Search intensifies for Tom Phillips & three children

[Lilith7]

It looks as though the reward for information may have paid off, if it has then I hope he has the sense to give himself up so the kids are safe & aren't traumatised by him refusing to do so.

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/police-checkpoints-set-up-around-marokopa-as-tom-phillips-search-intensifies
Police have set up checkpoints around the rural town of Marokopa in the search for fugitive Tom Phillips and his three children.
At least four checkpoints are in place at intersections outside the Waikato township and a police command centre has been set up at the local community centre.
At one checkpoint, 11km from Marokopa, police were stopping all motorists and checking their driver licenses.
Police said earlier today they had received emails, calls and visits after offering an $80,000 reward for information on Phillips and his three children, Ember, 8, Maverick, 9, and Jayda, 10.
The family has been on the run since December 2021, and police believe they are in the western Waikato or near Marokopa.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

I am just amazed the authorities have let this go on for so long. We need to be more protective of our children. Too many are suffering from our neglect.

Or dying.

[Zurdo]

80 grand, hmmm - I better go down and sort this out.

[harm_less]

We had friends here last night who were headed for Raglan today (from Taranaki). I suggested it might of been worth taking the coastal road via Marakopa with their eyes open

[Lilith7]

The 80 grand's only for a short time apparently. I was thinking earlier that the reason for that may be partly so that people don't have too much time to think it over, including any possible consequences & partly because they want a swift result in view of how long they've been missing.

Their poor Mum must be distraught, & its got to be tough on any grandparents too. If this was a son in law of mine who did this, he certainly wouldn't be at all happy with my reaction.
But I only have DIL's & they're all lovely including the exes.

[nzoomed]

Still blows my mind how they have been unable to locate them after all this time!

[Lilith7]

There's been an alleged sighting of him & the kids at a thermal pool, whether it was or not is another thing.


https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/5194...p-marokopa

[nzoomed]

im not buying into the other sightings either such as the getaway on that motorbike linked to a robbery.
All we see in the photo are two people on a bile with helmets, there is no way to identify them.
There was also that sighting at a bunnings store, but again its hard to tell from the CCTV who it even is.

[Oh_hunnihunni]

No doubt the police have information we do not have access to. I just think we should be more concerned about those kids in the care of a man willing to deprive their mother of the custody of their children. There are legal ways to challenge that, going bush is not one of them.

It simply demonstrates why he does not have legal custody.

[Lilith7]

No doubt the police have information we do not have access to. I just think we should be more concerned about those kids in the care of a man willing to deprive their mother of the custody of their children. There are legal ways to challenge that, going bush is not one of them.

It simply demonstrates why he does not have legal custody.

Someone told the media that police should leave him alone, that he's not doing any harm.

Well - apart from keeping the rest of their family from having any contact with those kids, apart from keeping them away from medical care, & apart from keeping them away from education, & apart from causing continual stress to the rest of their family & perhaps putting them in harms's way.

It has the look of someone who decided to keep the kids away from their mum & other family, & as there's been zero suggerstion that their mum is abusive towards them, it looks utterly spiteful & callous to both the kids & their other family.

[harm_less]

The degree of support and sympathy he is receiving from the Marokopa community suggests to me there is more going on in this situation than the media is letting on, or privy to.

[king1]

I tend to agree, i'm sure there is more to this story...
I'm wondering why the mother hasn't been all over the news about this for the last three years.

[Lilith7]

An expert tracker's opinion on finding them.

https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/odt-...iz-june-14
"Rice said police would be using different strategies in this case to what they would use to find a lost person.
"I'd be a little bit more surgical. I mean, they're in no great hurry I would imagine. Now, as long as they're going to cordon off the area that they do it quite a ways out from where they are, and then as the tracking team goes in, they can bring it in closer and closer until they encircle them.
Wherever they are they would need to have accessible water, he said, and there would likely be visible tracks.
And their 'base' might not be as comfortable as you might expect.
"I wouldn't necessarily have to be a physical building as such. It could be a mine shaft, it could be caves, it could be something out there that people knew about back in the day but people now don't necessarily know about, because hiding in a shack or whatever else is kind of a bit obvious.
"So I wouldn't just be looking for something man-made that they're living in."

[harm_less]

An expert tracker's opinion on finding them.

https://www.odt.co.nz/entertainment/odt-...iz-june-14
"Rice said police would be using different strategies in this case to what they would use to find a lost person.
"I'd be a little bit more surgical. I mean, they're in no great hurry I would imagine. Now, as long as they're going to cordon off the area that they do it quite a ways out from where they are, and then as the tracking team goes in, they can bring it in closer and closer until they encircle them.
Wherever they are they would need to have accessible water, he said, and there would likely be visible tracks.
And their 'base' might not be as comfortable as you might expect.
"I wouldn't necessarily have to be a physical building as such. It could be a mine shaft, it could be caves, it could be something out there that people knew about back in the day but people now don't necessarily know about, because hiding in a shack or whatever else is kind of a bit obvious.
"So I wouldn't just be looking for something man-made that they're living in."

The area is limestone country and full of cave systems. I suspected long ago that he might have holed up in a cave. Out of the weather, usually with water flow nearby and invisible to heat detecting sensors.

[Lilith7]

An expert tracker's opinion on finding them.

The area is limestone country and full of cave systems. I suspected long ago that he might have holed up in a cave. Out of the weather, usually with water flow nearby and invisible to heat detecting sensors.

They're apparently trying that now, heat sensors. But surely he'd have some sort of radio to keep track of what they're doing to find them.

[harm_less]

The area is limestone country and full of cave systems. I suspected long ago that he might have holed up in a cave. Out of the weather, usually with water flow nearby and invisible to heat detecting sensors.

They're apparently trying that now, heat sensors. But surely he'd have some sort of radio to keep track of what they're doing to find them.

As soon as Radio NZ reported today that the police were moving focus to Otorohanga I wondered if that was broadcasting that info to the quarry.

[nzoomed]

Good point about the caves, makes a ton of sense too as i was wondering with all the infra red cameras and drones, etc it should be a piece of cake to find people in the bush.
And with this cave system, there are many caves yet to be discovered, some on private land too.
Its obvious that should they be holing out in a cave, that its either an unexplored cave or one that gets little to no exploration.
Perhaps if its private land, the cave might be owned by someone who is helping him out.

[Lilith7]

If they are in a cave somewhere, its got to be bloody cold this time of year & likely to get worse.

[nzoomed]

Sometimes it can be wamer in caves and a more stable temperature ironically, really depends on the type of cave and if it has much water flowing through it too.

[Lilith7]

Sometimes it can be wamer in caves and a more stable temperature ironically, really depends on the type of cave and if it has much water flowing through it too.

I suppose they'd have sleeping bags & blankets anyway.