25-05-2025
Dark history of town where Pheobe Bishop lived as details emerge about hauntingly similar case of young girl, 15, who vanished decades ago
An eerily similar case to that of missing Pheobe Bishop has emerged with a 15-year-old girl disappearing from the same Queensland town years earlier.
Rebecca Richardson was last seen at the Gin Gin Santa Fair, Bundaberg in 1998. She had been scheduled to catch a flight to England the next day to be with family.
Pheobe, 17, was last seen leaving a home in Gin Gin, where she had been living with couple Tanika Bromley and James Wood, on May 15.
It's believed the couple drove Pheobe 40 minutes to Bundaberg Airport where she was due to board an 8.30am flight to Brisbane and then onto Perth where she planned to meet up with her boyfriend.
The pair have been questioned by police and were released. No charges have been laid over Pheobe's disappearance and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Mr Wood and Ms Bromley were involved.
Rebecca's body has never been found and no one has been charged with her murder.
Nine years ago, 18 years after Rebecca's disappearance, her friend Bec Marks spoke out about her death.
Before Rebecca was last seen alive, the 15-year-old's father had recently died and she and her younger sister were in the care of friends, including a man who would later be imprisoned for his role in her death.
The 15-year-old's disappearance was reported to the police when she failed to show up to a party attending the Gin Gin Santa Fair.
'When she went missing, me and a group of friends went to the police to say she was missing, it wasn't like her,' Bec told The Courier Mail.
'She was meant to come to a party after the Santa Fair and never showed up. And she never claimed her ticket (to London).
'At the time she went missing she was staying with friends and she was going there to get the key to her father's house to go and get a few belongings from her house ... she never made it.'
Although no one was ever charged with Rebecca's murder, Jodie Martin Stephen Van Der Vegt pleaded guilty to being an accessory after the fact in 2002.
He was sentenced to eight years' imprisonment.
During court proceedings, Van Der Vegt admitted to helping dispose of the 15-year-old's body.
His wife initially protected him but later told police her husband had told her he had witnessed Rebecca's murder and helped bury her body at a local dump.
Van Der Vegt was found to have given false information to Rebecca's friends.
He also lied to police for more than two-and-a-half years, including suggesting the 15-year-old was still alive.
Meanwhile, an update from police on Friday said they would continue to search the wider Gin Gin and Bundaberg areas for Pheobe and 'no one is in custody in relation to this investigation'.
Detectives have yet to ascertain why Pheobe was living with Ms Bromley and Mr Wood, but in her final social media posts before she disappeared it suggested the troubled teen had fallen out with her mother and would not return home.
Pheobe's family released a statement on Saturday in which they described her as strong-willed and someone who followed her own beat and loved music.
'I've always called her my "wild gypsy banshee",' the statement said.
'You can't tame Phee's spirit, empathy or fight for life. She is sassy, feisty and loves harder than anyone I've ever (met).
