A group of mourners gathered for the funeral service of teenager Pheobe Bishop, held before a private cremation at the Springfield Crematorium in Queensland, Australia.
Bishop's housemates, 33-year-old Tanika Bromley and 34-year-old James Wood, were arrested and charged with her homicide earlier this month.
The late teen's mother, Kylie Johnson, reached out to touch the white hearse as it drove her body from the funeral on Monday (June 30).
Highlights
- A teenager was seen chasing the hearse at Pheobe Bishop's funeral in Queensland, Australia.
- Housemates Tanika Bromley and James Wood were charged with Pheobe's homicide and interfering with her corpse.
- The 17-year-old girl was initially reported missing on May 15 after boarding her housemates' vehicle to head to the airport.
A teenage mourner was also seen chasing after the hearse as other attendees held her back.
Bishop's family has reportedly requested donations to the teen's GoFundMe page instead of floral tributes.
Image credits: Kylie Johnson/Facebook
Johnson said she was left "devastated" following the tragic news.
"This is absolutely everybody's worst nightmare. However, we promised to get Phee home and give her a send-off that Phee would approve of, and that's what will happen," the mother stated.
Pheobe's funeral notice described her as the "beloved daughter of Kylie and Ray, Kevin and Stacey. Dearly loved sister of Jamie, Jesse, Kaylea, Ruby-Leigh, Aybel and sister-in-law to Janay."
She was also described as a "loving aunty to Tallullah. Much loved niece, cousin and friend to many."
Image credits: Kylie Johnson/Facebook
Bishop's maternal aunt, Caz Johnson, who was not invited to the funeral due to her tense relationship with her sister, accused people of going to the funeral "when they couldn't be there to help [Bishop] when she needed it."
The 17-year-old went missing on May 15 after getting into her roommates' vehicle to go to Bundaberg Airport. The teen never made it to the airport and failed to board a scheduled flight bound for Brisbane to see her boyfriend.
Her body was found in the Good Night Scrub National Park area on June 6. Detective Inspector Mansfield said that investigators had "information that would suggest some form of motivation" to commit the crime.
Pheobe Bishop went missing on May 15 after failing to board a flight to Melbourne to visit her boyfriend
Image credits: Kylie Johnson/Facebook
Police also stated that Bishop's body had been moved twice after the crime.
Bishop began living with Bromley and Wood, a couple who was known to the family, after allegedly falling out with her mother.
After Bishop was declared missing, her aunt appeared on Network Ten's The Project and shared text messages she said had been sent by the teenager, which showed her negative relationship with her mother.
Caz claimed she received a text from Bishop on April 26, saying that her mother had told her to "get out," but she didn't feel like going into detail because it was "a long story."
Image credits: The Project
"Up s*** creek but s*** happens," the text messages read. "I'm flying the f*** out of here to see my boyfriend. If it goes to plan I'm not coming back. I can't do s*** anymore. I need to get out of this hell hole."
Additionally, Caz claimed that the 17-year-old had a problematic childhood, changing schools multiple times and having to adjust to different stepfathers throughout her life.
Bishop's mother, Kylie, refuted the claims, arguing that her sister "hasn't spoken to my children or myself for the last 13-14 years," and that she knew "nothing" about the victim "and who she was as a person."
Image credits: ABC News (Australia)
The sisters further disagreed on whether or not the teen had a disability. Before she went missing, Bishop reportedly shared a post about borderline personality disorder (BPD) but did not specify whether she or someone she knew was suffering from the condition.
The post she shared read, "Having a partner with bpd (borderline personality disorder) means... getting blocked or left over small incidents... they will say very harsh things they don't mean when having an episode."
While Caz insisted that her niece had no disabilities, Kylie suggested she did, writing, "You state Phee Phee had no disability? Where is your evidence? (...) Oh wait, you wouldn't know because you didn't know her!"
Image credits: Sky News Australia
Image credits: Sky News Australia
Shari Loughland, Wood and Bromley's neighbor, claimed that Bishop had been living at the rented property "for a few weeks, up to a month or two," before she went missing.
James Wood and Tanika Bromley have been charged with m*rder and two counts each of interfering with a corpse. They have been remanded to custody ahead of their next court appearance, scheduled for August 11, as per The Guardian.
Image credits: ABC News (Australia)
The couple had previously been charged with unrelated weapons offenses after police found a shortened firearm, ammunition, and two replica weapons during a search of Bromley's Hyundai ix35, and more ammunition in their Gin Gin home where Bishop lived.
Before his arrest, Wood was taken into custody and questioned but was initially released without charge.
"We promised to get Phee home and give her a send-off that Phee would approve of, and that's what will happen," said Bishop's mother before the funeral
Image credits: Kylie Johnson/Facebook
Image credits: 7NEWS Australia
Text messages sent by Wood to one of his friends after being questioned read, "I was one of the last people to see her alive cops basically asked me if I did her in or hurt her. I was like WTF, so yeah that's nice to know that purely because I'm a male and look the way I do."
He also shared a Facebook message asking for information about Bishop and offering his fishing boat as a reward to anyone who could provide information about her whereabouts.
Bishop had reportedly moved in with the couple after falling out with her mother
Image credits: 9 News Queensland
Image credits: ABC News Australia
Floral tributes across the Gin Gin and Bundaberg regions emerged in the wake of Bishop's disappearance, including outside the house she was living in with the couple near the Bundaberg Airport.
Bishop's mother described the late 17-year-old as "glorious, compassionate, caring, resilient, and relentless."
Social media users offered their condolences to Bishop's family
