In a tragic end to a case that has captivated New Zealand for nearly four years, fugitive father Tom Phillips was shot dead by police after a burglary on Monday. Phillips had been on the run with his three children since 2021. One of the children was with Phillips during the exchange of fire near Piopio on Monday, while the two others remained missing for hours after his death.

The long-running mystery over Phillips and his children’s whereabouts has prompted multiple searches, offers of rewards, and pleas for information from family members and the police. New Zealand struggled to understand how, in a country of close-knit communities, Phillips could have evaded detection.

It began just before Christmas 2021, when Phillips fled into the Waikato wilderness with his children Ember, now 9, Maverick, 10, and Jayda, 12, following a dispute with their mother. Phillips did not have legal custody of his children.

The vast Waikato region, where Phillips was presumed to have been hiding, is made up of long sweeping coastline to the west, forested terrain and farmland in the centre, limestone cave networks to the north and a smattering of small rural towns and settlements throughout.

Phillips came from a farming family in Marokopa – a tiny coastal settlement of fewer than 100 people that became inextricably linked with Phillips’s story.

Before he disappeared, many New Zealanders would have struggled to pick it out on a map. It is a quiet, isolated settlement in Waikato, two hours from the nearest city, Hamilton, with one long winding road in and out of the densely forested and hilly landscape.

The remoteness of the landscape frustrated police attempts to locate Phillips.

While there was no suggestion his family helped Phillips, the question of how he managed to conceal himself and his three children – and survive – in the harsh terrain puzzled the nation, leading to speculation others in the community may have aided him.

Phillips’ lengthy disappearance was preempted by an earlier – albeit shorter – stint where he went bush with his children. In September 2021, the four were reported missing and his ute was found abandoned along the Marokopa shoreline, resulting in a major search operation across land and sea.

Nineteen days later, Phillips and the children walked into his parents’ farmhouse just outside Marokopa. Phillips claimed he had taken his children on an extended camping trip in dense bush in an effort to clear his head. He was charged with wasting police time and resources.

But fewer than three months later, the four were reported missing again and when Phillips failed to show for a January court appearance, a warrant was issued for his arrest.

Sightings of Phillips and his children over the nearly four years were rare and fleeting. They had little contact with society during this time – though Phillips took at least one child out of the bush in May 2023, when he allegedly committed an armed bank robbery in nearby Te Kūiti, and in November that year when he allegedly attempted to rob a small grocery store. While there were several other sightings in mid-2023 and an $80,000 reward was put up for information in June, the trail went cold.

Police described Phillips as someone who “doesn’t live a mainstream lifestyle”, eschewing social media and limiting his use of mainstream banks. Nobody knows for certain how Phillips and his children survived through the years, but the police have asked farmers to check for missing stock. His purchases of camping items and seedlings suggested he was living off the land.

In October 2024, footage emerged of an adult and three children walking through Marokopa farmland, after a chance encounter with teenage pig hunters who pulled out their phones and began filming. Police believed it to be Phillips and his three children. A police search of the area the following day failed to find them.

‘Devastated that this was the outcome’

As the months stretched on, little emerged about the missing family. Last month, members of Phillips’ family appealed for him to come home, in some of their first public comments since he vanished years earlier. His sister, Rozzi Phillips, said she hoped that he would see their appeal and “see that he can come home and we are here for him and it might just be OK”.

A little over a week later, CCTV footage believed to show Phillips and one of his children allegedly breaking into and stealing from a convenience store was released by police.

On Monday, the case reached its tragic end after police were called to a commercial property at 2.30am, following reports of a burglary at a rural farm supply store in Piopio. Phillips and one of his children fled the scene on a quad bike, with items from the store attached, said deputy commissioner Jill Rogers.

Police officers laid spikes at an intersection, which halted the quad bike. An officer attending the scene was then fired upon and struck in the head. A second patrol unit arrived and shot Phillips.

“The formal identification of this male is yet to take place, but we believe him to be Tom Phillips,” said Rogers.

Rogers said one of Phillips’ children was located at the scene, as well as multiple firearms. The other two were located uninjured after an hours-long search later in the day.

The mayor of Waitomo, John Robertson, told the Guardian it was the worst possible end to the saga.

“I’m shattered, to be honest, and there will be many in the community that are devastated that this was the outcome after three and a half, four years,” he said.

Robertson had hoped that the situation could have been resolved through negotiations with Phillips. His family and the family of the policeman would be deeply affected, he said.

The children’s mother, Cat, issued a statement on Monday in which she said she was “deeply relieved” that the “ordeal” for her children had ended.

“They have been dearly missed every day for nearly four years, and we are looking forward to welcoming them home with love and care,” she said.