(Clockwise from top left) Tom Phillips, Jayda Phillips, Ember Phillips and Maverick Callam-Phillips. Photo: Supplied / NZ Police
The police shooting of a man after a burglary in Waitomo on Monday morning brings to an end one of the most unsettling incidents in recent New Zealand history: the disappearance of Tom Phillips and his three children from remote Marokopa.
For nearly four years Phillips lived in hiding, slipping in and out of sight across remote farmland and bush, while his children - Jayda, Maverick, and Ember - grew up in isolation from their friends, their family and community.
Their mother, Cat, described it as a living nightmare.
"They are who I am, and since they've been gone, I've lost my way. I'm not me. I'm lost. I'm lost without them."
The disappearance
In September 2021, when Phillips' Toyota Hilux was discovered abandoned at Kiritehere Beach, police thought they were investigating a tragedy, not a crime.
The truck had the keys under the mat, the car seats in the back. It was parked below the high-tide mark, waves crashing over its hood. For 18 days, authorities searched the land, air and sea, for the father and his missing children - but found no trace. Eventually, the search was called off.
Phillips and the children reappeared at his parent's farm in Marokopa on 30 September, saying they had been camping. Phillips' sister explained he needed "space to clear his head".
Police charged him with causing wasteful deployment of resources, with a court date set for January.
Phillips did not make the court appearance. Just three months later, he vanished again from the family farm with the children. This time, he never returned.
What followed has been a series of brief, unsettling glimpses: a masked man shopping at Hamilton Bunnings; reports of a stolen ute near Kawhia; an alleged armed bank robbery in Te Kūiti; and grainy CCTV from a Piopio superette break-in last month, where milk was taken from a chiller and taken away by two people on a quad bike.
Two pig hunters took this image of Phillips and the children while hunting in 2024. Photo: Supplied / John McOviney
In October 2024, pig hunters stumbled across the family in the hills south of Marokopa. The children, dressed in camouflage and carrying large packs, walked behind their father. One of them could be heard asking, "Who knows we're here?" It was the first time all three had been seen together in three years.
'It's about custody'
At the time of Phillips disappearance, the children and their father were living at Phillips' parents farm in Marokopa. Jayda was eight, Maverick was seven and Ember was five. A custody dispute in the Family Court was ongoing - the children's parents had separated, and Phillips was homeschooling them at the family farm.
Their mother, Cat, said she knew as soon as Phillips disappeared the first time it was not a mistake - it was "a decoy". She told the police Phillips would be in the bush, and that taking the children was not about clearing his head - he was trying to hurt her.
"He's trying to teach me a lesson," Cat told media. "He doesn't care for them, they're just pawns in this game."
In hindsight, police say the first disappearance was a "trial run" for what Phillips was planning to do later.
"We believe it's over custody. I know there's been various opinions out there, including the fact that it may be Covid-related," Acting Detective Inspector Andrew Saunders said in 2024. "From our point of view, this is straight up about custody of the children."
The children are now 12, 10 and nine.
A real risk
Despite helicopters, search teams, and even an $80,000 reward, Phillips evaded the hunt for him. Police believed he knew the remote, rugged terrain too well - he had lived in the area all his life - and that others were helping him.
Suggestions for how to end the standoff ranged from amnesty to independent mediation, but police remained cautious. Despite ongoing pressure to resolve the disappearance, police said the risk was too high.
"We're not going to get into a confrontation situation. Tom will pose a risk to anyone that tries to stop the way he's living his lifestyle with his children," Saunders said last month.
A CCTV image of the break-in last month believed to show Phillips and a child. Photo: NZ Police / SUPPLIED
Some locals agreed with leaving him alone.
"He's not a bad bugger. He won't be getting dobbed in from me," one farmer told reporters. "The only thing he hasn't done is turn up to court when he was meant to, because they were going to take his kids off him. Now would you go to court if someone was gonna take your kids? There's more for him than against. It'll make a bloody good movie one day."
Others were wary. Ōtorohanga's Deputy Mayor Annette Williams was one of them.
"It's been going on for a long time, I've come across people who have views either way, but really all anyone wants is a safe outcome for the children."
A mother's torment
For Cat, the children's mother, suggestions that Phillips is some kind of Man Alone-type folk hero have been hurtful and deeply frustrating. She has faced online trolling from strangers claiming he is "protecting" his children - when she says it is abuse.
"I'm just dumbfounded. These people - they don't know Thomas at all... None of them have met the kids. They're all just saying things," she told RNZ's Mihi Forbes in October 2024.
The children had always been her priority, she said.
"They were my world, my reason for being - and that was my only job in life, was my children.
"I failed them miserably. I didn't fight hard enough. I didn't make enough noise.... I should have done more."
Cat with her children Jayda, Maverick and Ember. Photo: Supplied
Her two older daughters - the children's older siblings - said they were proud of their mum for speaking out.
"It takes courage to do so, especially amongst all of the individuals who still support Tom and his ongoing abuse," they wrote. No one could imagine the torment their mother was going through, the girls said.
Cat begged the community and the police for help.
"I'm standing here before you today, begging you for your help to bring my babies home."
"Please come home"
Phillips' wider family has also wrestled with the disappearance and the ongoing media attention.
In November 2024, Phillips' parents Neville and Julia Phillips spoke out for the first time, dispelling rumours they were helping Tom evade authorities, but also asking the police to leave Tom alone.
Ember, Maverick and Jayden before their disappearance. Photo: Supplied
Earlier this year, however, Julia issued a plea to her son: "Tom - I feel really sad that you thought you had to do this. It hurts every time I see photos of the children and of you... Thinking what could have been if you had not gone away."
To her grandchildren, she wrote: "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 home."
His sister Rozzi Phillips read the letter aloud on an episode of Paddy Gower Has Issues in a desperate bid to get Tom and the kids to come out of the bush.
"There's a lot of love and there's a lot of support, and we're ready to help you walk through what you need to walk through," Rozzi said.
"Just innocent children"
Experts have warned the children's upbringing could carry lifelong scars. At least one of the children has been with Phillips during the burglaries, including the armed robbery on the bank in Te Kuiti. And one child was with Phillips on Monday morning during the break-in at a farm store in Piopio, and the subsequent confrontation with police where he died.
Psychologist Dougal Sutherland said they may develop a "distorted moral framework", believing that stealing or hiding from authorities is acceptable.
"It's just that his view differs a lot from the court's view and mainstream society's view about what is good for the kids, so there's a real clash of ideologies there."
Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Saunders said finding the two remaining children is the "number one priority". Photo: NZ police / screenshot
For Cat, that was always her primary concern.
"They are forever going to suffer from what's happening right now. They are just innocent children. They do not deserve the life that is being provided to them right now."
Police were now searching for the remaining two children, and said they would use every remaining resource to find them. The child who was with Phillips this morning was taken into Oranga Tamariki custody, and was cooperating with police, they said. Phillips' family had been informed of his death.
"This is the outcome nobody wanted," Deputy Police Commissioner Jill Rogers said at a press conference to inform the public that Phillips had been shot and killed. A police officer had also been shot, and critically injured.
"It's a deeply traumatic incident for those involved."
Cat told RNZ she was "deeply relieved" for her tamariki that the ordeal had come to an end.
"They have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care," she said in a statement.
"At the same time, we are saddened by how events unfolded today. Our hope has always been that the children could be returned in a peaceful and safe way for everyone involved."
Sign up for Ngā Pitopito Kōrero, a daily newsletter curated by our editors and delivered straight to your inbox every weekday.
