Human Remains Found amid Search for Missing Teen Pheobe Bishop, 3 Weeks After She Vanished: Police

Human remains have been found just over three weeks after missing teenager Pheobe Bishop disappeared after failing to check in for a booked flight in Australia, police have confirmed.

Bishop, 17, hasn’t been seen or heard from since being taken to Bundaberg Regional Airport in Queensland on May 15 around 8:30 a.m. local time, Queensland Police previously said in a May 19 news release.

On Friday, June 6, police said in a release, “Police have located what is believed to be human remains following a search of an area near Good Night Scrub National Park near Gin Gin this afternoon.”

“The brief search commenced after further enquires and investigations today, with the discovery being made by specialist units around 2:30 p.m. [local time],” the post added.

Police continued, “The remains are yet to be formally identified; however, investigators are in contact with the family of missing 17-year-old Pheobe Bishop.”

“A crime scene has been declared at the location and forensic examinations are continuing,” the post stated.

It added, “Police continue to appeal for any information in relation to Pheobe Bishop or the movement of a grey Hyundai IX35 between May 15 to 18 in the greater Gin Gin area.”

The announcement comes shortly after police confirmed in a release on Thursday that a 34-year-old man and a 33-year-old woman had been charged in connection with Bishop’s death.

Local outlets, the Australian Broadcasting Corporation (ABC), SBS World News and news.com.aureported that the suspects were Bishop’s housemates James Wood, 34, and Tanika Kristan Bromley, 33.

After police shared Friday’s release, Bishop’s mom, Kylie Johnson, who has been postig regular updates on Facebook amid the search for her daughter, wrote, “I didn’t think my heart could break anymore then it did when you went missing, or when the charges where laid but this! This is ripping me apart…” adding a link to the police post.

Queensland Police Detective Acting Inspector Ryan Thompson previously said that Bishop had been dropped off near the airport by “associates” but didn’t enter the terminal, according to the ABC, adding that she “had a flight booked to Brisbane and then on to WA [Western Australia] to visit a friend.”

According to Daily Mail Australia, Wood had spoken to the outlet about the morning Bishop disappeared, just hours before he was taken into police custody.

Wood claimed that Bishop, who was reportedly planning to get on a flight to see her boyfriend, had been “furious” after sleeping “through her alarm” on the morning of her trip. He said he and his partner Bromley had driven her to the airport, but Bishop had been concerned about missing her flight.

“We just wanted to get her checked in and thought if we can just get there she will calm down,” Wood told Daily Mail Australia of the drive.

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He said that they ended up stopping the car on Airport Drive, just over half a mile from the terminal.

“We wanted to give her five minutes — give her her own space to do what she needed to do,” he told the outlet, adding, “We walked to the end, it was maybe five minutes, maybe it was three minutes or maybe it was eight but that’s about how long we were gone.”

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He claimed that when the pair returned to the vehicle, Bishop and her bag were gone, according to the publication. Wood stated that they looked for the teen for a while, but when they couldn’t find her, they assumed she’d boarded the flight.

The Gin Gin home where Bishop had been living prior to her disappearance had previously been declared a crime scene, according to police, as well as the gray Hyundai ix35 mentioned in Friday’s release.

Queensland Police didn’t immediately respond when contacted by PEOPLE for additional information.