Dezi Freeman Dead After Months in Hiding
4/1/202629 min
Fugitive Dezi Freeman has been shot dead by Australian police after seven months on the run, following the fatal shooting of two officers, Neal Thompson and Vadim De Waart-Hottart, at his rural Porepunkah property last August.
Authorities say the 56-year-old, linked to sovereign citizen ideology, died after an hours-long stand-off in bushland when he refused to surrender.
We unpack what is known so far about the case, the manhunt and the broader concerns around anti-government extremism with Holly Hales, Chief of Staff at Australian Associated Press.
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CREDITS:
Host: Meshel Laurie
Guest: Holly Hales
Executive Producer/Editor: Matthew Tankard
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Clips
Transcript preview
First 90 secondsMeshel Laurie· Host0:00
This is Australian True Crime with Michelle Lawrie. Earlier this week, fugitive Dessey Freeman was shot dead by Australian police after seven months in hiding. Freeman had been on the run since August last year, when he shot and killed two police officers at his rural Poropunkah property before disappearing into dense bushland. Police say the 56-year-old, linked to sovereign citizen ideology, died following an hours-long standoff after refusing to surrender. Today, we examine what we know so far about the case, the manhunt, and the broader concerns around anti-government extremism with Holly Hales, Chief of Staff at the Australian Associated Press. This is Australian True Crime. We acknowledge the traditional owners of the land on which this podcast is created, the Wurundjeri Woi-wurrung people of the Kulin Nation. And a warning: this episode of the podcast contains graphic descriptions of violence.
Holly Hales· Guest0:57
So it started last August, late August. If you're in Victoria, you know that's almost like the, the crest of spring up in the high country. So there's a town called Poropunkah, which is near Bright, which is a very popular tourist town, beautiful part of the state, extremely dense bushland. And 10 police go out to Dessey Freeman's house. It's pr- it's a property, um, that he lived with his family on, and they w- had a warrant regarding, um, historical child sex offenses.
Meshel Laurie· Host1:28
I think that's really important