Human remains found in bushland have been confirmed to be missing teenager Pheobe Bishop, who vanished on the way to the airport a month ago. Her flatmates have been charged with her murder
When Pheobe Bishop headed to the Bundaberg airport in southern Queensland, Australia, she was on her way to see her boyfriend, ready to escape the ‘hellhole’ she was living in. Her devoted partner was even planning to surprise her with a dream trip and waited eagerly for her arrival – but she never got on her flight.
The 17-year-old vanished on 15 May, and the mystery around her disappearance has gripped the world. Now a tragic update has emerged, as remains found in bushland an hour away from the airport have been confirmed by her family as Pheobe’s, mere hours after the teen’s flatmates were charged with her murder.
The teenager was living with a couple more than a decade her senior when she disappeared. James Wood, 34, and Tanika Bromley, 33 were charged with Pheobe’s murder three weeks after she went missing, on 5 June.
The next day, the local police found human remains near Good Night Scrub National Park. It is claimed that Pheobe was murdered shortly after she was last seen and that her body was moved a number of times before it was found in bushland. Wood and Bromley have both been charged with murder.
The home they shared with Pheobe during the last weeks of her life has been called a ‘House of Horrors’ – with news channel 7 News Australia gaining access to the filthy and squalid property.
The footage shows every surface stacked high with rubbish: yellowing bed sheets, bin bags, bits of rotting food, and empty drink bottles covered the floor. A chain can also be seen, as well as dog mess. “The air tastes dirty,” the landlord of the property said, according to The Sun, adding, “I don’t know how people can be breathing this.”
On the morning of 15 May, Pheobe’s flatmates were set to give her a lift to the airport – their car was spotted on CCTV nearby Bundaberg – where the teenager was set to fly to Brisbane, and then onto to Perth, to see her boyfriend. But she never entered the terminal.
Just moments before she was due to board the flight to Brisbane, Pheobe phoned her boyfriend but he couldn’t hear anything before it cut off. At the time, he didn’t think anything was wrong and turned up to the airport to meet up as planned, but she never turned up. Shortly after the call, Phoebe’s phone was switched off.
The Sun reported that a family member said: “She didn’t check in for her flight to visit her boyfriend who she spoke to on the phone at 8.30am. Her phone has been switched off from this point. She hasn’t contacted anyone at all, no one has seen her.”
All of Pheobe’s social media use stopped after she went missing, and the last time she used her bank account was said to have been on May 14, the day before she vanished.
Her boyfriend is said to be traumatised by the loss and is left unable to carry out his promise made to Pheobe before she was tragically killed.
Heartbreakingly, her boyfriend had been planning a trip for his girlfriend, with a touching promise that he never got to carry out. Speaking on behalf of the teen, his father, Rick, shared with the Daily Mail Australia that his son “absolutely adored Pheobe” and the couple would video call “all night, every night, falling asleep”.
He added that they would tell each other who had been “sleep-talking” the following day, as Rick noted that it “was a bit cute”.
In messages she sent to a friend before she vanished, Pheobe admitted that all was not well in her life, saying she had “been better” and that she couldn’t wait to get out of the home she shared with the older couple.
She wrote: “I’ve been better, but I focus on the good s***. I take of (sic) to WA in three days! Get out of this s**t home for a bit so that will be good, just packing atm.”
Her distraught mother, Kylie Johnson, released a statement saying it was unusual that Phoebe wouldn’t get in contact, but the teen’s aunt Caz Johnson, has alleged that the 17-year-old sent messages suddenly on April 26. The messages from Pheobe said: “Up s*** creek but s*** happens.”
She added: “I’m flying the f*** out of here to see my boyfriend…If it goes to plan I’m not coming back. I can’t do s*** anymore. I need to get out of this hellhole.”