The search for suspected cop killer Dezi Freeman is entering its third week, with police scaling back the manhunt despite the fugitive remaining at large. Freeman, 56, allegedly shot and killed two Victoria Police officers and seriously injured a third at his property in Porepunkah, Victoria, on August 26.
Freeman's eldest son, Koah, has broken his silence, revealing his family's grim fears. He admitted his father could already be lying dead in the wilderness surrounding the tiny town. 'I've just accepted the worst, that's it,' Koah told the Daily Mail. 'I'm doing regular s***, going back to work and stuff to take my mind off it.'
The manhunt, which initially involved nearly 500 police, trackers and specialist units, has been scaled back. Heavily-armed police continue to scour bushland, but the intensity has reduced as days pass without sighting.
Meanwhile, funerals have been held for the slain officers. Senior Constable Neal Thompson was farewelled at a service at the Victoria Police Academy on Monday, attended by Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Premier Jacinta Allan, and Police Commissioner Mike Bush. His partner, Sergeant Lisa Thompson, broke down as she recounted meeting him in 2016: 'We worked one shift together and it changed the course of my life.' Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart was farewelled in a service on the previous Friday.
It has emerged that Freeman, a parishioner at Our Lady of the Snows church, seemed 'agitated' in the days before the shootout. Father Tony Shallue noted that Freeman appeared 'jagged in his movements' and called Pope Leo XIV the 'Antichrist' after Pope Francis's death in April.
