‘Seeing each other': Pheobe Bishop's inner circle revealed
Pheobe, 17, disappeared on May 15 on her way to Bundaberg Airport, where she was due to catch a flight to visit her boyfriend in Western Australia.
Three weeks later her body was found in nearby bushland and her housemates James Wood, 34, and Tanika Bromley, 33, were charged with one count each of murder, and two counts each of interfering with a corpse. Police allege they moved Pheobe's body twice.
Earlier this month Kieren Mittelheuser, 30, was also arrested and charged with accessory after the fact to murder. He had allegedly used the teen's phone to interfere with the police investigation following her death.
After Mittelheuser was charged, his relationship to Wood and Bromley remained unclear.
But a friend of Tanika Bromley told news.com.au that she believes Bromley and Mittelheuser were 'seeing each other' at the time of Pheobe's alleged murder.
Mittelheuser was staying in the dilapidated Gin Gin rental where Wood, Bromley and Pheobe were also living, the friend said.
'Kieren was a friend of (Wood) and had moved in there.'
The friend says that Wood and Bromley and broken up prior to Pheobe's disappearance.
Wood moved into a bus on the rubbish-strewn property while Bromley and Mittelheuser continued living in the house and allegedly formed a relationship.
The friend says she recalls that on May 17, two days after Pheobe's disappearance, Wood, Bromley and Mittelheuser all went out for dinner at a local pub.
She claims that Bromley and Wood had a 'big fight' in the smoking area.
'I asked what's wrong T, talk to me, but she didn't.'
The friend said she disapproved of Bromley's living situation and had often tried to persuade her to move out.
'I told her over and over.'
In addition to the murder charges, Bromley and Wood are also facing unrelated charges over a shortened firearm, replica handguns and ammunition allegedly found during a police search of Bromley's Hyundai.
During the weeks-long search for Pheobe, the run-down rental was declared a crime scene and Bromley was bailed to a family member's house in Gin Gin, while Wood appeared to be living out of the Hyundai in Bundaberg after police released it to him.
Bromley and Wood's bail conditions barred them from communicating but Bromley sent text messages to her friend in which she seemed worried about Wood.
'I haven't seen or spoken to him since I was arrested last Sunday. Hot meal and a shower is probably what he needs,' she wrote in one message.
'Once we are cleared of all this and weapons s*** is done we will be out of this town so fast. Just easier to ignore it, (it) will all go away.'
Bromley also complained about 'wankers' who were 'hunting' Wood while he was on bail - perhaps a reference to angry locals who were hounding Wood for answers about Pheobe's disappearance.
'It's ridiculous what they are doing to him and I can't even help. Because of bail conditions I'm not even allowed to talk to him.'
Both were arrested on the night of June 5, a day before detectives found Pheobe's body near Good Night Scrub National Park, south of Gin Gin.
The friend described Bromley's decision to shack up with Wood in about November 2024 as a mistake.
'Tanika was never like that with her house.'
The friend also did not approve of Bromley's new relationship with Mittelheuser, a Bundaberg local.
'I used to go around there a lot because I felt sorry for those young boys and for Phee.'
Wood, Bromley and Mittelheuser are all being held in jail on remand.
Wood and Bromley are due to appear in court on August 11, while Mittelheuser is due to appear on August 25.
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