New Zealand police renew hunt for fugitive father and three children missing since 2021

CNN —

New Zealand police have announced renewed efforts to find Thomas Callam Phillips, a fugitive who has been on the run with his three children since 2021.

Officers will be searching the area in and around Te Waitere and Te Maika, which are rural communities in the Waikato region of New Zealand’s North Island, around 13 miles from where Phillips was last seen, over the next few days, police said in a statement published Wednesday.

“This has not been prompted by any specific sighting – it is simply a continuation of the ongoing investigation,” Detective Senior Sergeant Andy Saunders said in the statement.
CNN has contacted New Zealand police for further comment.

Thomas Phillips and his children were officially reported as missing by family members in December 2021.

Phillips has been evading police for three years since disappearing with his children Ember, Maverick and Jayda – who were 5, 7 and 8 at the time – into the rugged wilderness of the country’s North Island during a bitter family split in December 2021.

New Zealand’s North Island is home to the wild, awe-inspiring landscape that formed some of the backdrop to Peter Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” and “The Hobbit” trilogies.
Steep hills with sweeping views drop away into deep valleys, dotted with caves covered by a blanket of dense forest.

At first, Phillips was wanted for failing to appear in court on charges of wasting police resources but, three years on, his charge sheet has grown longer and more serious, with allegations that he robbed a bank in May 2023 with an unnamed female accomplice.
Police have scrambled search teams, helicopters and planes to investigate sporadic sightings but have failed to find them.

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