The four years since Phillips and his children first went missingpublished at 09:15 British Summer Time
09:15 BST
This is a case that has spanned nearly four years – here’s a look back at how the story has unfolded.
11 September 2021
Tom Phillips went missing for the first time with his three
children from his parents’ home in Marokopa. A huge search effort followed,
daily, for three weeks.
30 September 2021
Phillips arrived back home with his three children, claiming that they went “camping”, but offered no explanation beyond that for the disappearance.
He
was then charged for wasting police resources. The search efforts for three
weeks cost the country hundreds of thousands of dollars.
December 2021
Phillips went missing again however this time round a search
effort was not launched by police.
12 January 2022
Phillips failed to appear in court so police issued a
warrant for his arrest.
9 February 2022
Phillips returned to his family home alone at night to
collect supplies. He was not seen again for more than a year.
August – November 2023
There were numerous sightings of Phillips and the children – at a hardware store, in an altercation, on quad bikes, and in multiple alleged
robberies.
June 2024
Police issues an $80,000 (£35,050) reward for any information that
would lead to the location of Phillips and his three children. The reward
expired and police did not have a breakthrough in the case.
4 October 2024
Phillips and his three children were spotted by pig hunters
walking through farmland. Tom Phillips was seen carrying a rifle as the four of
them hiked through Waikato farmland with large backpacks.
27 August 2025
CCTV showed what police believed were Phillips and one of
his children, both masked, breaking into a shop in Piopo, Waitomo, in the middle of the
night.