Fugitive Freeman ‘Unlikely’ to Have Been Taken Alive

Former hostage negotiator Vincent Hurley said Freeman, a self-proclaimed sovereign citizen, was never going to surrender of his own free will.

Photos of suspected police shooter Dezi Freeman and Victorian Police at the scene of a shooting in the high country of Porepunkah in Victoria, Australia, Aug. 26, 2025. AAP Image/Simon Dallinger

The odds were stacked against police taking fugitive Dezi Freeman alive after finding his bush hideout.

The 56-year-old was shot dead by police on a remote property in Thologolong, near Walwa on the Victorian-NSW border, on Monday following a seven-month manhunt.