Fugitive father Tom Phillips, who disappeared into remote Waikato bush in 2021 with his three children – Jayda, now 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9 – has been killed in a major incident in Waitomo, in western Waikato.
There had been numerous sightings of the family since they were reported missing from their home by family on January 18, 2022.
A warrant to arrest Phillips had been in place by police related to unlawful possession of a firearm, aggravated wounding and aggravated robbery.
Phillips, who did not have legal custody of the children, was spotted several times over the last few years.
Here’s the timeline of the Phillips case
January 2022
In January 2022, Phillips missed his court date for earlier taking his children into the bush in September 2021.
They’d been living in Ōtorohanga, 50km south of Hamilton, and vanished a couple of days after visiting Phillips’ parents’ farm in coastal Marokopa on Waikato’s west coast.
A huge and expensive search by police and locals was called off after 12 days and then five days later still, the family turned up in good health. They had, apparently, been camping nearby.
Phillips was charged with wasting police resources, and was meant to appear in court.
But on December 9, the family vanished again. Phillips missed his January 12 court appearance and a warrant for his arrest was issued.
February 2022
In February, Phillips went into a family member’s home to get “supplies”.
The fugitive dad reportedly provided reassurances to his family that he and his children were well but never shared where they were living.
And then he and the children were off grid for well over a year.
May 2023
In May 2023, two armed people entered an ANZ bank in Te Kūiti.
The pair demanded cash before fleeing on a black, farm-style motorbike, dropping money as they made their escape.
In September, police issued an arrest warrant for Phillips after linking him to the robbery.
It was then that he was charged with with aggravated robbery, aggravated wounding and unlawfully possessing a firearm.
A witness said the second offender had a girl’s figure, however police have been unable to confirm their identity.
August 2023
There was a flurry of confirmed Phillips sightings in the Waikato region in August 2023.
He was driving a brown/bronze 2003 Toyota Hilux flat-deck ute at the time and his children were not with him.
During a trip to Bunnings Warehouse in Te Rapa, Phillips disguised himself by wearing a beanie, glasses and a face mask.
CCTV images showed the ute leaving the store, having purchased camping supplies.
It was the children’s mother, Cat, who reported the sighting to police.
Phillips was later involved in an altercation with a motorist in Kawhia, about 82km away.
Police were called – even deploying the Eagle helicopter from Auckland – but had no luck.
The ute was later found fully submerged in some bush near Te Awamutu, emptied of the supplies purchased at Bunnings.
November 2023
Police named Phillips as the prime suspect of an attempted robbery of a superette in Piopio, a small town near Te Kūiti in November 2023.
It is believed one of his children was with him at the time of the incident, about 2.10am.
A stolen quad bike was used to smash the shop’s glass window, however an alarm prompted the pair to flee south on the quad bike.
June 2024
Seven months after the Piopio sighting, police offered an $80,000 reward for any information on the location and safe return of the Marokopa children.
Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders told the public police believed Phillips and his children were being assisted.
The reward expired with no significant breakthrough.
October 2024
Five months later, Phillips and the children were allegedly spotted by pig hunters north of Awamarino.
The group were wearing wet weather hiking gear and camouflaged backpacks.
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Footage appears to show fugitive Tom Phillips and his three children
VIDEO CREDIT: Supplied
Video provided to Stuff showed the group trekking through rough, overgrown terrain before disappearing behind a hill.
At the time, Saunders said this was the first sighting of all three children together.
A search was supported by the Auckland-based Eagle helicopter and a Royal New Zealand Air Force helicopter but nothing ‘of significance’ was found.
August 2025
The family of the Marokopa fugitive gave their first interview in August, with his mum writing a heartfelt letter to him and her three grandchildren.
The Phillips family appeared on the first episode of Paddy Gower Has Issues in a desperate bid to get Tom and the kids to come out of the bush.
Tom’s mother, Julia, put her plea down on paper, hand-writing a letter described by his sister, Rozzi Phillips as “from a mother’s heart, just to her son”.
Just a few days after the interview aired, the fugitive father and what was believed to be one of his children were seen on CCTV in Piopio.
In the footage, a superette was broken into with power tools, and the two people dressed to obscure their identities with masks could be seen speeding off on a quad bike.
The manager of the store allegedly hit by Phillips on Wednesday has revealed more detail of what happened.
The Piopio Superette store manager, who did not want to be named, told Stuff that the pair came in around the back of his building through a small section of wooden fence between buildings.
They got the padlock off his chiller and opened the door, only for the alarm to go off, he said. He said they grabbed some milk out the front and shut the door once the siren sounded.
Saunders told media at a briefing that they did not want to “get into a confrontation situation” with Phillips.
September 2025
On September 8, 2025, the hunt for Phillips ended, but the search for his children continued.
A burglary was reported at PGG Wrightsons in Piopio. Again, a quadbike was used by Phillips and one of his children to break into the store.
After calls to police from the public, officers deployed road spikes near Te Anga Rd.
The quad bike hit the spikes by the Te Anga Rd intersection and went off the road, at which point a shootout began with police.
More police arrived and Phillips was shot and declared dead at the scene.
Jayda, one of Phillips’ children who was on the quadbike, was safely taken into custody by police.
By midday Monday, police had serious concerns about the two other children – Maverick and Ember – and were continuing to search for them.
