Tom Phillips left New Zealand with his three children primarily due to a custody dispute with their mother. In September 2021, after a dispute, he took the children and disappeared, initially leaving his vehicle abandoned in suspicious circumstances near the tide line. He and the children resurfaced briefly, claiming they had been camping, but then vanished again in December 2021. For nearly four years, Phillips lived in hiding in remote areas of the Waikato region, evading authorities while raising the children in isolation. His actions appear to be motivated by a desire to avoid the children going into state care, as custody issues were at the heart of the conflict. The intense manhunt ended tragically in September 2025 when Phillips was shot dead by police during an attempted burglary, after which the children were recovered safely. The situation was fraught with concerns for the children's welfare, given their extended isolation and the challenging conditions they lived in during the period of disappearance.
