![\"Detective](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/detective-leading-senior-constable-neal-thompson-left-and-se-QHNDS4RK3ZEWRLC2ZL754XVDZA.jpg\")
<\/p>\nA man will be questioned by police investigating slain cop killer Dezi Freeman’s time on the run, following an early morning interstate search operation. <\/p>\n
Freeman triggered one of Australia’s largest manhunts after he killed Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart and Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson at his home at Porepunkah, in Victoria’s High Country, in August 2025.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, left, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart. (Source: Supplied)<\/p>\n
The 56-year-old fled the scene and evaded capture until he was traced to a remote property about 150km away at Thologolong, near the Victoria-NSW border, in March, when he was shot and killed by police.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Victoria Police executed search warrants at three rural properties at Buckland, Stanley and Lucyvale, in regional Victoria, shortly after 6.20am. <\/p>\n
At the same time NSW Police executed warrants at four residential properties at Greenwich Park, Tarlo, Wombeyan Caves and Umina Beach. <\/p>\n
Police have seized multiple electronic devices from the properties, where searches are ongoing. <\/p>\n
A 64-year-old Lucyvale man was arrested in Wodonga, on the Victorian side of the border with NSW, and will be interviewed by police.<\/p>\n
A 47-year-old Wombeyan Caves man was also arrested in Greenwich Park, northeast of Goulburn, on unrelated outstanding warrants.<\/p>\n
No further arrests have been made yet, but police are continuing to speak with occupants at several premises, Victoria Police said. <\/p>\n
It comes weeks after police investigating Freeman’s disappearance arrested two men, aged 48 and 45, at separate locations in northeastern Victoria in May.<\/p>\n
Both men were interviewed by police and later released without charge.<\/p>\n
Freeman was wanted over the fatal shooting of two Victorian police officers seven months ago. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n
The searches form part of the Taskforce Summit investigation into Freeman’s movements after he shot and killed two officers and injured a third. <\/p>\n
The slain officers were executing a warrant relating to Freeman’s alleged sexual assault of a child and alleged attempt to involve a child in the production of abuse material.<\/p>\n
Seven months later, officers tracked the fugitive to a shipping container in Victoria’s remote northeast, where he was shot and killed after firing on police. <\/p>\n
Separate inquests will probe the deaths of the officers and Freeman’s fatal shooting, but full hearing dates have not been set.<\/p>\n
Police have worked tirelessly to piece together how Freeman managed to evade capture for so long, Taskforce Summit’s Detective Inspector Anthony Gasparini said. <\/p>\n
“The investigation does not stop simply because Freeman was located,” Gasparini said.<\/p>\n
“We said from the outset that if alive, Freeman would likely need significant support to leave the area and survive over the following months. <\/p>\n
“To that end, we are looking to identify and hold to account those people who provided that support to harbour a wanted fugitive and have potentially committed serious offences themselves.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"A man will be questioned by police investigating slain cop killer Dezi Freeman’s time on the run, following…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":480599,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[85,67,42,43,40,38,41,39],"class_list":["post-480598","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-headlines","tag-australia","tag-crime-and-justice","tag-headlines","tag-news","tag-top-news","tag-top-stories","tag-topnews","tag-topstories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480598","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=480598"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/480598\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/480599"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=480598"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=480598"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=480598"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}