A former friend of the last people to see missing teenager Pheobe Bishop before she disappeared has revealed why she recently cut off contact with the couple.
The 17-year-old was last seen leaving a home in Gin Gin, Bundaberg, where she had been living with couple Tanika Bromley and James Wood, on May 15.
Detectives believe the pair drove Pheobe the 40 minutes to Bundaberg Airport where she was supposed to board an 8.30am flight to Brisbane and then onto Perth where she planned to meet up with her boyfriend.
Questions remain over exactly why she was living at the house with the pair, but final posts she made to social media before she disappeared suggested the troubled teen had fallen out with her mother and would not return home.
A woman who lives near the couple and has known Mr Wood since childhood told Daily Mail Australia she stopped speaking to him because she didn’t like how he was allegedly treating his dogs.
The woman said she also became friendly with Ms Bromley until she was once in the car with her and allegedly ‘reached under the seat and pulled out a [sawn off] shot gun’ which had been stored there.
‘She just laughed and said ”don’t worry about it babe it’s for self-protection”. I didn’t talk to her much after that. It was a few months ago.’
The pair have been questioned by police and were released. No charges have been laid over Pheobe’s disappearance and Daily Mail Australia does not suggest Mr Wood and Ms Bromley were involved.
Pheobe Bishop, 17, (pictured) was last seen near Bundaberg airport in Queensland about 8.30am on May 15. Police have asked anyone with information or footage to speak up
An officer is pictured carrying brown paper evidence bags at Good Night Scrub Park on Saturday as investigations into the missing 17-year-old continue
SES workers search the Good Night Scrub National Park on Saturday
Tanika Bromley and James Wood (pictured) where the teenager’s housemates
The woman said James wasn’t the ‘quiet and shy’ boy she knew from years ago.
‘He was home schooled by his parents. He used to live in that bus that’s out the front of his house,’ she said.
‘I stopped talking to him because I was worried about how he was treating his dogs.’
The dilapidated single-decker bus, emblazoned with the words ‘Let it ride’ was searched by forensics on Friday.
Daily Mail Australia previously revealed Mr Woods is divorced and only moved to Gin Gin from Emerald, 500km west in Queensland’s Central Highlands, around six months ago after the end of his marriage.
Ms Bromley is understood to be a Gin Gin local and a mother of two. The couple are believed to have moved in together earlier this year.
An update from police on Friday said they would continue to search the wider Gin Gin and Bundaberg areas, and ‘no one is in custody in relation to this investigation’.
‘Police are appealing to the public for information, including any movement in the Good Night Scrub area on May 15, particularly in the Mingo Road and Gayndah Road areas,’ the update read.
Mr Woods bus and boat outside the Gin Gin property where Phoebe had been staying
Officers returned to the bushland on Saturday after seizing an item of potential interest on Friday
An officer is pictured carrying one of several plastic bags with sample jars full of soil
The search heated up on Saturday with additional teams of police joining the effort
The search resumed on Saturday morning with a cry of Heigh-Ho, off we go, as about 40 SES volunteers entered thick bushland in the Good Night Scrub National Park.
Daily Mail Australia can reveal a drone expert from Queensland Fire and Rescue is being deployed above the area to assist the search for the missing teen.
It will be focused on the river.
Specialist police were pictured searching for the missing teen at Good Night Scrub Park on Saturday about an hour’s drive from the airport as part of ongoing search efforts involving homicide detectives and divers.
Investigators returned to the national park on Saturday after discovering an item of potential interest in the area on Friday night. They did not state whether the item was connected to Pheobe.
On Saturday, investigators were pictured dressed in forensic coveralls equipped with sifters and containers filled with soil.
An officer could be seen laying out a brown paper bag waste bag while others carried bags filled with sample jars filled with blue liquid.
Queensland Police senior constable Matthew Baker told reporters the search of the national part was ‘crucial’ to the overall investigation.
Pheobe (right) is pictured alongside her mother Kylie Johnson. Her family said the 17-year-old loves ‘beyond comprehension and is loyal to her siblings’
Daily Mail Australia can reveal a drone specialist was brought in to assist with the search
An officer is pictured sitting across from an investigator dressed in forensic coveralls on Saturday. The national park is located about an hour’s drive from Bundaberg Airport
Police said they were relying heavily on leads from the public to solve Pheobe’s disappearance, encouraging anyone with information ‘big or small’ to come forward.
Pheobe’s family released a statement on Saturday in which they described her as strong-willed and someone who followed her own beat and loved music.
‘I’ve always called her my ‘wild gypsy banshee’,’ the statement said.
‘You can’t tame Phee’s spirit, empathy or fight for life. She is sassy, feisty and loves harder than anyone I’ve ever (met).
‘Phee loves beyond comprehension and is loyal to her siblings.’
Among the volunteers is Gin Gin resident Midge, who has worked with the SES since 2011. She could be heard calling instructions through the trees to her team.
‘It’s going to be hard going today. It’s just going to be thick scrub. We don’t know what we’re looking for, just anything out of place,’ she told Daily Mail Australia.
Pheobe Bishop’s family have appealed for anyone with information about her disappearance to call police (this photo was shared by Queensland Police on Saturday)
Meanwhile, Pheobe’s distraught mother Kylie Johnson and other family members have papered the town with missing posters.
‘Phee is still missing [and] our heartache and pain is raw and real,’ she said today. ‘We as a family are trying to hang onto the light of life that is our free-spirited soul gypsy that is Phee Phee.
‘Phee, we need you home, we need to hear your sassy voice and feel your hugs.’
