A day before being charged with murder, Pheobe Bishop’s housemate spoke to Daily Mail’s JONICA BRAY. This is exactly what he said

Just a day before he was charged with murdering Pheobe Bishop, her housemate James Wood spoke of how the police investigation had taken a significant turn.

Wood and his partner Tanika Bromley are the last-known people to see Pheobe alive when the couple gave the teen a lift to Bundaberg Airport on May 15.

He insisted to Daily Mail Australia senior reporter Jonica Bray – who has been covering the mystery in Gin Gin for the last week – that he had done nothing wrong.

But he sensed that, in the days before his final arrest, Queensland Police had shifted their focus from a missing persons case to a murder investigation.

Pheobe had been staying with Wood and Bromley at their ramshackle rented house in the small town near Bundaberg for four months before she vanished.

Wood told Bray they had given the teenager a lift to the airport about 8.30am on May 15 for her trip to Western Australia to see her boyfriend.

But the morning was fraught with drama after she slept in, and when a row erupted in the car on the way to the airport, Wood said he and Bromley left her in the car to compose herself.

When they returned less than 10 minutes later, she and her large, heavy luggage were gone, and they were unable to find any trace of her in the surrounding area.

James Wood and his partner Tanika Bromley are the last-known people to see Pheobe Bishop alive when the couple gave the teen a lift to Bundaberg Airport on May 15

Pheobe Bishop (pictured with her mother Kylie Johnson) was staying with Wood and Bromley at their rented house in Gin Gin, near Bundaberg, for four months before she vanished

Wood and Bromley were repeatedly quizzed by detectives over Pheobe’s disappearance and subsequently charged with unrelated firearms charges.

Police hit them with a murder charge each at about 8.30pm on Thursday – 22 days after Pheobe was last seen – and officers are now searching a ‘vast area with unforgiving terrain’ in central Queensland for the 17-year-old’s remains.

The couple’s home and car, a 2011 silver Hyundai ix35 which Wood was recently living in, were declared crime scenes by police and pored over by forensic experts. 

‘I don’t know when it changed [to a murder investigation],’ Wood told Bray shortly before police arrested him and took him in for questioning for a seventh time on Wednesday. 

He would later be released without charge following an eight-hour interrogation, before being arrested again on Thursday evening and charged with Pheobe’s murder.

Wood also told our reporter: ‘As far as I was aware, they were looking for my friend, my missing friend, and now they have stopped – and are looking at me.’

Wood said he was asked if he wanted a lawyer in the days after Pheobe vanished but he declined then because he ‘had nothing to hide’ and willingly answered questions.

Queensland Police slapped Bundaberg couple James Wood, 34 (left) and Tanika Bromley, 33 (right) with one charge of murder each

‘I gave them my phone, I told them everything I knew, my car was declared a crime scene and then given back,’ he said.

‘Then they ask me to come in again and again… It got to the point where I went, “No, sorry.”‘

Wood said his social media was shut down by police after he received more than 1,000 messages, adding: ‘It’s in the Washington Post, my name and my face… A friend from a different state saw it in the Washington Post.’

Before his penultimate arrest on Wednesday, Wood told us his ordeal was not over, adding: ‘My friend is still missing and no one is looking for her, I am still holding out hope she is going to come back.’ 

Wood (pictured) insisted to Daily Mail Australia senior reporter Jonica Bray – who has been covering the mystery in Gin Gin for the last week – that he had done nothing wrong 

Wood told Daily Mail Australia he and Tanika Bromley gave Pheobe Bishop a lift to the airport about 8.30am on May 15 for her trip to Western Australia to see her boyfriend

On Friday, Pheobe Bishop’s older sister pleaded for information that would bring the missing teenager’s remains home as cops revealed their suspicions her body had been moved multiple times after she was allegedly murdered.

‘We just want her home,’ Kaylea Bishop, 18, said tearfully through red-rimmed eyes outside Bundaberg Magistrates Court where the case was mentioned, but Wood and Bromley did not appear either in person or via video link.

‘I don’t know what to say, if you’ve got any information about Pheobe or the car, just come forward.

‘Three weeks is too long for us as a family. She was loved, she’s missed dearly.’

On Friday, the girls’ mother Kylie Johnson paid tribute to Kaylea for facing the media to speak up for her allegedly murdered sister.

‘Kaylea your strength, determination and dedication to bring Phee Phee home is such a reflection of your fierce love for your sister,’ Ms Johnson posted on Facebook.

‘Pheobe would be so proud of the way you handled yourself today just as we are. We WILL bring Phee home – I don’t care how long it takes but we will get her home.’

Detectives earlier revealed they have been searching a ‘vast area with unforgiving terrain’ in central Queensland for the 17-year-old’s remains.

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