The mom of the three kids who disappeared with their father three years ago has a chilling theory about what happened when hunters spotted him.
It was little over a week ago on October 3 when footage of Tom Phillips and his kids Ember, 8, Maverick, 9, and Jayda, 11, was taken by a group of teenage pig hunters as they walked through the wilderness in New Zealand.
This was the first sighting of the family since they disappeared from their home in December 2021, after a disagreement with mother, Cat.
While search efforts had been made, police believed that the group had been hiding in the North Island's western Waikato region, but had yet been able to track them down.
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Even a $48,800 (NZ$80,000) appeal for information went unanswered and the mother was left without answers.
However, the footage showed Phillips and the children trailing behind him in a single file.
It was there after that the 16-year-old hunter made contact with the family.
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The hunters explained to a local news outlet called Stuff that they believed the group were poachers and shouted out to them from around 60 metres away.
That’s when the eldest daughter, Jayda responded.
The hunter recalled: “I said, ‘This is private property’, and she was like, ‘Yeah... duh’. Then I asked, ‘Does anyone know you're on here’ and she said, ‘No, just you guys’.
It was reported that Phillips was carrying a gun and the kids were carrying backpacks, and wearing masks as the entire family donned camouflage clothing.
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However, this interaction has led to Cat believing that it was a possible cry for help.
Speaking to the New Zealand Herald, the mom said: “I just broke down ... I can’t see their faces but I can see them walking and they’re all there, and they’re capable of carrying their own bags.”
She told Mata Reports: “Is that a cry for help? Is that ‘Does anybody know that we're here? Is anyone coming for us?’ We don't get to hear the tone of her voice but to me, that's what I think.”
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“It's like she's trying to say something without actually saying something because her father is right there, and she's worried if she says the wrong thing and words it the wrong way, she's worried about later repercussions,” Cat added.
The Daily Mail reported her as telling the public that her children have been failed ‘miserably from the get-go’ by the system.
She said: “They shouldn't have to live like this, they deserve so much more. They deserve to have friends, they deserve to go to the park and eat McDonald's.”
Since they disappeared, she has been pretending that they never went missing at all.
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The mum, who has two other daughters, has lost her ‘way’.
She shared: “Since they've been gone, I've lost my way. I'm not me. They were my world, they were my everything.
“I feel like I didn't fight hard enough, I didn't make enough noise. I feel like it's my fault.”
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Phillips is wanted in connection to an armed robbery of a bank in Te Kuiti near Marokopa in September 2023.
Topics: New Zealand, News, Crime
Britt Jones