Victorian Police have launched a fresh five-day manhunt for fugitive Desmond (Dezi) Freeman, this time in the Mount Buffalo National Park in north-east Victoria.
The latest search comes nearly six months after the fatal shooting of two officers at his regional property.
More than 100 police and volunteers—including specialist units from Victoria and interstate—are taking part in the renewed operation led by Victoria Police’s Taskforce Summit.
Police say the latest search is based on intelligence linked to a gunshot reportedly heard shortly after the deadly incident at Freeman’s Rayner Track property.
In December, officers conducted a similar focused five-day operation, covering 0.886 square kilometres of dense bushland and steep terrain. That search involved line-by-line sweeps and the clearing of caves, but did not find Freeman.
This week’s operation will concentrate on an adjoining area of the park, guided by further analysis of information gathered during earlier searches.
A New South Wales Police cadaver dog has been deployed to assist in the current search.
Detective Inspector Adam Tilley, from Taskforce Summit, said investigators remained open to all possibilities.
“The same three possibilities remain open to us: Freeman is either dead, being harboured, or has gotten out from the area and surviving alone,” he said in a statement released on Feb. 2.
“At this time there is no intelligence to move us away from these possibilities or to make any one the more likely scenario, so we have to keep an open mind.
6 Months On, Search Continues
The manhunt follows the fatal shooting on Aug. 26, when police attended Freeman’s Porepunkah property to execute a search warrant.Officers arrived around 10:30 a.m. as part of an investigation by the Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team.
Two officers, aged 59 and 35, were killed, a third wounded.
In response, hundreds of Victoria Police members—supported by specialists from across Australia and New Zealand—were involved in extensive ground and aerial searches.
Aircraft from the Victoria Police Air Wing also surveyed the difficult terrain.
As per a police statement, investigators assessed more than 2,000 pieces of intelligence, including tips from the public, but Freeman has yet to be found.
He was last seen on Aug. 26 wearing dark green tracksuit pants, a dark green rain jacket, brown Blundstone boots, and reading glasses.
Members of the public who see Freeman are urged to call triple zero (000) immediately and not approach him. Authorities are offering a reward of up to $1 million (US$697,000) for information leading to his arrest.
