Community clings to ‘glimmer of hope’ for missing girl
Laine Clark |
A “glimmer of hope” remains in the search for a teenager who missed a flight and has not been seen since, sparking a police investigation into her suspicious disappearance.
A community has rallied around the family of Pheobe Bishop, launching a campaign they hope will help guide her home.
The search for the 17-year-old has been expanded in southern Queensland after items believed to be linked to the investigation were found in a national park.
Police on Monday said there was reason to believe evidence may have been moved from Good Night Scrub National Park before investigators arrived.
Local mayor Helen Blackburn said the community was trying to stay positive, almost two weeks after Pheobe’s disappearance.
Pheobe was last seen near Bundaberg airport about 8.30am on May 15 after booking a trip to Western Australia with CCTV footage indicating she never entered the terminal.
“Everyone wants to find Pheobe and there’s this fear that we won’t,” Bundaberg Mayor Cr Blackburn told AAP.
“But I think the community is trying to look after one another as best as they can.
“We still have a glimmer of hope while the police and SES are out searching.”
The Good Night Scrub National Park, which is an hour’s drive from the airport, has emerged as crucial to the investigation, with homicide detectives and police divers called in.
“Some items, believed to be linked to the investigation, have been located during the search and have been seized for forensic examination,” police said in statement on Monday.
“Police have now expanded the search area and have renewed their appeal for information after recent investigations show some evidence may have been moved from the Good Night Scrub area, prior to police arrival.”
Anyone with information, footage or sightings of a grey Hyundai ix35 between May 15 to 18 in the Gin Gin area should contact police.
Pheobe’s mother, Kylie Johnson, on Monday said her family was living in a “cyclone of uncertainty”, with her young son asking why his sister wasn’t answering their calls.
But she is taking comfort in the local Gin Gin community’s “Leave the Lights On for Pheobe” campaign.
Locals have posted photos on social media of their front lights switched on “to guide Pheobe home”.
“Your little man/brother asked yesterday ‘Why won’t Phee take our calls? She always takes our calls!’,” Ms Johnson wrote on social media on Monday.
“Mate I wish I knew but we have to believe that the police and the lights that our amazing community are leaving on will … bring her home to us.”
Spirits have also been buoyed by SES volunteers coming from “all over the place” in response to calls for help searching the national park, Cr Blackburn said.
Ms Johnson said the wait for answers had taken its toll.
“As we enter day 11 of Pheobe still not being home our numbness to our tears, to our hearts breaking and this hell is heavy,” Ms Johnson posted on Facebook.
“Not knowing what to say, what to do or even how to continue to live in this cyclone of uncertainty.”
The Gin Gin property near Bundaberg, where Pheobe lived with two other people, has been declared a crime scene, along with the grey Hyundai thought to have been used to take the teen to the airport.
Residents of the Gin Gin property are co-operating with police.
Pheobe is about 180cm tall with a pale complexion, long hair that has been dyed red and hazel eyes.
She was last seen carrying luggage, wearing a green tank top and grey sweatpants.
AAP
