Despite employing cutting-edge technology, police have been unable to locate fugitive and alleged murderer Dezi Freeman, who has been evading capture for nearly a month.
Freeman, aged 56, disappeared after purportedly shooting two officers during a search warrant at his secluded Porepunkah property, subsequently escaping into thick bushland.
The self-identified sovereign citizen and seasoned bushman is believed to have either pre-positioned supplies to endure the severe terrain or to be receiving assistance from others.
More than 125 specialist officers have scoured the area around Mount Buffalo but so far have been unable to track him down.
Police are also relying on high-tech surveillance.
One of their main tools is a long-range system that combines a high-resolution telescopic camera with a microwave booster.
Several of these units have been set up across the region, using powerful zoom lenses to capture detailed images in the search..
One has been mounted on a hilltop overlooking Freeman’s Porepunkah farm, the site of the deadly ambush before he vanished into the bush.
The camera and microwave booster in the Mount Buffalo area used to try and catch Freeman
Dezi Feeeman is an experienced bushman has has evaded police for nearly three weeks
Many Aussies are questioning if the cameras will help catch Freeman
One area where the camera is monitoring which is where Freeman disappeared
New photos show how Freeman as he honed his survival skills in the wild that have kept him one step ahead of the massive police hunt to find him.
The photographs, collected over decades, depict the 56-year-old father of three as a wild bushman, often unclothed or dressed only in a loincloth while in the rugged wilderness.
The images capture him handling a snake, raising a cow’s skull at the entrance of a mountain cave, climbing trees without shoes, and navigating rapids by kayak before gathering around a campfire to perform a spiritual chant.
Acquaintances claim Freeman did not pack his car for camping trips but would instead vanish into the wild, relying solely on his intuition and bushcraft, often remaining off the radar for weeks.
‘Dezi doesn’t go to Anaconda and stock up,’ a friend told Daily Mail. ‘There are no tents or eskies full of food or any creature comforts at all.
‘He just walks into the bush and that’s it.’
Those same skills are now fuelling one of the largest searches in Australian history after Freeman gunned down two police officers in cold blood before vanishing.
Not a single trace of him has been found since, as the manhunt for him entered its fourth week on Tuesday.
Never-before-seen photographs obtained by the Daily Mail reveal the secret life of fugitive cop killer Dezi Freeman as he honed his elite survival skills in the wild that have kept him one step ahead of the massive police hunt to find him. (Freeman is pictured handling a lethal tiger snake)
The images, taken over decades, show the 56-year-old father-of-three as a primitive native bush wildman, often naked or wearing just a loincloth like a shaman in the rugged outback
Freeman disappeared in the aftermath of his deadly shootout when ten officers arrived to serve a routine search warrant at his property in Porepunkah on August 26, linked to historic sexual assault charges against a minor.
Around 10am, police surrounded the converted bus where sovereign citizen Freeman had been living with his wife Mali and their two children.
Daily Mail has seen the video footage that shows Freeman flatly refusing to unlock the door while officers took it in turns using a crowbar to force entry as he became increasingly agitated.
Police eventually gained access to the bus via a window and in an instant the standoff exploded into violence as two shots were fired in quick succession.
Detective Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart Hottart were killed instantly, struck at point-blank range.
A third officer would later be confirmed as seriously injured, but it is unclear when that shooting took place.
Freeman disappeared in the aftermath of his deadly shootout when ten officers arrived to serve a routine search warrant at his property in Porepunkah on August 26 (pictured)
Freeman perched himself precariously on a tree branch in a death-defying balancing act 300m above Mount Buffalo Gorge
Freeman grabbed weapons from the dead men before he fled into the rugged alpine bushland and has never been seen since.
According to friends of Freeman, the allegations against him centre around a day trip when the self-styled naturist took his children and their friend on a hike to a waterhole behind his property.
It was there that the father-of-three allegedly stripped off to swim naked in front of his sons and the young girl without warning.
Now, years later, clearly still distressed by his untoward behaviour, the young girl filed an official police complaint against Freeman.
Despite a $1million price on his head for information leading to his capture, Freeman continues to evade Victoria Police more than three weeks after the deadly ambush.
Acting Deputy Commissioner of Regional Operations, Russell Barrett, said the operation included more than 125 specialist officers.
‘This included incredibly rugged areas, they were crawling through caves, they were traversing rivers and falls, they were searching plantations and gorges,’ Acting Deputy Commissioner Barrett said on Friday.
He said hundreds of homes and properties had been searched ‘with or without warrants’ but still failed to find any trace of him.
‘This is a really highly technical search that requires absolutely specialist capabilities to undertake because of the dangers that are involved,’ he added.
‘We’re coming across animals – every step is really difficult, it’s uneven ground where you don’t have line of sight to your colleagues for a lot of the time.
‘If we think about Freeman and what he’s capable of, every step must be taken really, really carefully when you consider what might be confronting you.
‘This is an incredibly challenging moment in Victoria Police’s history.’
