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Police investigating the disappearance of Tom Phillips and his children have discovered what are believed to be the family’s main campsites, deep within the rugged bush surrounding Marokopa.
Detective Superintendent Ross McKay said two large, well-established and heavily concealed structures were located in recent weeks during an extensive search operation.
“Enquiries to date indicate the Phillips family moved regularly between these sites, the makeshift camps near Te Anga Road and other locations around Marokopa,” McKay said.
“For the last few weeks, police have been piecing together information and building a picture of Phillips’ movements. What is now clear is that Phillips moved regularly from coast to farm to bush in a complex manner that meant he was unlikely to be stumbled across.”
Local Search and Rescue teams located the new sites, one north of Marokopa and the other to the east. Each contained partially buried, semi-permanent structures hidden beneath thick vegetation.
“Approaching Phillips in such circumstances would have been extremely dangerous,” McKay said.
“As we’ve said previously, we knew he had firearms and was motivated to use them.”
Investigators have since removed a significant number of items from the camps, which will undergo forensic examination.
“This is a protracted and labour-intensive exercise that forms part of our ongoing enquiries to identify anyone who may have assisted Phillips,” McKay said.
“We continue to make good progress and believe he was assisted by a small number of people at different stages over the last four years.”
Police have cleared all identified campsites and will not be releasing their specific locations.
Tom Phillips and his three children first disappeared in September 2021, before vanishing again in mid-December that year.
The long-running Police operation, later dubbed Operation Curly, came to an end in the early hours of Monday, 8 September 2025, when Phillips shot and critically injured an officer before being fatally shot by police.
McKay said the injured officer is recovering “slowly but steadily.”
Police have declined to release any information regarding the children.
