MISSING teenager Pheobe Bishop has been unaccounted for over 11 days, leaving her worried mother expressing that the family is caught in a “whirlwind of uncertainty”.
Search efforts by specialist teams have now been extended to a national park located about an hour away from the airport where she was scheduled to depart.
Pheobe’s mother, Kylie Johnson, expressed her distress on Facebook: “Entering day 11 of Pheobe’s continued absence, our tears have turned to numbness as our hearts endure this torment.”
She said: “Not knowing what to say, what to do or even how to continue to live in this cyclone of uncertainty.
“The tears come, the anger and frustrations come and most of all our hearts are shattering more and more each Day.”
The mum added: “Your little man/brother asked yesterday, ‘Why won’t Phee take our calls? She always takes our calls!
“Mate, I wish I knew, but we have to believe that the police and the lights that our amazing community are leaving on will… Bring her home to us.”
Pheobe was last seen near Bundaberg Airport in southern Queensland at about 8.30am on May 15.
The teen was supposed to fly to Brisbane and then to Perth to see her “high-school sweetheart” boyfriend but CCTV footage showed that she never entered the airport.
She is said to have made a last-minute call to him moments before she was set to enter the airport.
Meanwhile, one of Phoebe’s two flatmates has been charged with unrelated gun offences after police allegedly discovered weapons in the car linked to the teen’s disappearance, according to Australian news outlet news.com.au.
Tanika Kristan Bromley, 33, was reportedly arrested over the weekend, and has since been refused police bail.
She appeared in the Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Monday, where police alleged they found a shortened firearm, ammunition and two replica handguns inside a grey Hyundai.
Her partner, James Wood, Pheobe’s other flatmate, reportedly attended court to support Tanika.
But both Tanika and James have been interviewed by police, and according to news.com.au, there is no indication they were involved in the teen’s disappearance.
Police previously declared the flat Pheobe shared with them, along with the car that took her to the airport as crime scenes.
The pair is cooperating with officers, according to Australian media.
They have expanded their search around 40 kilometres south of Gin Gin where her flat was located to the Good Night Scrub National Park.
The national park is reportedly being treated as “crucial” to the investigation, with murder detectives and police divers searching the area.
Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said: “Events like that rock the heart and soul of communities – they always do.”
He said every effort would be made to support the police search for the teen.
“We want the community to know that we are thinking about them and we will give every resource that police need to do the job.”
