Police have provided a significant update in the investigation of a missing 17-year-old girl who vanished last month.
Pheobe Bishop was last observed leaving her home in Gin Gin, Queensland, Australia, on May 15. She was scheduled to catch an 8.30am flight to Brisbane, followed by a trip to Perth to see her boyfriend.
Nevertheless, CCTV footage revealed she never went inside the terminal, despite reports of being dropped off there.
The teenager was reportedly last seen ‘carrying luggage’ while ‘wearing a green tank top and grey sweatpants’, but never showed up for her flight.
Queensland Police have now confirmed, in a heartbreaking update, that ‘human remains’ were discovered near Good Night Scrub National Park around 2.30pm today (June 6), although formal identification of the remains is still pending.
In a statement, the police said: “Police have located what is believed to be human remains following a search of an area near Good Night Scrub National Park near Gin Gin this afternoon, June 6.
“The remains are yet to be formally identified; however, investigators are in contact with the family of missing 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop.”
Earlier today, Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield mentioned their expectation to find Pheobe’s body in the broader Gin Gin area, noting: “We are suspecting we may locate Pheobe, but it is a broad, unforgiving area that we’re trying to narrow down,” according to ABC News.
Detectives suspect the alleged body ‘was moved more than once’.
Police have also confirmed the arrest of a couple, Tanika Bromley, 33, and James Wood, 34. They have been charged with one count of murder and two counts of interfering with a corpse.
The investigation is ongoing, but detectives believe the couple drove Pheobe 40 minutes to Bundaberg Airport.
The couple was initially questioned and released without charges on Wednesday (June 4), until new evidence came to light on the day Pheobe disappeared.
The footage revealed a car, resembling the one Pheobe was allegedly in, passing through Gin Gin two hours after her supposed drop-off.
Bromley is believed to own the Hyundai ix35. Shortly after the footage emerged, police announced the discovery of an ‘item of interest’ in the park and declared the vehicle an ‘active crime scene’.
Wood had previously spoken to the Daily Mail after being initially released, stating that Pheobe was ‘complaining’ during the journey to the airport.
He told the outlet: “She gets like that sometimes and usually we can calm her down but she was escalating and then she smashed the TV.”
When tensions reportedly flared again, the 34-year-old said they left Pheobe in the car.
“We wanted to give her five minutes, give her her own space to do what she needed to do,” Wood explained.
He then claimed that when they returned, Pheobe and her bag were missing.
Pheobe’s mother, Kylie Johnson, expressed that her daughter’s disappearance is ‘out of character’.
In response to the latest update on the arrests, Johnson said the news is ‘ripping me apart’.
“I didn’t think my heart could break anymore then it did when you went missing, or when the charges were laid but this.
“This is ripping me apart,” she expressed.