The third individual charged in connection with the disappearance and murder of teenager Phoebe Bishop has been identified as 30-year-old Kieren Daniel Mittelheuser, a keen fisherman known locally as ‘The Crabman.’ Mittelheuser faces two counts of accessory after the fact to murder, accused of using Ms Bishop’s mobile phone to obstruct police investigations.
Police arrested Mittelheuser outside a fast food outlet in Bundaberg West, Queensland, on Tuesday evening, one day after Phoebe’s private funeral service. In addition to the accessory charges, he is also facing drug possession, driving while disqualified, failure to appear, breaching bail, and fraud charges. The fraud allegations reportedly relate to the misuse of a credit card connected to the accessory charges.
Mittelheuser, a father who reportedly hasn’t recently lived with his child, maintained a seemingly indifferent tone on social media. He posted the day before Phoebe’s remains were found that he did not care “whether his foot hung off the bed or not.”
Phoebe Bishop was last seen near Bundaberg airport on May 15 after booking a flight to Western Australia to visit her boyfriend. Queensland Police allege that her housemates, Tanika Bromley and James Wood, drove her to the airport but neither left the vehicle. Phoebe was allegedly murdered, and her body moved multiple times in the Good Night Scrub National Park, about an hour’s drive from the airport.
The discovery of Phoebe’s remains on June 6 followed detailed phone data analysis. Bromley, 33, and Wood, 34, remain in custody charged with murder and interfering with a corpse. Both are scheduled to appear in court on August 11.
Mittelheuser attended his court mention via phone on Wednesday, represented by duty lawyer Mark Zeller of Indigo Law. He did not seek bail and no plea was entered. His next court appearance is scheduled for August 25 via video link.
Community vigils in Bundaberg and Gin Gin have remembered Phoebe as a vibrant young woman who “lived life to the fullest.” Six weeks after her disappearance, family and friends held a colorful service to lay the free-spirited teen to rest.
Authorities continue to investigate the circumstances surrounding Phoebe Bishop’s death, with no pleas yet entered by the accused.
