Police allege Pheobe Bishop’s housemates moved her body twice after murdering her, with investigations indicating the missing 17-year-old is in a national park.
The housemates allegedly murdered the missing teenager before moving her body from a national park, police say.
James Wood, 34, and Tanika Bromley, 33, will remain behind bars after their matters appeared in Bundaberg Magistrates Court in southern Queensland.
They have been charged with murder and two counts each of interfering with a corpse.
They have been remanded in custody ahead of their next court appearance on 11 August.
The arrests came three weeks to the day after Pheobe missed a flight and vanished.
Pheobe’s remains were yet to be located, police said.
A police search will focus on locating Pheobe’s remains after resuming on Friday, with investigations indicating she may be in a national park near Bundaberg.
“Whilst we always hoped to find Pheobe alive, our investigation ... quite clearly showed us that that was not going to be a viable outcome,” Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield said.
Police allege Wood and Bromley drove Pheobe in a grey Hyundai ix35 to Airport Drive in Bundaberg but no one exited the car.
Pheobe was allegedly murdered and her body was moved more than once from the Good Night Scrub national park, an hour’s drive from Bundaberg airport.
Police had searched the park extensively during their investigation into Pheobe’s disappearance, saying evidence may have been moved from the national park before officers arrived.
Items were seized during the search for forensic information.
Pheobe’s remains are yet to be located but police suspect they are in the national park, Mansfield told reporters on Friday.
“We’re back to a particular area where we are suspecting that we may locate Pheobe, but again, it is a broad, unforgiving, large area,” he said.
Telephone data led police to focus on the national park with search operations restarting on Friday after efforts were scaled back on Wednesday.
“We hope that we’ll have a resolution over the coming days,” Mansfield said.
Police also believe they understand the motive for Pheobe’s murder.
“We do have information that would suggest some form of motivation,” Mansfield said.
Wood’s SUV was seized by police for forensic examination on Thursday night.
He has been living in the vehicle after the Gin Gin property he shared with Bromley and Pheobe was declared a crime scene after the teenager’s disappearance.
“There is a vehicle that we believe Pheobe was transported in, but I will not disclose that at this point in time,” Mansfield said.
Mansfield said he shared the devastation Pheobe’s mother, Kylie Johnson, was experiencing.
“Whilst we always hoped to find Pheobe alive, our investigation as it progressed quite clearly showed us that that was not going to be a viable outcome,” he said.
Wood had previously been taken into custody on Wednesday but was released several hours later without charge.
Wood and Bromley had earlier been charged with unrelated weapons offences.
Police allegedly found a shortened firearm, ammunition and two replica handguns during a search of Bromley’s grey Hyundai ix35 and further ammunition in the pair’s Gin Gin home.
Mansfield said he could not speculate until Pheobe’s body was found on whether the weapons located were used in her murder.
Johnson said on Thursday night her family had been “shattered”.
Johnson had been posting on social media almost every day since her daughter’s “suspicious” disappearance, pleading for information.
“Our world has just been shattered into the most horrific place I’ve ever been,” she wrote on Thursday night.
“I need my baby home to put her to rest! I’m absolutely begging anyone that knows anything to come forward.
“We need to put her to rest, we need to put her to peace.”
Wood and Bromley were due to appear in Bundaberg magistrates court on Friday.
