Vic website cuts emergency warnings for accused cop killer Dezi Freeman after three months
Victoria’s emergency warnings website has cut advice on the suspected double cop killer Dezi Freeman three months after the two deaths and a non-fatal third shooting.
Victoria’s peak emergency services warning site has removed Dezi Freeman warnings in the area where the fugitive - or his body - is most likely to be found.
VicEmergency has cut its warnings but advised people in the vicinity of the Mt Buffalo National Park and surrounding towns to remain vigilant.
The decision comes after three months of Freeman being on the loose, or having killed himself, suggesting police are no closer to deciding what happened to the 56-year-old alleged murderer.
The VicEmergency map, until this week, showed the area of most concern to police if Freeman were to materialise.
It included the northeast Victorian towns of Porepunkah and Bright, both about 300km from Melbourne, but also in a large area around the national park, including two areas where he once stayed or lived.
The size of the warning underscored the challenges facing police, who have scaled down the search for Freeman since the August 26 incident but are still devoting significant resources to the effort.
It was one of the worst days in the history of the force when two police were allegedly gunned down, a third was hit and a fourth was allegedly fired upon but the weapon failed.
The Australian revealed at the weekend that Freeman had communicated to his wife on the day of the shootings that he would see her in heaven.
This communication has been widely discussed among family and friends, fuelling speculation that he had killed himself but it could also mean that he was pessimistic about surviving the incident.
Police have been using drones near the farm, outside Porepunkah, where the incident occurred.
For months, locals have been debating Freeman’s last communications with his family, three of whom were caught in the gunfire.
Sources familiar with his last movements said that in the process of fleeing, Freeman communicated that he would see wife Mali, 42, in heaven and that she should flee the scene, which she did along nearby Barrett Lane, with her three-year-old in her arms.
Another source detailed how Freeman, well before the shootout, had said that he was prepared to do anything rather than be caught by police and would consider killing himself rather than be arrested.
Police accuse him of murdering Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 34. A third officer was seriously injured and Freeman is accused of attempting to kill a fourth policeman, then fleeing into the thick bush that leads to the base of Mt Buffalo.
He is widely known to be a good bushman and capable of surviving for an extended period if he had been well-prepared.
The other two theories are that he escaped elsewhere with the help of someone and that he killed himself, possibly soon after running from officers.
