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Speaker 1: Heller dup See Allen, the mother of the missing Mart

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Speaker 1: Corporate children, has broken her silence for a second time

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Speaker 1: this week, sharing a letter on social media that she

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Speaker 1: says was written to her by the father, Tom Phillips. Now,

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Speaker 1: she says the letter, which professes his love for her,

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Speaker 1: shows quote that all is not as it seems now.

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Speaker 1: Karen Rutherford is a Newshart reporter who's been closely following

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Speaker 1: this story and is with us. Now, Hey, Karen, hi, Heather,

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Speaker 1: do any idea why this woman's made this public.

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Speaker 2: Look, this is a private letter between two people, and

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Speaker 2: it is interesting timing. On Tuesday night, obviously, the police

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Speaker 2: issued a video of cats speaking and pleading with the

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Speaker 2: public of New Zealand to help, and then she releases

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Speaker 2: a letter which she says is from the children's father,

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Speaker 2: Tom Phillips. Now, I have spoken to police. They don't

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Speaker 2: believe this is a recent letter and they also don't

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Speaker 2: feel it is relevant to the current investigation. This is

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Speaker 2: in the past. It's a custody issue between two people

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Speaker 2: and that's it all started out. Sadly, it's become a

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Speaker 2: very public case here there, obviously because Tom Phillips is

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Speaker 2: accused of criminal and intent with the alleged bank robbery

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Speaker 2: of antiquity A and Z as well as the pups sucreer,

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Speaker 2: and he's also allegedly holding these children back from health

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Speaker 2: care and education. So that's you know, we're also taxpayers

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Speaker 2: and we're spending a lot of money on a massive

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Speaker 2: man hunt, so it becomes a matter of public interests.

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Speaker 2: But potentially this is a private matter, and this is

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Speaker 2: a woman who's choosing to share her dirty laundry.

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Speaker 1: I suppose why did she lose custody of the kids?

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Speaker 2: Look, there are issues on both sides, and I'm not

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Speaker 2: really able to go into that. We've chosen as a

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Speaker 2: news have not to go into the background because, as

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Speaker 2: I say, it is a private family thing. It only

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Speaker 2: becomes relevant when you know, search and rescue operations involve

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Speaker 2: people from all over the North Island, and criminal intent

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Speaker 2: becomes involved. So let's just say she had no custody,

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Speaker 2: but Tom lost his custody when he took the children

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Speaker 2: for a second time. So faults on both sides. It's

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Speaker 2: about no one's squeaky clean here.

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Speaker 1: No, No, I can I get that impression. There are

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Speaker 1: about five days or something like that to get information

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Speaker 1: through to the cops. Do you think the cops do

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Speaker 1: you get the impression that they're closing in on him.

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Speaker 2: They made their strongest comment yet on Friday to us

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Speaker 2: in our story where they are detectives acting detectments meant

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Speaker 2: that Andy Saulders said, Look, you know, we are working

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Speaker 2: with the family on both sides, but there are wider

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Speaker 2: family and associates who are not forthright in their information.

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Speaker 2: And that was the strongest indication yet that they have

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Speaker 2: a net. They know who they're looking for, and they

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Speaker 2: know who they're targeting with this eighty thousand dollars award.

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Speaker 2: They are hoping that someone in that wider circle will cave,

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Speaker 2: and they know exactly who those people are. So yes,

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Speaker 2: I believe the net is closing. Whether or not they

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Speaker 2: will have success before the five days runs out, they

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Speaker 2: may well find this the reward closes off and they

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Speaker 2: still haven't got what they need, but they will have

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Speaker 2: information in hand.

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Speaker 1: Karen, thank you so much. I really appreciate your time.

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Speaker 1: Karen Rutherford, News Hub Reporter. For more from Heather Duplessy

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Speaker 1: Allen Drive, listen live to news Talks. It'd be from

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Speaker 1: four pm weekdays, or follow the podcast on iHeartRadio,