Fugitive father on the run with three children in one of the world's wildest regions

A man in camouflage, with a long tuft of beard peeking out from under his face mask. Though his features were obscured, when New Zealand police saw a video showing three figures trailing behind him, one name immediately came to mind.

Fugitive Thomas Karam Phillips has been evading police for three years after disappearing in December 2021 with his children – Amber, Maverick, and Jayda, then aged 8, 9, and 11 – following a bitter family split into the rugged wilderness of the country’s North Island. Initially wanted for failing to appear in court on charges of wasting police resources, Phillips’ rap sheet has grown longer and more serious over the three years, including an alleged bank robbery in May 2023 with an unidentified female accomplice.

Police have deployed search teams, helicopters, and aircraft to investigate sporadic sightings, but have consistently failed to locate them. Last week’s sighting is believed to be the first time all three children have been seen since 2021. The witness was a teenager who did not want to be named or interviewed, but his grandfather, John McOviney, told CNN that the boy was out hunting with friends on the 8,500-acre (3,439-hectare) Marokopa family land when they saw four people carrying backpacks and assumed they were poachers.

“The man had a long beard, and the children were masked, and they had backpacks, and they were not very keen to talk to them,” McOviney said. Instead, his grandson filmed them on his phone, providing the first proof that the missing Phillips children were alive that their mother, Kate, had seen since they disappeared. The entire country is wondering where they are and why it’s taking police so long to find them.

“It’s not a big country,” said Lance Burdett, a former New Zealand police detective inspector and chief crisis negotiator. “It’s very surprising that they haven’t been found, particularly given the sightings are all in very similar areas.” Max Baxter, the mayor of the Otorohanga district, which includes Marokopa, said authorities believe Phillips is receiving help. “We absolutely believe that there is somebody, or some people, assisting them,” Baxter said. “Tom still has some supporters who believe he’s doing the right thing for him and his children.”

New Zealand’s North Island is home to a stunning wilderness landscape, where parts of Peter Jackson’s “Lord of the Rings” and “Hobbit” trilogies were filmed. Steep hills give way to open vistas, stretching into deep valleys dotted with caves covered in dense forest. Marokopa is an easy place to get lost, and an even easier place to hide. “There’s a reason why people live in Marokopa,” Baxter said. “That’s because they like the isolation. They like being on the rugged West Coast, where they can go fishing, and they can hang out with like-minded people.”

Phillips grew up in the area, where his parents still live. In a statement provided to TVNZ last year, his mother denied knowing her son’s whereabouts and said the family “desperately” wanted the four of them to come home. This is not the first time Phillips has disappeared with Amber, Maverick, and Jayda. In September 2021, his car was reported abandoned at a beach, sparking a massive land and sea search by police. For three weeks, a police helicopter and drones searched the coastline, and rescue teams scoured the land, but just as the operation was about to be called off – with fears the family had been lost at sea – they suddenly reappeared.

Phillips reportedly told police he and the children had been camping in the bush. He was later charged with wasting police resources and given a court date. But before that day came, he vanished again with the three children. Some believe he once again “went to ground” in the bush and would emerge later – but this time, they haven’t come home. Amber, Maverick, and Jayda were just 5, 7, and 8 years old when they disappeared. For more than two years, their mother has kept a low profile, issuing written statements through the police, pleading for help to find them. But in June this year, she introduced herself in a moving video posted on Facebook.

“Hi everyone,” she said. “My name is Kate… I’m standing here today to beg you to help me bring my children home.” The oldest child, Jayda, had just turned 11. “She should be a young woman now, and she needs her mother,” Kate, who did not give her last name, said. “Amber has asthma like I do… she needs medical care that cannot be provided in the bush.” “I can only imagine how Maverick is coping,” she added. At the time of the video’s release, police had just offered an NZ$80,000 ($72,000) reward for information leading to the children’s discovery. This prompted some reported sightings, but no breakthroughs.

The children’s older sister, Jubilee Dawson, made a separate appeal in an interview last year, sharing her memories of her siblings. “Jayda is more outgoing… she is definitely the most confident of the three… loves to talk to everyone,” Dawson said in a documentary by Mata Reports. “Maverick is more introverted, I feel he is more shy… and Amber is the youngest and more cute and bubbly.” Dawson fears the children are now likely “traumatized and scared” and worried they do not know their family is looking for them. “We love them so much, and we are just waiting for them to come home,” she said. CNN contacted both Kate and Dawson but did not receive a response.

Authorities fear that Phillips is not only hiding the children but is also encouraging them to participate in criminal behavior. In May 2023, two masked individuals robbed a branch of ANZ bank, fleeing on a motorcycle with cash. New Zealand police later identified Phillips as a suspect, saying he was aided by a female accomplice. Both were said to be armed. One witness told local media the accomplice was petite, “even smaller than me.” Phillips is now wanted for aggravated robbery, aggravated assault, and unlawful possession of firearms.

Former detective inspector Burdett said if Phillips carried out the bank robbery, it shows the fugitive father is in desperate need of cash. “They have to be reliant on something to survive. You need money. You can only live off the land so much, particularly with three young children,” Burdett said. “They would have grown in three years.” In November 2023, Phillips and an unidentified child also allegedly smashed the window of a store at 2 a.m., before fleeing on a stolen quad bike. Phillips was also caught on CCTV buying supplies at a hardware store, with his face covered. “We know that Tom has been sighted at retail premises in the Waikato region, disguised with various masks,” police said in a statement.

Burdett said police need more resources to search the area and suggested a full-scale appeal to help increase the number of people on the ground. “Let’s get in there and saturate the area. I believe if you asked a lot of locals – can you spend a day or two walking through these hills? – a lot of people would do it. Not just locals,” he said. However, Mayor Baxter advised that venturing into the dense bush surrounding Marokopa is not a good idea for those not used to the terrain. “For an inexperienced person, you could find yourself two meters off the track and then probably never find the track again,” he said. “We’re talking very, very deep bush and rugged country.”

New Zealand Police declined CNN’s request for an interview, noting they have released dozens of news updates related to the case over the years. Their most recent statement said a “credible” sighting of Phillips and the children on October 3 prompted a three-day search but “did not uncover any further significant leads.” The statement added: “Police continue to urge residents of the Marokopa community to remain vigilant and report any suspicious activity to us, no matter how insignificant it may seem.” Mayor Baxter said the search has caused division in the community, with one faction believing Phillips should give up the children and another defending his rights as a father.

He said many people just want the whole police operation to go away. Baxter said he finds it hard to believe the children have been living for three years in an area that is often battered by the elements, with winter temperatures dropping below freezing. That’s why he believes Phillips and the children must be receiving help. “We all know that, but it gets very uncomfortable when it’s raining day after day,” he said. “I think there’s got to be shearers' quarters, houses in other places, a woolshed, where they’ve been hiding out for a long time and they’ve been getting supplies,” he said. McOviney’s grandson, who filmed the recent video, made a similar theory, noting that in the sparsely populated area, woolsheds and houses are scattered for workers who graze the hills.

“I think they’re getting help. I can’t be sure, but to keep little kids like that away from their family and everyone else, you would think they need some help, wouldn’t you?” In her video message, Kate alluded to some in the community who do not believe her children need to be rescued and are resistant to the search operation. “Many of you say the children are fine, they are being well looked after. How do you know, have you seen them, or are you just gossiping?” she said. “What Thomas has done is not right… Isolation and control is not right. It’s child abuse. It’s child endangerment… none of it is right.”