Police chief Mike Bush heads to high country in Dezi Freeman search, after no solid leads or campsites found
Victoria Police chief Mike Bush has travelled to Porepunkah to be briefed on the search for Dezi Freeman, as the hunt for the cop killer drags on with no sign yet found of his campsites and no clue as to whether he is dead or alive.
Chief Commissioner Mike Bush has travelled to Victoria’s high country to meet with officers continuing the frontline search for double police killer Dezi Freeman.
Ahead of the hunt for the 56-year-old sovereign citizen entering its 84th day on Tuesday, Mr Bush arrived in Porepunkah on Monday to be briefed on the investigation.
The high country visit comes after Victoria Police launched task force Summit to take over the search late last month as investigators conceded no solid leads into Freeman’s location had emerged.
On Saturday, Mr Bush said police were still considering the possibilities Freeman was being harboured by someone, or had died since shooting dead officers Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart and fleeing into rugged terrain on August 26.
It is understood some police believe the search could uncover Freeman’s body in the Porepunkah area.
“It’s quite interesting as you talk to the staff that are involved in that operation – everyone has a different view and they are the people closest to it,” Mr Bush said.
“We don’t know whether he’s still alive or we don’t know whether he’s out of the area and looked after by other people. That’s why we posted a $1m reward.”
Search crews have not located any potential campsites belonging to Freeman.
They have searched hundreds of homes and properties across the Alpine region.
Police have also fired test gunshots in different locations in the area in an attempt to match the sound of a shot heard about 20 minutes after Freeman fled his bush property where he had shot the officers Thompson and de Waartt-Hottart, who were there to carry out an arrest warrant over Freeman’s alleged sexual assault of a minor.
The slain officers attended the Rayner Track makeshift shack, fashioned out of an old bus, with eight other members.
Freeman wounded a third officer, but he survived.
A $1m reward still on offer for information leading to Freeman’s arrest has so far prompted more than 1400 tips from the public.
