MISSING DOWN UNDER: THE TOM PHILLIPS STORY

1001 Heroes, Legends, Histories & Mysteries Podcast

Jon Hagadorn

Society & Culture, History

4.4 • 1.7K Ratings

🗓️ 29 June 2025

⏱️ 34 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Tom Phillips and his three young children disappeared from the isolated rural Waikato town of Marokopa on 9 December 2021. New Zealand Police believe that the children were taken by their father to a location somewhere in the western Waikato, after a dispute with their mother. Phillips is alleged to have committed a bank robbery in September 2023, but the first sighting of all three children with their father was on 3 October 2024, when they were spotted walking through Marokopa farmland. However, despite a three-day search of the area, including the use of a military helicopter, they have not yet been located.

Background

Marokopa seen from above
Before their disappearance, Tom Phillips lived in Ōtorohanga in New Zealand's Waikato district with his three children.[ They also spent much of their time at the family farm in Marokopa. Phillips had been separated from his wife Catherine for several years and was homeschooling the children.[citation needed] He is an experienced hunter and camper. The Phillips family has farmed in the area for generations.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Phillips_family_disappearances

https://www.cnn.com/2024/10/11/world/new-zealand-tom-phillips-missing-children-intl-hnk-dst

https://www.rnz.co.nz/news/national/532022/missing-marokopa-family-detective-spearheading-the-search-for-tom-phillips-and-his-three-children-reveals-what-he-believes-phillips-motive-is

https://nypost.com/2024/10/11/world-news/new-zealand-mothers-chilling-theory-as-missing-kids-re-emerge-in-bushland-with-father-tom-phillips/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=a9DnIfQ_EuM
(use this one for finding–middle of the story)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=P0lvbGxGfuY
(supportive of the father)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2pVjMwhYr7M
(too long)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0O0xExooPio
(use for starting of story)

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jH4E9dM69PI
(good mom info)

https://www.theguardian.com/world/2024/oct/17/three-years-in-the-wild-how-a-fugitive-father-has-hidden-his-children-for-so-long-ntwnfb

https://www.1news.co.nz/2024/10/08/timeline-disappearance-of-tom-phillips-and-marokopa-children/

https://www.nzherald.co.nz/nz/missing-marokopa-family-waikato-ute-owners-plea-for-sightings-after-theft/GBX5NWPJRBAKBIJVA4RKOUDFN4/

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	The Welcome back, everyone to one thousand one heroes, legends, histories, and mysteries podcast.
0:40.2	This is your host, John Hagadorn. and it's great to be with you today on another journey, this time, a present-day venture to a remote part of New
0:46.4	Zealand to find a missing family. Listeners, this missing person story is unlike any other that we've
0:53.4	had before.
0:59.8	For the past three years, a father and his three children have been missing, thought to be living off the grid, living in the bush of New Zealand, leaving everyone, including the
1:05.6	kid's bereaved mother, wondering what her husband's true motives are, praying that the kids are okay, and with each passing
1:12.9	day having doubts about whether they will ever return.
1:22.0	This man and his three children haven't been seen for more than a year after they seemingly disappeared
1:29.2	without a trace.
1:30.9	But it's not the first time this Waikato family's been missing after dad Tom Phillips went
1:36.6	Bush with his children Jada, Maverick and Ember back in 2021.
1:42.2	On September 11th, serious concerns were raised for the well-being of both Phillips and his children
1:48.1	after they disappeared.
1:50.2	They were missing for 17 days before Phillips showed up at his parents' house,
1:55.0	claiming they'd stayed in a tent in the bush.
1:57.8	They're alive.
1:58.8	A father and three children missing for 17 days on the wild Waikato West Coast,
2:04.1	Wanderhomes, stunning family and everybody else.
2:07.0	From New Zealand police a message they feared they'd never deliver.
2:11.0	We are pleased to say that the family that were reported missing to police
2:14.8	on the 13th of September are now located safe and well.
2:20.3	Wow, just a great outcome. So really, really good. And, you know, when you think all that happened over a two and a half week period, the community were all over
	...

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