Two people have been arrested and will be interviewed by police as part of investigation into the movements of police killer Dezi Freeman.
Police on Tuesday afternoon confirmed two men, a 48-year-old and a 35-year-old, had been arrested at two separate locations in the state’s north-east.
“The pair will now be interviewed by police. The investigation remains ongoing and as such we are not in a position to provide further details at this immediate time,” police said in a statement.
After killing Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart on August 26 last year, Freeman fled into the bush, sparking the largest manhunt in Victoria’s history.
On March 30, he was shot dead by heavily armed police who had tracked him to a remote hideout in Thologolong, near the NSW border.
The arrests come just a day after new details were revealed at the Coroner’s Court of Victoria during two separate directions hearings into the three deaths.
State coroner Liberty Sanger was on Monday told that on August 26, 2025, 10 police officers attended the Porepunkah property where Freeman was living with his wife and their young children to execute a search warrant as part of an investigation into allegations of historical child sexual abuse.
At the time, Freeman was a person of interest in connection with an alleged sexual assault of a child aged under 16 and attempting to involve a child in the making of child abuse material.
What followed was a fatal shootout, after Freeman armed himself with a shotgun and opened fire, killing two officers and injuring two others, one seriously.
An inquest for the slain officers has been earmarked for March. A separate inquest will be held for Freeman with a date yet to be determined.
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