Dezi Freeman still alive and being helped by supporters, police say

Police believe people are harbouring accused double murderer Dezi Freeman and have made an extraordinary plea for them to come forward, warning that anyone hiding the fugitive is committing a grave crime.

On the seventh day of a massive manhunt in Victoria’s High Country, Superintendent Brett Kahan said investigators believed Freeman was still alive and police now suspect he is receiving help from people in the community to evade capture.

While police spent the first days of the search urging Freeman to turn himself in, Kahan used Monday’s press conference to instead send a message to anyone helping the fugitive.

“People know the whereabouts of the person who has killed two cops,” Kahan said. “People have chosen, for whatever reason, not to come forward. I’m taking this time to appeal to you to come forward.

“You are committing an extremely serious crime by harbouring or assisting in the escape of Dezi Freeman.”

Freeman fled into dense bushland following last Tuesday’s ambush and has not been seen since.

Kahan said police believe Freeman, a self-proclaimed “sovereign citizen” who changed his surname from Filby, had a wide support network.

Freeman allegedly blasted Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, with a home-made shotgun through the door of a bus the weapons enthusiast was living in near the township of Porepunkah.

The father of three then allegedly opened a window of the bus and shot Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, who also died at the scene.

Another detective wounded in the attack is understood to have hidden under the bus for up to an hour, until paramedics arrived.

Kahan said on Monday that the offer of a surrender plan made to Freeman in previous days was now also being extended to any potential accomplices who were helping him.

“Take up that offer, by whichever means you like, whether it be [calling] triple zero or otherwise,” he said. “We will formulate a surrender plan.”

Kahan said police had received more than 450 pieces of intelligence from the public, which had assisted in their manhunt, and he called on anyone with information to contact authorities.

“What I can say, the outpouring of assistance from the local community has been simply remarkable in respect to those that know Dezi,” he said.

Kahan vowed police would not stop their search efforts until Freeman was found. The superintendent said the force owed it to the two slain officers.

“We owe it to Vadim and we owe it to Neal. And we owe it to not only the Victoria Police community, but the community at large,” he said. “Because what we shouldn’t forget, is we’re looking for a person who killed two people.”

On Sunday, Freeman’s wife, Mali Freeman, urged her husband to surrender, in a statement through her lawyer which implored anyone harbouring him to contact police.

However, Kahan called into question the level of co-operation Freeman’s wife had afforded investigators.

“In respect to the suspect’s wife, what I’ll say [is], it’s two different things to be speaking with police and co-operating [with police],” he said.

“We continue the search believing that Dezi Freeman, who is suspected of killing two police officers, is alive.

“We are absolutely hunting for a fugitive, and we continue to do so.”

As the investigation into the shooting ambush continues alongside the search, a police source confirmed there was a discussion about whether Freeman’s alleged crimes could be deemed terrorism, but this suggestion has been dismissed.

Dr Josh Roose, a Deakin University associate professor who studies political violence, said while Freeman was clearly “highly, highly ideologically motivated” that was not enough to deem the killings an act of terrorism.

“In terms of establishing this particular incident, he [Freeman] would have to be identified as seeking to advance a political, religious, ideological cause,” Roose said.

“The question is: has he written a manifesto? Has he provided evidence in some way, shape or form? Is there evidence that this was an act designed to advance a political cause?”

Roose said investigators would likely be combing through up to tens of thousands of different pieces of material linked to Freeman, analysing his phone records and probing what he was doing and saying online.

”[Allegedly] murdering two police officers and then going on the run afterwards because of your beliefs and not giving yourself up because of your beliefs doesn’t necessarily make a terrorist attack,” Roose said.

“He’s got to have murdered or killed police officers in line with his ideology and to advance the ideology, and that’s tricky because in the case of sovereign citizen ideology, it’s not known for being primarily reactive. If anything, it’s a reaction to government.”

The Porepunkah double shooting has eerie similarities to the 2022 killing of two police at a remote property outside the Queensland town of Wieambilla, west of Brisbane.

Roose was an expert witness in the Wieambilla incident, in which Gareth, Nathaniel and Stacey Train shot and killed police constables Matthew Arnold and Rachel McCrow, as well as neighbour Alan Dare, before being killed by members of the police special emergency response team.

He said the Porepunkah case was not as clear-cut, as the Trains had documented their beliefs in YouTube clips and in writing.

Stacey Train had also mapped out “how long until the end of the world”, Roose said.

The Trains engaged in conspiracies and Gareth had declared himself a sovereign citizen. Queensland Police and ASIO declared that incident a terrorist attack motivated by a Christian violent extremist ideology.

“When the police came on [their property], they [the Trains] viewed them as devils and demons incarnate effectively,” Roose said.

Also on Monday, police inspected a Porepunkah property on which Freeman and his family were living.

Two armoured vehicles known as BearCats arrived at the farm, located at the base of Mount Buffalo.

Police have also set up a special mobile facility in nearby Bright, which will be open seven days a week for people to come forward with information.

“We’re opening up other avenues for the public to approach us to give information about Dezi Freeman’s whereabouts,” Kahan said.

“Take that opportunity. They’ll be there daylight hours, every single day of the week, every single day of the weekend.”

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