The Disappearance of Pheobe Bishop Who Left For The Airport And Never Came Back

On May 15, 2025, a 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop, who was a resident of Gin Gin, Queensland, took luggage and went to a flight at the Bundaberg airport. She was to go to the west of Australia to see a friend. Her mother and friends said she was artistic, a strong-willed person who shared life on TikTok. She did not even check into her flight and CCTV showed that she did not enter the terminal. That was the beginning of almost a month of pain and unresolved questions.

Officials considered her disappearance suspicious since the very beginning. Search parties scoured the nearby Good Night Scrub National Park, Gin Gin and airport roads, including the use of cadaver dogs and drones over days. Police declared the home she lived in and the grey Hyundai ix35 she left in to be crime scenes. The mother of Pheobe even turned to social media to seek assistance, and community members posted photos of the car and general spots where she was seen. These desperate measures were made without avail; and still there was no trace of her.

Three weeks later on June 5, the day she disappeared, Pheobe housemates James Wood, 34, and Tanika Bromley, 33, were arrested by police. Both of them were accused of murder and interference with two corpses. Kieren Daniel Mittelheuser, a third suspect was subsequently charged as an accessory after using the phone of Pheobe to tamper with the investigation. As the relatives and friends waited with questions and no answers, grief transformed to outrage. According to the authorities, the two housemates took Pheobe to Airport Drive and dropped her off alone with her luggage, yet she did not get on the plane.

On June 6, human remains were found in the scrub of the area of Good Night Scrub National Park. Investigators believe the body of Pheobe had been moved on more than one occasion, perhaps prior to search teams starting to go over the area in the middle of May. On June 17, the police established that the remains belonged to Pheobe Bishop. Her luggage and phone are still missing, but with the confirmation of her death, she grieved and got closure, the confusion of disbelief and reality intertwined. Her mother even referred to the confirmation as a devastation so great that she could not call it but that a piece of her passed away when she could not hope anymore that her daughter would be back.

The reaction of the community was instant and massive. On June 15, a convoy of over fifty vehicles travelled to Bundaberg Airport from Gin Gin. Cars were painted with butterflies and colourful paint-symbols of Pheobe free spirit. Candlelight vigils and flowers were placed around town. People in the area posted memories, photographs and words of grief and solidarity. Her funeral was a private affair but was characterized by streets covered with bright colors, in honor of the forever seventeen girl she was. Friends referred to her as caring, ambitious and dreamy.

The family of Pheobe took their loss and used it as a demand of justice. They are still seeking footage of that grey car on May 15 and 16 in which they are calling on the citizens to provide the same. They called her “Phee,” the girl with a gypsy soul and who loves photography and Tik Tok. They also organized fundraisers in her name and focused on local activities to keep the awareness fresh. According to her mother, Kylie, she never thought that the life of her daughter would end this way, but her death will not be forgotten.

The story of Pheobe Bishop is a sad lesson that in real life, not always strangers pose a threat, and the process of disappearance does not always start in the dark. A young girl disappeared in public broad daylight on her way to achieve her dreams. She was not killed by forces of chance but murdered in her own house by one of her own. Police are still trying to puzzle out motive, where her belongings are, and whether any other persons were involved, and the community awaits all the answers. The message of unity, grief, and demand of justice spread in her memory, her story resonates as an example of how fragile trust can be and how strong truth becomes when people who you love do not want to be silenced.