New Zealand Police have released CCTV footage believed to show a fugitive father who has been on the run with his three children in the remote wilderness for nearly four years.
Thomas Callam Phillips has been hiding his children Jayda, Maverick and Ember, in the dense New Zealand bush after taking them from their home in Marokopa on the North Island in December 2021.
The possible sighting comes after Phillips’ relatives last week urged the father to come home.
On Friday police released the clip showing two masked individuals loading groceries into containers on a quadbike outside a retail store 35 miles away in the small town of Piopio. The incident took place at around 2 a.m. on Wednesday, shortly before the store was burgled.
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New CCTV believed to show fugitive father who has spent years with his three children in the wilderness
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The shop owner, who did not want to be named, told CNN affiliate RNZ milk was the only thing that was taken despite vegetables and butter also being on display.
He said two people used an angle grinder to cut the padlock on his store’s outdoor chiller, triggering the alarm, and the pair grabbed some milk before fleeing on a quad bike.
”They turned down the opportunity to take butter, cheese and vegetables also stored in the chiller,” he added.
Officers are investigating the CCTV for any connection to Phillips and the store is one he’s believed to have targeted, unsuccessfully, in November 2023, Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Saunders said.
“We believe the pair in this footage are Tom and one of his children,” Saunders said.
“They were in the area for 13 minutes, having traveled in and out on a quadbike,” he added.
Police believe Phillips and his children are living off-grid, with the father using his survival skills to feed, shelter and clothe his children. They also believe supporters are helping him to remain at large.
Speaking to local media on Friday morning, Saunders said the break-in could be a sign Phillips was no longer getting the help he had been.
“Does it mean he’s potentially had a falling out with who’s helping him? Or is he just that brazen and confident that he’s quite happy to come out at night and commit a burglary?” he said, as reported by RNZ.
Last June police offered a reward of 80,000 New Zealand dollars ($52,000) for information leading to their location and safe return.
Phillips’ series of alleged crimes includes the armed robbery of a bank in May 2023, when two people were seen on closed circuit television escaping on a motorbike with cash.
Phillips already faces a range of charges including aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding, and unlawful possession of a firearm.
In her first interview since Phillips disappeared, his sister Rozzi Phillips told New Zealand journalist Paddy Gower how much the family misses him and wants him to return.
“I miss you, and I miss being part of your life,” she said, her voice breaking. “You’re very special to me… I really want to see you again.”
Rozzi Phillips, who told Gower that she had had no contact with her brother since he disappeared, also read out a handwritten letter from their mother to her missing son.
“It hurts every time I see photos of the children and of you and see some of your stuff that is still here, thinking what could have been if you had not gone away,” the letter said, according to New Zealand news site Stuff.
“Jayda, Maverick, Ember, I love you so much and really miss being part of your lives every day I wake up, and hope that today will be the day that you will come,” it continued.
In November 2023, Phillips and an unnamed child are also alleged to have smashed the window of a shop at 2 a.m., before fleeing on a stolen quad bike. Phillips has also been seen on CCTV, with his face covered, buying supplies in a hardware store.
Last year, the children’s mother, who identified herself as Cat, made an emotional appeal to anyone with information on her children’s whereabouts to call the police.
“I’m standing here before you today, begging you for your help to bring my babies home,” she said in a video posted to Facebook. “They are just innocent children.”
Of Jayda, she said, “She will be a young woman now, and she needs her mother.”
“Ember is asthmatic, as am I, and she needs medical care that cannot be provided from the land. And I can only imagine how Maverick is coping,” she added.
“What Thomas is doing is not okay,” she said. “None of this is okay. My babies deserve better.”
In his statement on Friday, Detective Senior Sergeant Saunders added: “At the heart of this are three children who have been away from their home for four years. Their wellbeing is our main focus.”