A Fugitive Dad Vanished Into the Wilderness with His 3 Kids

A New Zealand family is pleading for a fugitive father who vanished with his three children nearly four years ago to return home.

In 2021, Tom Phillips disappeared with his children—Jayda, 12, Maverick, 10, and Ember, 9—following a dispute with their mother, according to the New Zealand Police.

Phillips was last seen with his children by pig hunters who captured footage of them in a remote area of New Zealand’s North Island on Oct. 7, 2024, police said.

Despite extensive searches, multiple reported sightings, and a reward of 80,000 New Zealand dollars ($52,000) for information on their location, Phillips and the children remain missing.

Now, his family is making a heartfelt appeal for him to return.

“I miss you, and I miss being part of your life,” Rozzi Phillips told New Zealand journalist Paddy Gower on this week’s episode of Paddy Gower Has Issues, which aired on the news site Stuff. “You’re very special to me… I really want to see you again.”

With tears, Rozzi said she hopes her message reaches him: “Maybe he’s going to see this, and maybe he’ll realize he can come home, that we are here for him, and that it might just be okay.”

Rozzi read a letter written by the children’s mother, which said, “It hurts every time I see photos of the children and of you, and see some of your things that are still here, thinking what could have been if you had not gone away.”

“Jayda, Maverick, Ember, I love you so much and really miss being part of your lives every day I wake up, and hope that today will be the day that you will come,” the letter continued.

Authorities believe Phillips and the children have been living off the grid, with Phillips relying on survival skills to feed and clothe them, CNN reports.

In October 2022, the children’s mother, Cat, told the New Zealand Herald she was relieved to know her children were alive but accused her ex-partner of using them as “pawns in his game.”

“They shouldn’t have to be worrying about where they’re going to sleep that night or whether they’re going to be warm,” she said.

During his time on the run, Phillips is alleged to have committed several crimes, including a robbery in the Waikato region, according to New Zealand Police.

Police investigating an aggravated robbery in Te Kuiti from May 2023 have now obtained a warrant to arrest Tom Phillips.

In September 2023, an arrest warrant was issued over the alleged armed robbery at a bank in the remote village of Te Kuiti in May of that year. Authorities say Phillips made his getaway on a black farm-style motorbike.

New Zealand Police continue to urge the public to share any information regarding the whereabouts of Phillips and his children as the search for them goes on.