Missing teen Pheobe Bishop’s body allegedly moved ‘multiple times’ by housemates
Police have found human remains in the search for Pheobe Bishop, hours after her two housemates faced court on murder charges.
Investigators believe they have found the body of missing teenager Pheobe Bishop, hours after her housemates appeared in court on murder charges.
The discovery was made around 2.30pm on Friday after a “brief search” of an area near Good Night Scrub National Park near Gin Gin, 50kms west of Bundaberg.
Ms Bishop’s housemates, James Wood, 34, and Tanika Bromley, 33, were charged with the 17-year-old’s murder on Thursday night, three weeks after she disappeared before she was scheduled to catch a flight at Bundaberg Airport.
She had been living with the couple at a squalid house at Gin Gin, 50km west of Bundaberg, since November.
Queensland police said the remains are yet to be formally identified, but confirmed investigators have been in contact with the young woman’s family.
Mr Wood and Ms Bromley were charged with one count each of murder and two counts of interfering with a corpse. They both appeared before the Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Friday, where they were remanded in custody until their next appearance on August 11.
Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield would not say how or why police believed the young woman was allegedly killed, but alleged the pair had moved Ms Bishop’s body “multiple times” during the course of the investigation. The Good Night Scrub National Park area has previously been subjected to extensive land, aerial and waterway searches over the course of the investigation.
“(There is) evidence enough to say that we believe that our accused and Pheobe were there,” Inspector Mansfield said on Friday morning, prior to the remains being located.
“Our investigation will detail the facts that we believe Pheobe was murdered, and then her body was moved … more than once.”
“It is a broad, unforgiving, large area that we’re looking for, trying to narrow down.”
Early on in the investigation, police said they did not believe Ms Bishop had made it to the airport on May 15.
“Our evidence will outline the fact that three people arrived near to the airport, and three people never exited that vehicle,” Inspector Mansfield said.
Ms Bishop’s mother, Kylie Johnson, who has been vocal on social media throughout the investigation, shared a one sentence statement the police announced the discovery.
“I didn’t think my heart could break anymore then it did when you went missing, or when the charges where laid but this! This is ripping me apart,” she wrote.
The Gin Gin property Ms Bishop lived at with the accused was declared a crime scene on May 21, when Ms Bromley’s grey Hyundai hatchback was also seized for examination. Inspector Mansfield said multiple dead dogs were found around the property.
Ms Bishop’s luggage has not yet been found.
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