Extraordinary details have emerged that finally explain how fugitive Dezi Freeman survived undetected for 216 days deep in Victoria’s bush before his deadly standoff with police.
Double cop-killer Freeman was shot dead by an elite specialist police crew after he was tracked down to his rural lair, before firing on cops with a gun he stole from one of his victims.
Victoria Police Special Operations Group shot Freeman dead at 8.30am on Monday following a three-hour standoff.
Freeman, 56, had been hiding out on a Thologolong property, near Walwa, which is about 188km north-east of Porepunkah.
The fugitive had set up camp in a makeshift junkyard, holed up in an abandoned shipping container to shield himself from the harsh mountain elements.
Old car parts and disused building materials lay strewn across the landscape, which is also dotted with sheds and surrounded by trees.
From the outside, it appears all but abandoned and, according to the family who own it, it practically was, given they were of the mind there was ‘nothing worth keeping an eye on’.
But to a fugitive on the run, the isolated farm offered everything needed to escape the unprecedented manhunt looking for him and enjoy a quiet life away from the eyes of prying strangers. Especially with a million-dollar bounty on his head.
Yet old machinery and shelter aside, the farm offered something far more important than discarded equipment to tinker with – it provided the ability to live self-sufficiently.
Something Freeman had years of experience in. Life on the land where he was said to be at his happiest.
With a thriving orchard and healthy vegetable garden, the property is bordered by the mighty Murray River, an endless supply of fresh water teeming with 51 native species of fish, including the Murray cod that can reach 1.8 metres in size.
Nestled at the foot of Mt Lawson, with a river running past it, Dezi’s secret hideaway was not all that different from the makeshift bus home at the foot of Mt Buffalo where he was last seen seven months before he went on the run.
Ten police officers had attended his property he shared with his wife, Mali and their two children, to serve a warrant on August 26 2025.
The hour-long standoff ended in bloody chaos after Freeman shot two officers dead as they attempted to pry open his door.
Freeman took the officers’ weapons and disappeared across the paddock, without a single confirmed sighting of him since – until Monday.
The two locations are some 188km apart by road, and exactly how or why Freeman arrived at the off-the-beaten track property remains unclear.
After he vanished, Daily Mail first revealed Freeman most likely escaped via the Buckland River that runs past his property and eventually joins up with the Murray River.
Daily Mail spoke to the former caretaker of the sprawling property, a local woman named Rebecca.
And Rebecca, along with other locals, still believes it is the most plausible explanation.
‘You can get from his place to here by following the river and it’s the most likely way anyone trying to remain out of sight would take,’ she said.
It remains unknown whether Freeman had help, whether anyone was harbouring him, or if essentials were being delivered.
But alongside the container where police found him, a tarp had been set up as shade against the wall – with two chairs placed side by side underneath.
The property, Tholo Farm, is owned by one Richard ‘Rick’ Sutherland, who splits his time between Victoria and Tasmania.
The Sutherland family are well known locally and own the majority of farmland in the vicinity.
Rick was described by locals as ‘eccentric’ and as holding ‘interesting views’, but his brother Neil claimed he had never met Freeman and had been in Tasmania for the past few months.
‘He’s in shock. He’s in more shock than I am,’ Neil Sutherland said. ‘He’s never even met Dezi.’
Although he admitted Rick did visit the property at the end of last year.
Rick’s brothers live on adjoining farms just 2km up the road.
Rebecca ended her role as caretaker a couple of years ago after buying her own property in the area and was completely shocked to discover the missing fugitive had been living in such close proximity.
‘If you go by road it’s longer, but as far as the crow flies, I’m right next to there,’ she said.
‘I just can’t believe it really, but it would have been easy enough for him to get in there undetected by the river or over the mountain.’
The property has very basic facilities and no neighbours in sight, but Rebecca claims any obvious activity would still have raised suspicion.
‘Any smoke from fires, a chimney or cooking would have been spotted from the road,’ she said.
‘Everyone looks out for one another here.’
She added that an elderly man had been looking after the property for Rick but had recently passed away and there are very few reasons for anyone to go there.
‘Occasionally one of Rick’s nephews may run some cows there but I don’t even know if they are doing that these days so it’s definitely very private.’
‘There is no running water and no toilet but there is a river running right past it so he would be able to bathe and get drinking water from there.’
Daily Mail can also reveal the land has an abundance of fruit trees including apricots, raspberries, cherries and mulberries.
There is also a large vegetable patch offering a variety of easily accessible food sources.
In October, Daily Mail revealed the eye-watering cost of the mammoth manhunt, with the police operation believed to have cost $100million as the unprecedented search dragged into its second month.
Hundreds of heavily armed officers were stationed across Victoria’s high country, supported by special operations units, in what locals described as a ‘war zone’ that turned their tiny town into a fortress.
It is not believed police focused their attention much beyond than the area surrounding Mt Buffalo at Porepunkah.
CRE: DAILYMAIL