Marokopa fugitives: Mother believes missing daughter gave ‘cry for help’ in first sighting in years

The mother of three children who vanished with their fugitive father years ago fears her daughter may have signalled for help when they were spotted in New Zealand bushland last week.

Tom Phillips and his children — Jayda, 11, Maverick, 9, and Ember, 8 — have been missing since September 2021. They briefly returned home that month before disappearing in December. They have been living off the grid since.

Teenage pig hunters spotted the family walking on a remote coastal farm near Marokopa — on the west coast of the North Island — on October 3.

Footage shows Phillips walking ahead of the children, all four are dressed in camouflage gear and each carrying large backpacks. Phillips was reportedly carrying a gun with him.

The footage was the first time in three years the children’s mother, Cat, had seen them. She told reporters she was thankful to see them alive but was extremely concerned for their condition after years of isolation with their father.

“I can’t imagine what they’ve endured in these three years, it’s just wrong on so many levels,” Cat told Mata Reports.

The mother has interpreted a small detail in the pig hunters’ interaction with her children as a “cry for help”.

One of the hunters recalled calling out to the group and the 11-year-old Jayda responding “Yeah... duh”. The hunter said that only the group knew the family was there.

“Is that a cry for help? Is that ‘Does anybody know that we’re here? Is anyone coming for us?‘” Cat said.

“It’s like she’s trying to say something without actually saying it because her father is right there. And she’s worried if she says the wrong thing and words it the wrong way, she’s worried about later repercussions.”

The 16-year-old pig hunter who captured footage of the group reportedly saw Phillips was carrying a gun and didn’t interact further, but called their emergency services and spoke to police, the NZ Herald reports.

Cat told the Herald she was “eternally grateful” to the young man for having the “courage” to film the group and “come forward”.

Police descended on the area the night of the sighting, even deploying two helicopters — including a military chopper equipped with night vision technology — but after a three-day search found “nothing further of significance”.

Investigators said the sighting sparked “a positive line of inquiry” and that authorities would determine “any next steps”.

Cat says she was frustrated by their response. She said authorities only contacted her the day after the footage was reported.

“The system has failed my children miserably,” she told Mata Reports.

Police have remained tight-lipped about their investigation but have sought to assure the public they are “doing all that we can” to return the children to their family.

An arrest warrant was issued for Phillips shortly after he disappeared in late 2021. While on the run, he has allegedly committed several crimes, some of which he has allegedly involved the children in.

He is wanted for allegedly robbing a bank in Te Kuiti at gunpoint in May 2023 — CCTV shows him riding a motorbike.

A few months later, police say Phillips was spotted in a supermarket wearing a disguise before getting into a fight with a member of the public and allegedly stealing a car.

In November, he allegedly stoke a quad bike from a rural Waikato property then broke into a shop with one of his children. Footage from the shop shows the masked pair smashing the front glass and fleeing north after the alarm was set off.

Members of the public have been warned not to approach him Phillips if spotted as he may be armed.

In June, an $80,000 reward was offered for information leading to the children’s whereabouts, but it expired after eight weeks with no breakthrough.