The heartbroken mother of three children who disappeared with their fugitive father three years ago is convinced her daughter may have screamed for help when they were seen walking through a forest last week.
Tom Phillips and his three young children, Jayda, 11, Maverick, 9, and Ember, 8, first went missing on September 11, 2021.
About 18 days later they returned to the family farm in New Zealand and relatives revealed they had spent the time living in a tent in dense bush.
However, months later they disappeared again and it is believed that they have been living off the land since December 2021.
In a shocking update to the case, Phillips and his three children were captured walking in camouflage gear on a remote coastal farm near Marokopa on October 3 by a pair of teenage pig hunters.
The 16-year-olds initially believed the group were poachers and called out to them from approximately 60 meters away when Jayda answered.
“I said, ‘This is private property,’ and she said, ‘Yeah… right.’ Then I asked, ‘Does anyone know you’re here?’ and she said, ‘No, just you,'” one of them recalled. the boys to the local media. Stuff.
The children’s mother, Cat, now wonders if her daughter was trying to get a message out to the public.
Cat (pictured) is the mother of missing children Jayda, 11, Maverick, 9, and Ember, 8, who are believed to be living off the land with their fugitive father, Tom Phillips.
‘Is that a cry for help? Is that: “Does anyone know we’re here?” Is someone coming for us?” We didn’t hear the tone of his voice, but for me, that’s what I think,’ he told Mata Reports in a long televised interview.
“It’s like he’s trying to say something without actually saying it because his dad is there, and he’s worried that if he says the wrong thing and phrases it incorrectly, he’s worried about the repercussions later.”
The four family members were wearing camouflage clothing and carrying large backpacks.
Phillips walked about 10 yards ahead of his children, who trudged single file behind him.
The sighting was reported to the police and was the first time Cat had seen images of her children in almost three years.
“It was really good, they bring their own equipment, it’s the best news anyone could hope for,” he said.
Cat lamented that her husband and three children had visibly lost a lot of weight when they returned home three weeks after she first disappeared in September 2021.
“I can’t imagine what they’ve endured these three years, it’s just wrong on so many levels,” he said.
Cat believes the police response to her missing children has been inadequate, adding that she hoped teams, including sniffer dogs, would be immediately deployed to the location where the children had been seen.
Cat said every day without her three children was a “nightmare” (pictured)
Tom Phillips (pictured) is wanted by police for an alleged armed robbery
The images were reported to police on Thursday, but Cat didn’t hear back from detectives until the next day.
“The system has failed my children miserably from the beginning,” she said.
‘They shouldn’t have to live like this, they deserve so much more. They deserve to have friends, they deserve to go to the park and eat McDonald’s.
In her attempt to cope with the loss of her children, Cat says she tries to pretend that they are not still missing.
She has two other daughters, who are older than her father’s three sons, but admits she feels “lost.”
‘Since they left, I got lost. It’s not me. They were my world, they were my everything,’ he said.
‘I feel like I didn’t fight enough, I didn’t make enough noise. I feel like it’s my fault.’
Reflecting on their relationship, Cat described how Phillips was extremely controlling of her.
She claims that he didn’t like her going anywhere or doing anything alone and that he didn’t want her to leave their children in daycare.
Phillips and his three children were filmed hiking in camouflage gear on a remote coastal farm near Marokopa on Oct. 3 by a pair of teenage hog hunters.
“Supporting Thomas is essentially supporting child abuse because that’s what it is,” Cat said.
‘I just want my babies to be home. I still have some of their clothes and Christmas gifts from the year they disappeared. I don’t even know what they look like now.
Phillips is wanted for questioning over an alleged armed robbery of a bank in Te Kuiti, near Marokopa, in September 2023.
CCTV showed Phillips driving a motorbike with another person, believed to be Jayda, on the back.
There have been several “unverified” sightings of Phillips since he went missing, but police believe the most recent images captured by hog hunters are the most credible.
In June of this year, a reward of $80,000 was offered for information that could locate the three children; However, the reward expired after eight weeks with no results despite more than 40 sightings deemed significant by agents.
