An Instagram account with the handle @freenedi, understood to belong to Freeman, commented on another user’s post on December 1, 2023: “COPS ARE THE ENEMIES OF HUMANITY. ESPECIALLY HERE IN AUSFAILURE (sic) WHERE THEY HAVE DECLARED WAR ON AUSSIES. COPS ARE NEW GESTAPO. THEIR LIVES ARE DEDICATED TO INFLICTING THEIR HATE AND SUPERIORITY COMPLEXES ON OTHERS AND CAUSING AS MUCH HARM, MISERY AND DESTRUCTION AS POSSIBLE. THE ONLY GOOD COP IS A DEAD COP. PREFERABLY INCINERATED.”
It is with incredible sadness that Victoria Police names the two officers who were tragically killed in the line of duty in Porepunkah yesterday: Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart.
Read more: https://t.co/DhHaZNy37E pic.twitter.com/R6gk4NEaAP
— Victoria Police (@VictoriaPolice) August 27, 2025
On Monday – 24 hours before Freeman allegedly killed the two police officers – @freenedi commented on another account’s post: “The Global Statist enemy is deliberately importing Islamic migrants so they can create chaos, and then order out of chaos.”
Freeman was also an active member in the Truth and Justice Facebook group, where he posted under the account name Dezi Freedom.
“The Filthy criminals just ignore us and do whatever they want,” he wrote under an image of then-Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews, adding, “They all need to be exterminated”.
‘Wring their neck’: Reporter recalls Freeman comments
Luke Mortimer, a former A Current Affair producer and now a 7News reporter, has revealed a long list of unsettling encounters he had with Freeman, describing months of erratic emails, obsessive feuds and chilling remarks.
In an article for 7News, Mortimer revealed he first came into contact with Freeman in 2018 after the man at the centre of Victoria’s ongoing manhunt sent an angry email to the programme.
“The saying, ‘you never know what someone’s capable of’, never rang truer for me than yesterday afternoon,” Mortimer wrote.
Freeman’s initial approach came with videos of his neighbours allegedly taunting him and his wife, Mali.
Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35. Photo / Victoria Police
“I phoned Dezi and he supplied a Dropbox link with footage showing his neighbour, Zar Sacutelli, and his friend Robin, [allegedly] abusing Dezi and his wife Mali, while Zar’s visitors tear up the paddock adjacent to his with motorbikes, taunting him,” Mortimer wrote.
Sacutelli has now fled his property in fear Freeman may now come after him.
The one-time neighbour has claimed it was Freeman who was tormenting his family, including with death threats.
Over four months, Freeman kept sending the journalist footage and long rants.
“It was the unofficial currency of mine and Dezi’s relationship: he would trade in videos of his neighbours; I would lend him my ear to absorb his ranting. He found it cathartic,” Mortimer wrote, claiming Freeman’s tone became more spiteful over time.
In a series of messages, Freeman lashed out at neighbours and police.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59. Photo / Victoria Police
Visiting Freeman’s home in the Mt Buffalo valley, Mortimer says he was struck by the rural setting and an unsettling scene.
“The most striking sight was seeing Mali standing on her veranda to greet me between a row of hanging venison carcasses, salted and drying out in the crisp morning air of spring in the high country,” he wrote.
Freeman, he said, was “a man endlessly preoccupied by a battle to protect his world, even when he had no solid proof to legitimise his fears”.
Over time, his grievances expanded beyond neighbours. Mortimer recalled Freeman pushing bizarre theories and legal pursuits, which included prosecuting a magistrate and bringing charges against then-Premier Daniel Andrews.
Mortimer recalled Freeman once telling A Current Affair reporter Martin King that he felt like resorting to violence.
Loud bangs were heard from the Porepunkah property at the centre of the huge manhunt for Dezi Freeman. Photo / Jason Edwards, NewsWire
“Sometimes you want to go Braveheart on them and wring their neck, but my camera is my machine gun and it shoots 24 frames a second,” he reportedly said.
He described the words as “the somewhat haunting machine gun reference”.
‘This guy is a nutcase’
Sacutelli has said that the A Current Affair report that stemmed from Freeman’s contact with the show saw his family unfairly branded as “the bogans from Buffalo”.
“That story made out that they’d lived there a long time, but they’d only just rented their place – our place has been in our family for 30 years,” he told the Daily Mail.
Sacutelli claimed that within a week of moving in, Freeman threatened his son because of his dirt bike.
“He said to my son, ‘If you don’t get off the motorbike, I’ll kill you – and I’ll do the same to your mother and your father,’” Sacutelli alleged.
He added that the encounter left them shaken.
When they were neighbours, Sacutelli said, Freeman would repeatedly call the police on him for minor issues such as starting construction work earlier than 7am.
Freeman and his family moved away in 2023. Sacutelli told the that he had left the property – which was not his main home – on Wednesday fearing a vengeful Freeman might target him.
Alleged killer impersonated rural firefighter
Accusations have emerged that Freeman posed as a Country Fire Authority (CFA) member.
Footage taken on January 11, 2020 and shared by A Current Affair on Wednesday night showed him dressed in firefighter’s gear, standing by Lake Catani in Mt Buffalo National Park as firefighting aircraft collected water to battle a nearby blaze.
He can be heard explaining to the camera what the aircraft were doing. According to A Current Affair, Freeman “seemingly used the CFA uniform as a cover to access off-limits areas in bushfire and emergency zones” for the purpose of his photography.
The CFA confirmed Freeman served as a volunteer firefighter for seven years – but resigned in 2014, long before the video was taken.
“A Dezi Freeman resigned from CFA more than 10 years ago in 2014, after a seven-year stint with CFA (2007),” a CFA spokesperson said.
“He has not been a member of CFA since that time, and anything depicting Mr Freeman in a CFA uniform since 2014 would be an unauthorised use and impersonation of a CFA member.”
‘Loud bangs’ at property
Loud bangs were heard from the Porepunkah property on Wednesday afternoon.
There has been no confirmation of what caused the sounds, which were reported by locals and media on the scene.
At 4.30pm on Wednesday, a Special Operations Group helicopter hovered above the property where the shooting occurred. Five dog squad 4WDs were later seen leaving, before two ambulances arrived an hour later. Armed officers with guns drawn were also photographed outside a hut.
Officers remembered
On Wednesday, Victoria Police confirmed the identities of the two slain officers.
Neal Thompson joined the force in 1987, serving in general duties at Collingwood before working for a decade as a detective at the Major Fraud Squad and the State Crime Squad. Since 2007 he had been posted to Wangaratta CIU.
“Neal was an adventurer and enjoyed all things outdoors,” Victoria Police said. “He had spent the past six years alongside his partner, Lisa, the love of his life. Since the pair met, Neal had found new purpose. Together with Lisa, Neal had built a new home and had a long list of tasks planned after he knocked off work for the last time.”
De Waart joined the police in December 2018, serving three years at St Kilda Police Station before joining the Public Order Response Team (Port) in 2023. At the time of his death he was on temporary assignment in Wangaratta.
“An eternal optimist and avid traveller, Vadim was fluent in French, Spanish, Flemish and English,” police said.
“He had also completed scuba dives all around the world and motorcycling trips more locally with his friends and colleagues. He was a keen gin collector and always picked up a local bottle on his overseas adventures for his large collection at home. While travelling was his passion, Vadim was extremely proud to have purchased his first home in Melbourne in recent years.”
He is survived by his parents, Carolina and Alain, in Belgium, his brother Sacha in Switzerland, and extended family in Melbourne.
Chief Commissioner Mike Bush described the “devastating loss” as one that had “struck at the heart of Victoria Police, the broader policing family and the community of Porepunkah”.
“We will all grieve this loss and deeply miss our colleagues and friends who have paid the ultimate sacrifice in the line of duty,” he said.
The hunt for Freeman
A no-fly zone has been imposed for at least 48 hours as roadblocks remain across the region.
The Mt Buffalo National Park, which surrounds Porepunkah, has been closed because of the manhunt for the suspected gunman, Parks Victoria has said.
Bush said Freeman was “heavily armed” and “still at large”.
“Long arms, powerful firearms, multiple firearms. We haven’t recovered any of his firearms from the scene. I can assure everyone that we are pouring every resource into this search for this person,” he said.
He added it was possible Freeman had bunkers or traps set up in the area.
“Anything is possible. He knows that area, even though we have experts in the area, he will know that area better than us. So that’s why we’re putting in every expert and supported by local knowledge as well. We must find him.”
Police confirmed the officers had been attending the property in relation to alleged sex crimes, with members of the sexual offences and child investigation team involved.
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