Years in the wilderness Mystery remains over how Tom Phillips stayed in hiding for so long

The long-running mystery over Tom Phillips and his children's whereabouts has prompted multiple searches, offers of rewards, and pleas for information from family members and the police, as New Zealand struggled to understand how, in a country of close-knit communities, they could have evaded detection.

- Eva Corlett

Ending with the shooting of Phillips yesterday, the nearly four-year ordeal began just before Christmas 2021, when the father fled into the Waikato wilderness with his children Ember, now nine, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 12, after a dispute with their mother. Phillips did not have legal custody of his children.

The vast Waikato region, where Phillips was presumed to have been hiding, is made up of long sweeping coastline to the west, forested terrain and farmland in the centre, limestone cave networks to the north and a smattering of small rural towns and settlements throughout.

Phillips came from a farming family in Marokopa – a tiny coastal settlement of fewer than 100 people that became inextricably linked with his story.

Before Phillips disappeared, many New Zealanders would have struggled to pick out Marokopa on a map. It is a quiet, isolated settlement, two hours from the nearest city, Hamilton, with one long winding road in and out through a densely forested and hilly landscape.

The remoteness frustrated police attempts to locate Phillips.

While there was no suggestion his family helped Phillips, the question of how he managed to conceal himself and his three children – and survive – in the harsh terrain puzzled the nation, leading to speculation others in the community may have aided him.