The Queensland police have confirmed that the human remains found in rugged bush earlier this month are those of missing teenager Pheobe Bishop.
The 17-year-old Queensland teen was last seen on her way to Bundaberg airport on 15 May when she failed to board her flight.
Her housemates, James Wood, 34, and 33-year-old Tanika Bromley, have been charged with one count each of murder and two counts each of interfering with a corpse.
Police had found the human remains on 6 June in the Good Night Scrub National Park area, but couldn't immediately confirm whether it was Bishop's body.
The Queensland Police on Tuesday officially confirmed that the remains belonged to the missing teenager, but the authorities could not find either her luggage or her mobile phone. "Investigations into locating more items of interest in relation to this matter remain ongoing," the police said.
Bundaberg mayor Helen Blackburn said the formal identification was a "relief", Australian Broadcasting Corporation reported. "We've been waiting to have the confirmation that it was Pheobe that was found ... to have this now confirmed just means that we can move forward together."
Bishop was last seen on the morning of 15 May when she was being driven to the Bundaberg airport by her housemates. Footage shared online showed a grey Hyundai ix35 driving along the back street of Gin Gin. The car model was allegedly the same as the one Bishop was travelling in on the day of her disappearance, according to the police.
The video was reportedly from two hours after Bishop was dropped off at the Bundaberg airport for her flight to Brisbane.
Bishop’s mother, Kylie Johnson, described the disappearance as completely “out of character”, particularly during a week of family mourning – the death anniversaries of her best friend and her grandfather. "If you knew Pheobe, you would know that she is free-spirited and loves hard! She is loyal to the core and cutthroat,” she said.
After the arrest of Bishop's housemates, Ms Johnson posted to Facebook, "begging anyone that knows anything to come forward".
Detective Inspector Mansfield said, "our investigation will detail the facts that we believe Pheobe was murdered and then her body was moved".
“We will allege that Pheobe was moved more than once.”
