Authorities took hours to respond to a video that appeared to show fugitive Tom Phillips and his three children walking through the bush near Marokopa.
Police confirmed on Monday that they were following up on a “credible sighting” of Phillips and his children on 3 October.
Prior to this sighting, Phillips and his children, Jayda (11), Maverick (9), and Ember (8), had not been seen together since December 2021.
A local businessman, John McOviney, shared that his grandson, a 16-year-old hunter, encountered Phillips and the children in the bush. The grandson captured a video of the group walking with backpacks.
According to McOviney, the children mentioned that they did not want to be discovered, and Phillips appeared to be armed, causing the hunters to maintain a safe distance.
Despite the video evidence, it took police several hours to respond to the sighting, by which time the group had moved on. A search operation involving police and air support from helicopters yielded no significant results.
McOviney is confident that the man in the video was Phillips and his children, stating, “I would say 99.9 percent it’s Tom Phillips and his kids, it would definitely be them.”
The search for Phillips and his children continues in the Marokopa area as authorities work to locate the fugitive and ensure the safety of the children.
