Victoria Police will spend five days scouring a remote section of Mount Buffalo National Park in the state’s north-east as part of a renewed search for fugitive Dezi Freeman.
The renewed effort comes months after police announced a targeted search in December, which focused on locating evidence or the body of Mr Freeman.Â
The operation will focus on an isolated area of the park, with road closures expected.
Dezi Freeman has not been seen since fleeing on foot into bushland behind his Porepunkah property last August. (Supplied)
The self-proclaimed sovereign citizen has not been seen since fleeing into rugged bushland after the fatal shooting of two police officers last year.
Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart were shot dead on August 26 while executing a warrant related to alleged historical sexual offences at Mr Freeman’s rural property on Rayner Track.
A third officer was injured during the incident. Police allege Mr Freeman fled on foot into dense bushland behind the property shortly after the shooting.
Despite extensive searches in the days and weeks that followed, there has been no sign of the 56-year-old.
“The same three possibilities remain open to us — Freeman is either dead, being harboured, or has gotten out from the area and surviving alone,” Detective Inspector Adam Tilley said.
“At this time there is no intelligence to move us away from these possibilities or to make any one the more likely scenario, so we have to keep an open mind.”
In October, Victoria Police established Taskforce Summit, based in the Great Alpine area, to coordinate efforts to locate Mr Freeman.
The taskforce is led by detectives from Crime Command and includes specialist resources from the Fugitive Squad, Armed Crime Squad, VIPER Taskforce, Special Operations Group, Search and Rescue Squad and local Remotely Piloted Aircraft Systems members.
Police will return to the Mount Buffalo National Park on Monday to resume the search for Dezi Freeman. (Supplied: Victoria Police)
Former homicide detective Charlie Bezzina said he believed the latest search was likely the result of fresh intelligence received by police.
“It may well be that there may be a pocket in the national park that has been inaccessible and clearly they would’ve been hampered of late times because of the fire danger period,” he said.
“The fact they’ve specified five days in a remote area indicates they are working I am guessing to eliminate a particular spot that hasn’t been searched.
“And their planning and intelligence suggests that given the size of the area which we don’t know that they would be quite comfortable in completing the search within that five-day period.”
Charlie Bezzina believes police will be acting on new intelligence. (ABC News: Nicole Asher)
Mr Bezzina said he believed the operation would still be focused on locating Mr Freeman’s body.
“I’d be very surprised if he has been able to survive in the bush for this length of time, regardless of his expertise in the bush,” he said.
“But it is a process of elimination to ensure that his remains aren’t there.”
He said police were likely to be searching for any traces that could indicate Mr Freeman’s movements following the shooting, including clothing or camping equipment.
“It may well be line searches; they might have a grid search,” he said.
“It just shows the resolve of Victoria Police of not letting it go.”
A $1 million reward remains on offer for information leading to the arrest of Mr Freeman, the largest arrest reward in Victoria’s history.