Bush posse scheme to catch accused cop killer Dezi Freeman uncovered despite police urging vigilantes not to hunt heavily armed lunatic

A high-country posse near where accused cop killer Dezi Freeman went on the run has weighed up whether to hunt the fugitive to collect a staggering $1million bounty.

The record million-dollar carat offered by Victoria Police for Freeman’s capture is now the talk of Porepunkah and Bright, but police have warned vigilantes to stay away. 

However, the buzz about the massive bounty to catch Freeman has drawn out a Wild West-type posse looking for a pot of bush gold.

Freeman hasn’t been sighted since just before 11am on August 26, when he allegedly gunned down and murdered police officers detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 35.

Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart was farewelled at an emotional service at the Police Academy in Melbourne on Friday, while Senior Constable Thompson will be honoured on Monday.  

The Daily Mail uncovered a posse discussing plans to head into the bush near Mount Buffalo to bring in Freeman and cash in the reward, which is the largest ever offered in Victoria.

The group of males were heard talking about the million-dollar bounty and whether it was worth to go looking for Freeman before deciding not to go. 

Daily Mail witnessed another family discussing the reward and a plan to head into the bush to catch Freeman but later clarified it was a tongue-in-cheek joke. 

 The region is quickly turning into the Wild West as locals have amped up their efforts to give police information to get a slice of the million-dollar pie.

But so far no bounty hunters like the one played by Clint Eastwood in The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly have ridden into town to claim the reward.

Homicide Squad detective Inspector Dean Thomas stressed the reward was only for Freeman’s capture, not for his conviction, as he held a press conference on Saturday.

Det Insp Thomas also urged vigilantes to stay out of the hunt and ‘do not approach’ Freeman.

‘I strongly oppose anybody doing that for obvious reasons,’ he said.

‘The first one being, as I’ve said already, he has already killed two police members and seriously injured a third. His propensity to use violence has been shown. He is a high risk to the community.

‘Secondly, we have highly trained, highly skilled specialist police officers out there in bushland searching as we speak.

‘They are armed and we don’t want people being out there in that area for our police officers to perhaps mistake as being Freeman and finding themselves in a situation where they are confronted by our police officers.

‘So I strongly urge anybody who has that thought to not do that. What we want is information.

‘If they have information, we ask that they share that with us so that we can then take the appropriate action and go out there and search safely and bring Freeman into custody peacefully and safely.

‘Victoria Police are still of the view that he is a risk to the community, and anyone that may be assisting him.’

Detective Thomas also urged people who know anything to share that information with Crime Stoppers as police remained open to ‘all possibilities’.

He said the information could come via friends, a sighting, or something suspicious happening on their property.

‘Nothing is too small,’ he said.

Town hermit Steven Mallett, who was raided by police last week before it was revealed he never knew Freeman, told the Daily Mail anyone helping the fugitive will be ‘shot with him’.

‘I doubt very much anyone would be helping him and if they did they’re f**kin nuts, the money don’t mean nothing , they’re nuts, they’re going to get shot with him,’ Mr Mallett said. 

‘If you were mates with someone, it’s ok to go to court and take on the coppers and that… but when go and f***in kill two coppers, that’s different.’

Mr Mallett, who describes himself as the ‘town recluse’, said he also doubted anyone harbouring Freeman will cough him up for the bounty.

‘I wish it will all finish, none of us like coppers in town, you know we live out in the bush, apart from the odd tourist coming up here it’s quiet, it’s unassuming,’ the hermit said. 

‘Then you’ve got stuff like this, the army is not going to pull you up and book ya for being in your f***ing car and shit, 450 cops in the area, I don’t f***ing know.

‘Hopefully they catch him and it’s all done and dusted, we all just want to go back to our normal lives, that’s all.’

Other locals clammed up when asked about the bounty and whether anyone who claimed it will be run out of town.

Staff at the local store linked to Freeman’s former bush teacher, Ray Kompe, said they knew Mr Kompe and Freeman’s wife Mali but she never worked at the store. 

‘I know her, I see her at church,’ a staff member said.

Staff at the store welcomed the bounty after Freeman’s alleged actions had ‘hit us pretty hard’.

‘Of course we want Freeman caught as soon as possible,’ the staff member said. 

‘We all got to get on with our lives don’t we.’

Another local told the Daily Mail she knew of ‘men’ who gathered at the region’s cattlemen’s huts that could be the ‘type’ who may associate or even assist Freeman.

Store worker Peter also welcomed the bounty.

‘Well I think that might help (the bounty), it makes sense that that might help doesn’t it, someone might come forward, if they’ve been holding back,’ Peter said.

On Friday, Freeman’s former bush instructor Ray Kompe pleaded for his former friend to hand himself in.

Kompe, 72, who lives on a 180-acre property on Buckland Valley Road about 10 minutes from the scene of the shootout, has not seen Freeman in a decade but remembers him clearly.

‘He’s a bloke with a lot of resolve and when he puts his mind to something, there’s just no holding him back,’ Mr Kompe said while holding his dog Luna on Friday.

In the 10 years after the friendship with Freeman, Mr Kompe said the two men had only ever shared a passing ‘hello’ on the streets of Bright.

The farmer said he never visited Freeman at the property in Porepunkah, adding that a couple had bought it after the owner died and allowed Freeman to ‘squat’ there.

‘There’s Mali, there’s his friends – and life’s just too short,’ Mr Kompe said.

‘Just give yourself up, mate. I know it’s not going to be pleasant being behind bars, but… you know.’

The bounty bombshell announcement came as the search for Freeman, involving 450 police officers and the Australian Defence Force, enters its 12th day.

Police are also open to the possibilities that he remains at large alone or is dead as a result of self-harm.