A car belonging to Pheobe Bishop’s housemate has been discovered on the streets with its number plates changed.
Pheobe, 17, was last seen on May 15, leaving a rundown home in Gin Gin near Bundaberg where she had been living with couple Tanika Bromley and James Wood.
Queensland Police believe the pair drove Pheobe the 40 minutes to Bundaberg Airport, where she was supposed to board an 8.30am flight to Brisbane and then onto Perth, where she planned to meet up with her boyfriend.
Detectives said they believe Bromley and Mr Wood were the two people who drove her to the airport.
No charges have been laid over Pheobe’s disappearance and Daily Mail does not suggest Bromley or Mr Wood were involved.
Bromley’s 2011 silver Hyundai ix35 hatchback with registration 414-EW3 – believed to be the car Pheobe travelled to Airport Drive in – was declared a crime scene along with the Gin Gin house.
The Hyundai has now been spotted in Bundaberg with what appeared to be altered number plates.
On Monday, a local saw the vehicle and noticed the original number plate had been painted and taped over.
The new number plate reads 474-BW8. Black tape and maroon paint appeared to have been used for the deliberate modification.
Bromley’s car’s original registration was a Queensland plate, but this had been covered with ‘NSW’ written on it.
The Hyundai symbol at the back of the vehicle had also been changed to a Toyota symbol.
Queensland Police confirmed to Daily Mail they are aware of the seemingly altered number plate and are making further inquiries.
During a previous search of the grey Hyundai ix35, police allegedly found a shortened firearm, ammunition, and two replica handguns.
Additional ammunition was reportedly located at the Gin Gin property.
Bromley was arrested in Millbank on May 25 and was later charged with multiple unrelated weapons-related offences.
She faces two counts of possessing explosives without authority, and one count each of possessing restricted items and unlawful possession of weapons.
Bromley has been refused bail and is due to appear in Bundaberg Magistrates Court on Monday.
It comes after officers revealed that key evidence may have been moved from Good Night Scrub National Park before they began their search on Friday.
Queensland Police have been searching bushland with cadaver dogs at the park about an hour away from where Pheobe was last seen.
On Monday, police announced that several items potentially linked to the investigation were discovered during the search of the park and they have been sent for forensic testing.
In a haunting update, Daily Mail has obtained the private messages that Mr Wood sent hours after Pheobe was reported missing.
‘Hey hey how are you,’ asked a concerned friend on Friday 16 May at 9.45pm.
‘Yeah been better ayy darlz how bout you?’ Mr Wood replied on Saturday May 17 at 6.18am.
When asked if there had been any news about Pheobe, Mr Wood replied: ‘No nothing atm, but we are just printing up more flyers to go around and stick up every where and keep searching and hope she makes contact with someone ayy.’
The concerned friend said they had their ‘fingers crossed for her’ and questioned whether there was any CCTV at the airport that may help with the investigation.
‘I don’t know ayy but how’s this cause I was one of the last people to see her alive cops basically asked me if I did her in or hurt her at all ayy,’ he said.
Mr Wood was questioned by police last week after Pheobe vanished, but was released without charge.
Meanwhile, an IGA supermarket worker, who did not want to be identified, told Daily Mail Pheobe visited the store on several occasions ‘looking worse for wear with no money’.
‘Why aren’t questions being asked about what happened to that poor child 10 weeks before this?’ the worker asked.
The visibly angry staffer said Pheobe ‘looked like no one owned her’ and was desperate for food, often ‘short changing’ them ‘to the point that I paid for her’.
‘People in this country have to prove they can look after animals or reptiles but not children,’ they said.
‘This town should be standing still but it’s not. It should be crawling with people but it’s not. She didn’t look like she belonged to anyone.’
It’s unclear why Pheobe was living at the Gin Gin house, but her the final social media posts suggested she had fallen out with her mother and would not return home.
Tragically, it also seems she was struggling living at Bromley and Mr Wood’s home.
A friend who wished to remain anonymous has shared the last messages they received from Pheobe, sent on Monday, May 12 before she went missing.
‘I’ve been better but I focus on the good s***,’ Pheobe said when asked how she was going.
‘I take off to WA in three days! Get out of this s*** home for a bit so that will be good, just packing atm (at the moment).’
Asked how long she was going for, Pheobe replied: ’10 days beautiful x’.
The Gin Gin property where Pheobe was living, cluttered with rubbish and a dilapidated bus, has been a hive of police activity during the probe into her disappearance.
When Daily Mail visited the scene on Thursday, there was a pervading stench of decay emanating from the Milden St property, which witnesses speculated could be due to the dead dogs reportedly found at the home.
Early reports suggested police had discovered and removed four dead dogs from the scene, but one neighbour told Daily Mail she believed as many as 13 of the animals had been found.