Dezi Freeman’s short stay at remote property betrayed by inner circle

Police believe double killer Dezi Freeman was hiding out at a remote bush property for a relatively short period of time before a member of his own inner circle finally turned him over to authorities.

His death in a shoot-out with specialist police on Monday came as a shock to his wife, Mali, and their three children, who had spent seven months believing he was already dead.

Family friend Leanne Boyd said they firmly believed the fugitive had died not long after vanishing into the bush in Porepunkah, hundreds of kilometres away from where he was eventually found, after gunning down two police officers and injuring a third in August.

“It is a sad ending to a story that was already terrible,” Boyd said. “It’s easier to believe that somebody disappeared off into the bush and whatever happened happened. But to then be told that somebody was actually still alive, and met a very violent end …”

The key piece of intelligence, confirmed by three law enforcement sources, that led police to their man after 216 days on the run, now opens the door to someone claiming the $1 million reward which had been offered for information leading to Freeman’s arrest.

On Tuesday, the remote scrubland where Freeman was cornered was still being combed by forensic teams as investigators began to retrace his movements over the past seven months.

Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said investigators would work backwards from Thologolong to Porepunkah and they urged anyone who had helped Freeman to come forward.

“Anyone with information that would identify any accomplices, anyone who’s complicit in moving this person to where he was, or supported him over those seven months, we want to know who those people are,” he said.

“We want information that leads us to their identity. It’s better they come forward now because we are looking for them.”

Bush said a negotiator had spoken with Freeman and, he believed, the fugitive had fired on police.

“He said enough during that conversation to confirm he was the person we were looking for,” he said.

The property where Freeman was living in a shipping container had been vacant since Christmas, after its ill owner moved interstate and left shipping containers and other off-grid supplies abandoned on the block.

Officers dressed in blue overalls and face masks could be seen carrying brown paper evidence bags and other items to police cars parked near the collection of containers and a broken-down vehicle.

Richard Sutherland, the owner of the property, has been living with family in a remote region of eastern Tasmania. He contacted police to offer his help to Victorian officers when they are ready to interview him.

One friend, speaking on the condition of anonymity, said Sutherland “was not in any way sympathetic to [Freeman or his beliefs]” and was unaware his property had been used as a hideout for the fugitive.

On Monday, this masthead revealed that the surprise intel Freeman was alive from someone close to him had mobilised a massive police response near the border town. Police conducted surveillance for more than 24 hours to try and confirm Freeman was on-site and that no one else was in the line of fire.

A more than three-hour negotiation began with Freeman, who had grown a beard, early on Monday morning. That ended in a hail of gunfire when Freeman emerged from his shelter and pointed a firearm at members of the Special Operations Group.

Bush said everything he had seen, including footage of the shooting, indicated it was justified and that Freeman had refused multiple opportunities to surrender.

Victoria police are now investigating whether others had been at the Thologolong property before Freeman’s death, as they hunt for whoever may have helped him on the run.

Freeman had last been seen in the alpine country of Mount Buffalo last August after murdering Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart when they accompanied a group of 10 officers to serve Freeman with a warrant for historical sexual offences. A third officer was also injured in the shootings.

In September, when police announced a reward for anyone with information leading to Freeman’s arrest, it was touted as one of the largest ever offered in Victoria.

Rewards are usually paid out at the discretion of the police commissioner. The Office of Public Prosecutions is to decide whether it will grant indemnification from prosecution to the person who provided the intelligence.

Bond University associate professor Dr Terry Goldsworthy said rewards were traditionally used to generate fresh leads when a case had gone cold, but they were increasingly being used by detectives early in investigations, such as the kidnapping of West Australian girl Cleo Smith in 2021.

On Tuesday, Bush did not comment on the tip-off about Freeman and said any details on payment of reward money would be kept confidential, due to safety concerns for the recipient.

“I’m quite sure we’ll never be sharing those details. I know the public would love to know, but some things must remain confidential,” Bush told radio station Nova.

Meanwhile, associates of Freeman have been posting tributes to the cop killer online, and calling for people to “name the million dollar dog” who had turned him in.

“Tip off, well that crime is worse than any other that was allegedly committed,” one posted online.

Victoria Police declined to comment because the matter was now the subject of a coronial investigation.

Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, who attended Thompson and de Waart-Hottart’s funerals, told the ABC on Tuesday he had no sympathy for Freeman.

“He always was going to be brought to justice and it’s clear that he was always going to fight it out,” he said. “He made the decision to murder these police officers and he made the decision to try to fight it out and to not give himself up or go through a legal process.”

Albanese said there had been repeated warnings from ASIO director-general Mike Burgess about the threat posed by sovereign citizens like Freeman.

“Dezi Freeman’s ideology led him to murder in cold blood two police officers,” he said.

In Porepunkah, Boyd said it was “a very sad situation”.

Freeman’s wife and children were now grieving, she said, as were the families of the police officers he gunned down in August.

“They lost their dad, and someone lost their husband, and all respect to the police officers’ families because they lost their son, and a woman lost her partner,” Boyd said.

With Lachlan Abbott

Read more on Dezi Freeman’s death:

• Naked City: Dezi Freeman’s final days and the clues that could lead police to his helpers
• ‘Dezi was his own worst enemy’: A town’s shock, sadness and relief after Freeman’s death
• The Age’s View: Lessons to be learnt from the end of this tragic road

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