The housemates of Pheobe Bishop allegedly moved the missing teen’s body from a national park after murdering her, police say.

James Wood, 34, and Tanika Bromley, 33, faced Bundaberg Magistrates Court in southern Queensland on Friday.

Each has been charged with 17-year-old Pheobe’s murder and two counts of interfering with a corpse. They were remanded in custody ahead of their next court appearance on August 11.

Locals gathered outside court in Bundaberg, with one holding up a sign in support of the missing teen’s shattered family.

Wood and Bromley were arrested on Thursday night, three weeks to the day after Pheobe missed a flight and vanished.

Pheobe was last seen near Bundaberg airport about 8.30am on May 15 after booking a trip to Western Australia to see her boyfriend.

Police allege Wood and Bromley drove Pheobe in a grey Hyundai ix35 to Airport Drive in Bundaberg but no one exited the car.

Pheobe was allegedly murdered and her body was moved more than once from the Good Night Scrub National Park, an hour’s drive from Bundaberg airport.

Police had searched the park extensively during their investigation into Pheobe’s disappearance, saying evidence may have been moved from the national park before officers arrived.

Items were seized during the search for forensic information.

Pheobe’s body is yet to be located but police suspect it is in the national park, Detective Inspector Craig Mansfield said on Friday.

“We’re back to a particular area where we are suspecting that we may locate Pheobe, but again, it is a broad, unforgiving, large area,” he said.

Telephone data led police to focus on the national park. Search operations resumed on Friday after efforts were scaled back on Wednesday.

“We hope that we’ll have a resolution over the coming days,” Mansfield said.

Police also believe they understand the motive for Pheobe’s murder.

“We do have information that would suggest some form of motivation,” Mansfield said.

Wood’s SUV was seized by police for forensic examination on Thursday night.

He has been living in the vehicle after the Gin Gin property he shared with Bromley and Pheobe was declared a crime scene following the teen’s disappearance.

“There is a vehicle that we believe Pheobe was transported in, but I will not disclose that at this point in time,” Mansfield said.

Mansfield said he shared the devastation of Pheobe’s mother Kylie Johnson.

“Whilst we always hoped to find Pheobe alive, our investigation as it progressed quite clearly showed us that that was not going to be a viable outcome,” he said.

Johnson, who regularly shared updates begging for her daughter’s whereabouts, said on Thursday night that her family had been “shattered”.

“Our world has just been shattered into the most horrific place I’ve ever been,” she wrote.

“I need my baby home to put her to rest! I’m absolutely begging anyone that knows anything to come forward.

“We need to put her to rest, we need to put her to peace.”

Wood was previously taken into custody on Wednesday but then released several hours later without charge.

He and Bromley were earlier charged with unrelated weapons offences.

Police allegedly found a shortened firearm, ammunition, and two replica handguns during a search of Bromley’s grey Hyundai ix35 and further ammunition in the pair’s Gin Gin home.

Mansfield said he could not speculate until Pheobe’s body was found on whether the weapons located were used in her murder.

Queensland Premier David Crisafulli said the tragedy would have cut deep in the tight-knit Gin Gin community, which has a population of about 1100,

“But at the heart of it is a young girl who has had her life taken away from her, and that’s deeply deeply troubling,” he said.

-AAP