Before disappearing, Mr Phillips grew up in the Waikato district, about 112 miles south of Auckland, and spent much of his time on a family farm in Marokopa, a sprawling and hilly area of paddocks and bushland near the Waitomo caves.
When he split from his wife after eight years of marriage, he gained custody of the children and became a full-time father, educating them at home.
All four first vanished in September 2021, sparking alarm when Mr Phillips’ Toyota Hilux was found below the tide line at the nearby Kiritehere beach.
The child seats in the vehicle were empty and the keys were found under the driver’s mat.
A massive, expensive search-and-rescue mission brought together police and local volunteers to scour the desolate coastline with heat-detecting drones, a helicopter, plane and a jet ski, but it was called off after 12 days with no sign of the missing family.
Five days later, they re-emerged saying that they had been camping.
‘Carrying a gun’
Mr Phillips was charged with wasting police resources and was summoned to appear in court in early 2022, but in early December, the family went missing again and were not sighted until last week when a teenage member of a pig-hunting team captured their image.
The teenager’s grandfather, John McOviney, said the children had asked if “anyone knew they were there” before carrying on along their route.
He told Newstalk ZB that when his grandson saw Mr Phillips was carrying a gun, he did not continue the conversation but instead called the police.
Det Insp Andrew Saunders of the New Zealand Police confirmed the sighting was being treated as “credible”.
‘Positive information’
“This is the first time all three of the children have been sighted, which is positive information, and we know it will be reassuring for the children’s wider family,” he said, adding that investigators were now determining the next steps.
However, a three-day search, including the use of a military helicopter, yielded “nothing further of significance”, police said. They have asked the local community to report any suspicious activity.
A £37,000 reward was offered for two weeks in June for information leading to the children’s safe return.
Mr Phillips is also now wanted for questioning over an alleged armed robbery of a bank in Te Kuiti near Marokopa in September 2023, prompting the police to warn the public not to approach him.