Police suspend search at Good Night Scrub National Park for missing teenager Pheobe Bishop, suspect evidence may have been moved

Sky News AU

28-05-2025

Police have suspended a dense bushland search for missing teenager Pheobe Bishop, after she vanished without a trace from regional Queensland, more than a week ago.
Detectives have, however, expanded their search for the teen after discovering some evidence at the Good Night Scrub may have been moved prior to police arrival.
Pheobe, 17, was last seen being driven in a grey Hyundai ix35 to Airport Drive, Bundaberg, on the morning of May 15 with her two housemates, Tanika Bromley and James Wood, from a Gin Gin property.
The teen was scheduled to fly from Bundaberg to Western Australia, via Brisbane, but never made it to her flight.
Footage from the airport also failed to locate Pheobe ever entering the terminal, despite her housemates claiming she was dropped off.
After establishing two crime scenes at the Gin Gin property and the grey Hyundai she was being driven in, police began an intensive search of the Good Night ScrubNational Park, 360 kilometres north of Brisbane, last Friday, in search for any evidence relating to Pheobe's disappearance.
Specialist police, including the Dog Squad, worked alongside rescue helicopters, divers, and the SES to scour the dense bushland and waterways in the area, but the search was called off late Tuesday afternoon.
Queensland Police revealed on Saturday some items believed to be linked to the investigation were located during their search of the rugged area and have been seized for forensic processes.
"Investigations are ongoing and police are continuing to run out several lines of enquiry," Queensland Police wrote in a statement on Wednesday morning.
"In addition to investigative work, physical searches will continue as needed and as information is provided.
"The greater Gin Gin area remains the focus of the investigation."
With the search of the bushland suspended, Detective Acting Inspector Ryan Thompson confirmed investigations into the teen's disappearance remain ongoing.
Police are continuing to appeal for information, vision, or sightings of the grey Hyundai ix35 in which Pheobe was last seen travelling between May 15 and 18.
The latest update in the search comes as the teen's housemate Ms Bromley, 33, was granted bail, after police allegedly located a shortened firearm, ammunition and two replica handguns, inside her grey Hyundai.
Ms Bromley, who is also a mother-of-two, has been charged with two counts of authority required to possess explosives and one count each of possessing/acquiring restricted items and unlawful possession of weapons.
On Tuesday, Magistrate John McInnes told Bundaberg Magistrates Court the 33-year-old seemed to have an "unhealthy interest" in weaponry, but her limited criminal record and possible subjections to "coercion, violence and duress" were in her favour, the ABC reported.
She was granted bail with a curfew, and an order to report to the police station three times a week.
The matter is set to return to court on June 23.
Detective ­Inspector Ryan Thompson said the weapons found in Ms Bromley's car had not been linked to Pheobe's disappearance.
'That vehicle was seized by police, it was treated as a crime scene. A number of examinations were conducted on that vehicle and items seized and that has since been released by police,' he said.
'There's no suggestion at all that this weapon was involved in this investigation …'
The case took a deeper turn on Monday when the Hyundai vehicle owned by Ms Bromley, was seen sporting bizarrely altered number plates.
The original number plate read '414 EW3' and has apparently been altered with reddish paint and black electrical tape to read '474 BW8', with the registration changed from Queensland to 'NSW'.
The Hyundai symbol at the back of the vehicle was also painted over to resemble a Toyota symbol.
Police are currently investigating the changes.
Pheobe's mother, Kylie Johnson has made a series of posts on social media since her daughter's tragic disappearance and is continuing to reach out to her, despite the teen's inactive accounts.
On Tuesday Ms Johnson wrote she will not correct people's judgements and accusations about her her family, as her relationship with her daughter has recently come under the microscope.
"Finding it hard to get out of bed today.. To find the strength to put one foot in front of the other and know what to do, what to think or what to say," she wrote in a post on Facebook.
"People have judgements, accusations and continue to say untruths. I'm not going to correct you or be investing what little strength I have to be correcting these statements or people.
"We as a family are just trying to go through the motions of waiting for Phee to come home."