In a grim development in the search for missing Australian teenager Phoebe Bishop, police have deployed cadaver dogs to comb a remote national park in Queensland.
The specially trained dogs, capable of detecting the scent of human decomposition, were sent into Good Night Scrub National Park on Sunday — around an hour from where the 17-year-old was last seen 11 days ago.
Miss Bishop vanished after being dropped off at Bundaberg Airport, where she was due to catch an 8:30am flight to Brisbane, with a connecting flight to Perth to meet her boyfriend. However, she never checked in.
She had been living with a couple, Tanika Bromley and James Wood, who say they drove her to the airport. Both have been questioned by police and released without charge.
The mystery surrounding her disappearance has captured national attention, prompting an extensive search involving drones, dive teams, and specialist crews scouring the area around the airport and beyond.
Despite the massive effort, no trace of Pheobe or her belongings has been found.
In a possible breakthrough, CCTV footage emerged showing a silver Hyundai ix35 — the same model Miss Bishop was travelling in before she disappeared, and owned by Ms Bromley — driving through the nearby town of Gin Gin at 10:30am on May 15. That’s two hours after she was reportedly dropped at the airport, The Courier Mail reports.
Following the footage, police announced that an “item of potential interest” had been found in the national park.
Detective Acting Inspector Ryan Thompson said: “Police have subsequently been conducting some searches of the Good Night Scrub National Park in the hopes of finding some evidence in relation to her disappearance.
“There are no specific persons of interest, however, police are following up all avenues of enquiry.”
It remains unclear whether the item is directly connected to the teenager.
The search of the national park has since intensified, with police deploying dive squads and specialist teams by land, air and water.
Insp Thompson added: “Police are trying to nail down the timeline to where this vehicle has gone. We do have associates that are assisting police with our inquiries at the moment, and this is why we’re trying to narrow down that timeline in relation to where Pheobe could be.”
