A shocking new aerial image from the New Zealand bush has sparked speculation that fugitive father Tom Phillips may have built or made use of a makeshift dwelling, complete with electricity, for his three children in the remote wilderness.

It was captured during a helicopter fly-over by the New Zealand Herald on Thursday, about 7km from where Phillips was shot dead by police in Waitomo, in the North Island’s Waikato region, on Monday. The vision shows three large white metal containers fitted with power cords, wires, ducting pipe, and what appears to be a generator. Police have not confirmed whether the site is linked to Phillips or commented directly on its significance to their investigation.

Meanwhile, footage taken inside the police cordon reveals the sheer scale of items seized from nearby bush camp where Phillips is believed to have been living. Among the haul were his quad bike and motorbike, an air compressor, tyres, camping poles, a toilet bowl, power tools, and a large pile of debris. Several farm bikes were also present. The extensive collection of equipment has intensified speculation over whether Phillips had outside assistance, a question police said had become the focus of their investigation.

Phillips (pictured) vanished from the rural town of Marokopa in December 2021 with his children following a custody dispute with their mother. He was shot dead near the rural town of Piopio on Monday, after he was intercepted with his daughter following an armed robbery at a farm supply store. When officers deployed road spikes, Phillips opened fire at close range, shooting one officer in the head, which left him with critical injuries.

His shooting death put an end to one of the country’s biggest-ever manhunts but now police are asking how the family could have survived in the wild for so long. The 38-year-old is believed to have been mobile and likely operated across numerous campsites, but police have so far only confirmed two. He was with his eldest daughter Jayda, 12, at the time of the shootout. She led police to a campsite about 2km away where her other two siblings were found hiding out. The New Zealand Herald reported that his son Maverick held a gun at police when they arrived. ‘There was a negotiation which commenced with the children, and that proceeded, and they came out,’ Detective Senior Sergeant Andrew Saunders said.

NZ Police Commissioner Richard Chambers said the negotiators were ‘very highly trained and skilled’. ‘We had information to say a firearm was present [at the campsite], and there was,’ Commissioner Chambers said. He added that Jayda was ‘very, very helpful’ and advised police on the best way to talk to her younger siblings so they didn’t feel threatened. However, she did not personally guide police through the bush to them. ‘We kept her not far away, but far enough away that her safety wasn’t compromised,’ Commissioner Chambers said. Police subsequently discovered a second campsite about 200metres away, where the four appeared to have been eating and sleeping. Police do not believe it is the main site where the children had been living for the past four years, adding they had likely moved there a few months ago.

Despite the fugitive father being skilled in wilderness survival, police are increasingly confident he was receiving outside help from others. ‘Aside from the burglaries we are now able to link to Tom, it is apparent that he had outside help,’ Detective Andrew Saunders said on Wednesday. All three children have been taken into the care of New Zealand’s Ministry for Children Oranga Tamariki. Their mother, Christine Christey, known as Cat, has not seen her kids for four years. Police will now try to ‘put the puzzle together’ of how the family lived, found food, and avoided detection by search teams for so many years. Photos released by the police of the family’s final campsite, where soda cans, tyres, cooking equipment and a metal container sat amid camouflaged belongings, gave few clues.

The site was likely a temporary one, as it was in terrain that had been searched previously. ‘It’s highly likely that we’ve been very, very close,’ Commissioner Chambers said. ‘If not right there.’ Police always believed that since Phillips disappeared in December 2021, he and his children had never travelled far from the tiny rural settlement where they lived. But despite police offering a $80,000 reward, no one turned them in. Police will now turn their focus to tracking down and identifying anyone suspected of helping Phillips and his children. ‘Aside from the burglaries we are now able to link to Tom, it is apparent that he had outside help,’ Det Saunders said.

The case divided New Zealand and Phillips found supporters online and among residents in Marokopa, where he had lived. Some locals previously told reporters that they endorsed his actions. ‘I can tell you he is no hero,’ Commissioner Chambers said. ‘No one who does this to children, no one who unleashes high-powered rifles on my staff, is a hero, simple as that.’ December 2021 wasn’t the first time Phillips and his children had vanished. Three months earlier, he sparked a massive search operation when his truck was found on a beach near his home, with no trace of the family. Police feared they had been swept out to sea before Phillips and the children emerged from the forest after 17 days, saying they had been camping. Phillips was charged with wasting police resources but disappeared again with the children before he was due to appear in court. Phillips didn’t have legal custody of his children at the time he vanished. He was later wanted for an armed bank robbery in 2023, during which he was accompanied by one of his children and apparently shot at a member of the public as he fled.

He was spotted on CCTV footage in the area committing other break-ins to steal supplies, most recently last month. Beyond the thefts, it wasn’t clear how the family had survived in rugged countryside at freezing winter temperatures for years. A High Court judge on Monday night issued a temporary injunction banning police or news outlets from disclosing certain details of the case. ‘There’s a careful plan with everyone becoming involved at the right time in terms of making sure that the children are put on a really strong and healthy pathway to recovery,’ NZ Police Minister Mark Mitchell said. ‘They have seen and been exposed to things that children in our country should not be. It’s very complicated and it’s very complex and it has been for quite some time.’

The children’s mother Cat broke her silence in a statement on Monday, saying she was relieved the ordeal had come to an end. ‘They have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care,’ Cat said. ‘At the same time, we are saddened by how events unfolded today. Our hope has always been that the children could be returned in a peaceful and safe way for everyone involved.’