In a casual remark that’s sent shockwaves through New Zealand, the owner of the PGG Wrightson farm store in Piopio has unwittingly unveiled a horrifying secret about fugitive Tom Phillips, the father who hid his three children in the wilderness for four years before his fatal shootout with police on September 8, 2025. “Tom Phillips came here to steal baby milk,” shopkeeper Murray Taylor told a local reporter on September 19, 2025, in what seemed like an innocuous anecdote about the burglary that preceded the tragedy. But those words have ignited a frantic police investigation into rumors of a “newborn baby” hidden with Phillips and his daughters Jayda (12), Maverick (10), and Ember (9), leaving the nation gripped by dread and speculation on X (#PhillipsBabySecret).
Taylor’s comment, made during a NZ Herald interview about the early morning break-in where Phillips and one child allegedly stole supplies, has flipped the narrative. “He grabbed formula tins—said it was for the little one,” Taylor recalled, his words sparking whispers of an infant in Phillips’ care during their remote Waikato campsites. Police, who discovered the children emaciated but “unharmed” at a bush hideout, now scramble to verify if a fourth child—a baby—survived the ordeal. “We’re pursuing all leads,” Acting Deputy Commissioner Jill Rogers said in a rushed presser, her face pale. The rumor, fueled by Ember’s leaked “I want milk” plea and campsite baby bottles found September 15, suggests Phillips fathered a child with the “mystery woman” who aided their escape, a revelation that could rewrite the saga.
Cat Christey, Phillips’ ex and the children’s mother, 46, facing drink-driving charges, blasted the claim as “lies to tarnish Tom,” but her own custody battle intensifies scrutiny. Phillips’ sister Rozzi defended him: “He’d do anything for his kids—even steal for a baby.” X is a storm of horror: “A newborn in the bush? What monsters are we?” vs. “Tom was a dad fighting for all his family!” The investigation, probing formula thefts from 2023 sightings, could uncover a tiny survivor or a tragic loss. As Oranga Tamariki cares for the three girls, this “baby milk” slip-up exposes a darker layer to Phillips’ desperate run—love or lunacy? New Zealand holds its breath for answers in a story that refuses to end.
