Housemates charged with murder of missing teen Pheobe Bishop
<p>Two housemates of missing teenager Pheobe Bishop have been charged with her murder, exactly three weeks after she vanished on her way to the airport in what police have called a suspicious disappearance.</p>
<p>James Wood, 34, and Tanika Bromley, 33, were arrested in the Bundaberg area on Thursday night. They have each been charged with one count of murder and two counts of interfering with a corpse.</p>
<p>Despite the arrests, Queensland Police said Pheobe’s remains have not yet been found.</p>
<p>“The remains of Pheobe Bishop have not been located to date,” police said in a statement late Thursday. “Detectives continue to investigate this matter, and physical searches will continue as needed as information is provided.”</p>
<p>Wood and Bromley are expected to appear in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Friday.</p>
<p>Seventeen-year-old Pheobe was last seen near Bundaberg Airport at around 8:30am on May 15. She had booked a flight to Western Australia to visit her boyfriend but never checked in, and CCTV confirmed she never entered the terminal.</p>
<p>Her disappearance triggered a major police search across parts of southern Queensland, including the Gin Gin property where she lived with Wood and Bromley. That house, along with a grey Hyundai ix35 believed to have been used to take her to the airport, was declared a crime scene early in the investigation.</p>
<p>The search also extended to Good Night Scrub National Park, about an hour from Bundaberg. Cadaver dogs, divers, and homicide detectives combed the remote bushland, seizing items believed to be linked to the case. Police believe some evidence may have been removed from the area before their arrival.</p>
<p>Wood was briefly taken into custody on Wednesday before being released without charge – until his re-arrest the following evening.</p>
<p>Both he and Bromley had previously faced unrelated weapons charges.</p>
<p>Pheobe’s mother, Kylie Johnson, has been posting emotional updates on social media since her daughter disappeared, pleading for answers and clinging to hope. On Thursday night, after news of the murder charges broke, she said her family had been “shattered”.</p>
<p>“Our world has just been shattered into the most horrific place I’ve ever been,” she wrote. “I need my baby home to put her to rest! I’m absolutely begging anyone that knows anything to come forward. We need to put her to rest, we need to put her to peace.”</p>
<p>Throughout the past three weeks, Johnson has shared memories of Pheobe. “I don’t know if life will ever be the same again,” she wrote on Wednesday. “The emotional connection, love and friendship has always been unmatched and unquestioned.”</p>
<p>Police have urged anyone with information about Pheobe’s disappearance or the whereabouts of her remains to come forward as the investigation continues.</p>
<p><em>Images: Facebook / Qld Police</em></p>