Dramatic update in Dezi Freeman investigation as TWO people are arrested amid fears the double cop killer was being assisted while on the run
A man and a woman have been arrested following an investigation into the movements of police murderer Dezi Freeman, who was shot dead.
Victoria Police arrested the pair, believed to be associates of Freeman, at two properties in the state’s northeast on Saturday morning.
‘Detectives from Taskforce Summit arrested two people this morning as part of their ongoing investigation into the movements of Desmond Freeman,’ a police spokeswoman said in a statement.
‘The investigation remains ongoing and as such, we are not in a position to provide further details at this immediate time.’
The pair will be interviewed by police, but it has been confirmed that they are not Freeman’s family members.
No charges have yet been laid.
Freeman, 56, was shot dead in a hail of bullets by specialist police on a remote property in Thologolong, near Walwa on the Victoria-NSW border, on Monday after a seven-month manhunt.
He was wanted for shooting dead Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, who were among a team of police officers serving a warrant at his Porepunkah home on August 22 last year.
Investigators on Monday found Freeman hiding in a shipping container on the remote property after they reportedly tracked a car coming and going from the 56-year-old’s hideout.
Dezi Freeman (pictured) was shot dead by police on March 30, 2026 – after 216 days on the run
Dezi Freeman’s life came to an end at his hideout in Thologolong on Monday morning
Specialist officers then had spent three hours attempting to negotiate a peaceful surrender with Freeman before multiple shots were fired.
It’s understood Freeman fired two shots from a firearm stolen from one of the officers killed during the August 22 shoot-out before police returned fire up to 20 times.
For 216 days, Freeman remained one step ahead of what was likely Australia’s biggest manhunt, vanishing into Victoria’s rugged high country as police, specialist units and local search crews scoured the bush in vain for any sign of him.
When officers did finally track the double-cop-killer fugitive to the remote secret hideaway near the Murray River, the makeshift camp was littered with intriguing clues that it wasn’t as abandoned as locals had believed.
The owner of the property – where Freeman was shot dead – was in Tasmania, and there was nobody looking after the farm because, as he put it, ‘there was nothing to look after’.
Police revealed earlier in the week that an investigation had been launched into those who may have helped Freeman remain on the run.
‘We don’t know at what point he left the Porepunkah area and transferred to where he was found,’ Police Commissioner Mike Bush said.
‘It’s very important for us to understand how long he’s (Freeman) been here and who else was complicit (with) getting him here.
A man and woman were arrested on Saturday as part of an ongoing investigation into the movements of Dezi Freeman
Police revealed this week that an investigation had been launched into those who may have helped Freeman remain on the run. Pictured is the property where the fugitive had been hiding
‘And then caring for him or providing him with food and other things to this point.’
He warned anyone who helped Freeman faced a significant stint in jail.
‘But that’s always a matter for the presiding judge,’ Commissioner Bush said.
It remains unclear how long Freeman had been at the property.
‘That’s a really important question and a really important fact that our investigators will work their way through,’ Police Commissioner Bush conceded.
‘We’ll probably have to track back from this point to when he was last seen … We will work that out, we will track backwards from here to ascertain how long he’s been here and who helped him to be here.’
