sign chillingly warns: 'Beware of gun owner!'.
During filming, Wood explains the blood and blades display as part of his chosen theme.
'So this is part of your setup, your theme?' the documentary maker asks when looking at the back of the ute with fake blood.
'Yep,' Mr Wood responds. 'Which is what again?' The documentary maker asks. 'Welcome to the outback,' Mr Wood replies.
The short documentary, still available on Charles Sturt University website, showcases Wood's heavily modified truck, complete with a fake blood-splattered tray and a menacing array of knives as part of his competition entry
Despite the gruesome presentation, Wood's setup won the competition that year - a point of pride he reflects on in the video.
In the documentary, Wood goes on to justify the controversial ute culture as a celebration of individuality.
'Life is too short to worry about what other people think,' Mr Wood says of the musters.
'If you get up every day and you've got a purple mohawk and that's the way you like it, then walk around with a big grin on your face.
'And when people ask you why you say 'because I can'. I think as much as the people who want to be happy in this life could take a lesson from it, the a******** who enjoy bringing people down could as well'.
Mr Wood says the competition is friendly between entrants.
'You definitely meet good bunch of people in this lifestyle,' Mr Wood says in the video.
'We are all what society would call a bit rough around the edges.
'But they're good where it counts and they're honest blokes so it's always good to catch up with the ones that you do become mates with.
'Some of them might live as far as six to eight hours away so you try to get to every muster you can because it's russian roulette as to who can get there, and who you get to see and who you catch up with.'
Mr Wood explained that the competitive event is like any other car show.
'Bugger what everyone else says,' he says.
'Ute musters are the same as any other car shows, it's just segregated only to utes.
'I fall under what is classed as a feral or a feral BNS, a feral BNS is generally what you'll find is the older cars, passed a certain age category.
'Creativity is at the heart of every part of this lifestyle and who we are and what we do, from how we dress, to how our utes are to the way we sell them.'
The film, directed by Emma Woodbright, is still hosted by the university and has resurfaced online amid growing interest in James Wood's connection to the disappearance of Phoebe Bishop.
Police have not named Wood as a suspect and no charges have been laid, but the resurfaced footage has sparked questions online, with social media users pointing to the macabre theme of his prized ute.
It comes after leaked messages from Wood have emerged after she vanished without a trace in Queensland.
Daily Mail Australia obtained the private messages that Mr Wood sent hours after Pheobe was reported missing.
'Hey hey how are you,' asked a concerned friend on Friday 16 May at 9.45pm.
'Yeah been better ayy darlz how bout you?' Wood replied on Saturday 17 at 6.18am.
'That's not good any word on Pheobe at all?' the friend asked.
'No nothing atm, but we are just printing up more flyers to go around and stick up every where and keep searching and hope she makes contact with someone ayy,' replied Wood.
The worried friend said they had their 'fingers crossed for her' and questioned the whereabouts of any CCTV that may help with the investigation.
'Surely the airport has footage,' they asked, before Mr Wood replied the following morning.
'I don't know ayy but how's this cause I was one of the last people to see her alive cops basically asked me if I did her in or hurt her at all ayy,' he said.
Mr Wood was questioned by police last week after Phoebe vanished, but was released without charge.
Bishop was last leaving a rundown home in Gin Gin near Bundaberg where she had been living with Wood and his partner Tanika Bromley.
Queensland Police believe the pair drove Pheobe the 40 minutes to Bundaberg Airport, where she was supposed to board an 8.30am flight to Brisbane and then onto Perth, where she planned to meet up with her boyfriend.
Detectives said they believe Bromley and Wood were the two people who drove her to the airport.
Though it's unclear why Pheobe was living at the Gin Gin house, the final posts she made to social media before she disappeared suggested the troubled teen had fallen out with her mother and would not return home.
The couple's neighbour, Shari Loughland, told Daily Mail Australia on Thursday that Pheobe had only been living there 'for a few weeks, up to a month or two'.
However, it seems she was also having a hard time living at the Gin Gin property.
A friend who wished to remain anonymous has shared the last messages they received from Pheobe, sent on Monday, May 12 before she went missing.
'I've been better but I focus on the good s***,' Pheobe said when asked how she was going.
'I take off to WA in three days! Get out of this s*** home for a bit so that will be good, just packing atm (at the moment).'
Asked how long she was going for, Pheobe replied: '10 days beautiful x'.
The Gin Gin property where Pheobe was living, cluttered with rubbish and a dilapidated bus, has been a hive of police activity during the probe into her disappearance.
When Daily Mail Australia visited the scene on Thursday, there was a pervading stench of decay emanating from the Milden St property, which witnesses speculated could be due to the dead dogs reportedly found at the home.
Early reports suggested police had discovered and removed four dead dogs from the scene, but one neighbour told Daily Mail Australia she believed as many as 13 of the animals had been found.
Pheobe's mother Kylie Johnson shared an emotional message on Facebook on Monday as the search for her missing daughter entered the eleventh day.
Ms Johnson said life was living a 'heavy hell' and explained the teen's disappearance was taking a toll on everyone with her son asking why his sister won't return his calls.
'Not knowing what to say, what to do or even how to continue to live in this cyclone of uncertainty,' she wrote.
'The tears come, the anger and frustrations come and most of all our hearts are shattering more and more each day'.