Woman arrested in Dezi Freeman probe as detectives hunt those who allegedly helped the cop killer

By CAITLIN POWELL - NEWS REPORTER Published: 00:42, 18 July 2026 | Updated: 00:58, 18 July 2026 A woman has been arrested in northeast Victoria as police continue to investigate who helped cop killer Dezi Freeman during the seven months he was on the run. Freeman, 56, was shot dead on March 30 after he was found on a remote property near Walwa, about 180km north-east of Porepunkah, where he had disappeared on August 26, 2025.  He had evaded cops, the army and special forces for months in Victoria's biggest manhunt after gunning down two police officers. One the day he vanished, ten officers had attended his makeshift home, a bus he shared with his wife and two children in Porepunkah, to serve a warrant when the deadly shootout erupted.  After shooting Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, Freeman vanished into the bushland of Mount Buffalo National Park until he was found in north-east Victoria earlier this year.  Victoria Police have been investigating whether anyone helped Freeman while he was a fugitive and, on Friday, officers issued an update after making an arrest. 'Detectives from Taskforce Summit arrested a 58-year-old New South Wales woman in the Bairnsdale area [on Friday] morning as part of their ongoing investigation into the movements of Desmond Freeman following the fatal shooting of two police officers in Porepunkah last August,' the statement said. 'The woman will now be interviewed by police.' A woman has been arrested in northeast Victoria as police continue to investigate who helped cop killer Dezi Freeman (pictured) during the seven months he was on the run Ten officers attended Freeman's makeshift home in August last year to serve a warrant when a deadly shootout erupted before he fled into bushland Freeman was shot dead on March 30 after he was found on a remote property near Walwa, about 180km north-east of Porepunkah Police said the investigation remains ongoing and officers would not provide further details. No charges had been laid as of Saturday morning.  In June, police executed seven search warrants across Victoria and New South Wales, resulting in five people being arrested and later released.  The home of Kay and Bruce Reid, the parents of AFL premiership stars Ben and Sam Reid, was among those searched. They were not arrested. Following the police operation, Ms Reid spoke publicly about her family's almost two decades of friendship with Freeman and his wife Mali, but denied helping the fugitive while he was on the run.  'We were friends as the whole community were … within Porepunkah and Bright and the greater north-east,' she told ABC News on June 19. Ms Reid said her family had helped store Freeman's registered firearms in a safe inside a locked shed at their Buckland property for a period during their friendship, a fact Bruce Reid had disclosed to police.  They also had the family's storage container on the property. 'As you do to help people out when they are stuck,' Ms Reid said. The matriarch also revealed she had arranged travel for Freeman's wife, Mali, to migrate to Australia through her travel agency.  Both the initial fatal shooting in Porepunkah and the subsequent fatal shooting of Freeman in Thologolong are now subject to coronial investigation. Detectives are keen to speak to anyone who may have knowledge of Freeman’s movements between August 2025 and March 2026. Police believe he travelled between Victoria and New South Wales and received assistance from a number of different people during that period. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.