Fugitive Father Shot Dead After Years on the Run with His Children in New Zealand

Sat Oct 18 2025 10:53:20 GMT+0300 (Eastern European Summer Time)

Tom Phillips, a bushman, and his three children went missing for four years before a police shoot-out led to his death. The case raises questions about his motives and the circumstances surrounding their disappearance.

After going missing for four years, Tom Phillips, alongside his three children, was killed in a shoot-out with police in New Zealand. Initially disappearing in September 2021 and later resurfacing, the family’s journey elicited a nationwide manhunt. Phillips was found dead during a police pursuit linked to attempted burglaries, with many questions remaining regarding his reasons for evading authorities and whether he received help during his time in the wilderness.

On 11 September 2021, Tom Phillips and his three children went missing for the first time.

His Toyota Hilux was found parked below a tide line at a beach near his parents' home in Marokopa on New Zealand's North Island. Police launched a massive search operation by land, sea, and air.

Less than three weeks later, the family returned home, with the father claiming they had been on a camping trip.

Then, on 12 December that year, they vanished again. Aside from a few chance sightings and grainy frames of CCTV footage, the bushman and his three children had not been seen since.

That was, until the early hours of Monday morning, when police responding to a report of an attempted burglary entered into a shoot-out that resulted in Mr. Phillips' death, ending a four-year manhunt.

Many questions about his disappearance remain, including why he took his children and disappeared into New Zealand's harsh wilderness, and whether he was able to evade capture for so long by having help.

When Mr. Phillips returned home for the first time in 2021, he was charged with wasting police resources. The search effort over the harsh, unforgiving landscape of the western Waitomo region had cost New Zealand authorities hundreds of thousands of dollars.

Police did not launch a fresh search the second time he and his three children - Ember, Maverick, and Jayda - went missing.

Mr. Phillips returned to his family home alone at night to collect supplies on 9 February 2022. He was then not seen for more than a year.

Police have said in the past they believed Mr. Phillips took his children - now aged nine, 10, and 12 - over a custody dispute with their mother, though he never offered any explanation as to why he had done this.

Mr. Phillips was known to be a bushman who had some survival training. Locals in Marokopa have said he wanted to be off the grid and had not been on any social media platforms.

But it seems Mr. Phillips and his children could not survive in the bush on their wits alone.

There was a series of sightings around Kawhia, including multiple alleged robberies, and on CCTV footage, he was seen with one child, both wearing camouflage and masks over their faces.

When Mr. Phillips was shot, police found multiple firearms and other loot on his quad bike. The child who accompanied him was unharmed and provided police with valuable information.

The children have now been taken into care by authorities, but the shocking events have raised several pressing questions for the community and law enforcement about the true nature of Phillips' actions and support while on the run.