Dezi Freeman: How the fugitive was killed
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At a rural picnic spot in the dark, a young man suddenly disappears. You could nearly say an alien took him away because he's just vanished. When more clues from that night surface, something doesn't sit right. It's nonsensical where the stuff is. It's been scattered. I'm Rob Bergen. Join me as I investigate what became of Jack in the new season of Unravel. Is it a murder? Is it someone just gone missing? Do you know where my son is? Search for the Unravel podcast on ABC Listen or wherever you get your podcasts.
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The coroner's court in Melbourne is a long way from where Dizzy Freeman was killed on the Victorian border and from where he killed two police officers. But it's where we heard the minute-by-minute breakdown of his final morning. I'm Stephen Stockwell. This is The Case Of.
Police haven't sighted the fugitive since he escaped into the bush.
The last time that he was seen, he was heavily armed. Do not approach him. We have searched over 40 square kilometres by foot, by air, and we will not give up.
Early this morning, they pounced, shooting the fugitive dead as he emerged, believed to be wrapped in a blanket and carrying a gun.
The coroner will investigate exactly how Freeman's final moments unfolded.
In August last year, Desi Freeman shot and killed two police officers, Neil Thompson and Vadim Davat-Hodat. Seven months later, he was killed by police in remote northeastern Victoria. The details of these deaths have been revealed at the coroner's court this week as two inquests began, one for Desi Freeman and one for the officers that he killed. In this episode, we're going to break down Desi Freeman's death. And in Thursday's episode, we're going to bring you all the details the coroner's court heard about the way that the two police officers were killed, what the final moments of Neil Thompson and Vadim Davat-Hodart were like. Following along through all of this has been Ashley Aldridge, a reporter for ABC, Goulburn Murray.
Thanks for joining us, Ash.
Hello. Thank you for having me.
Ash, you live and work in this community. You were the first reporter in Popanka after the police were shot, Neil Thompson, Vadim Davat Horat. You also live not far from where we're going to spend this episode, the place where Desi Freeman was found, the lookalong. And we'll talk a lot about what happened that day. But first, what was it like out there while he was still on the run?
Yeah, as you can imagine, there were a lot of unanswered questions and unanswered questions always sort of lead to many theories, but there were mostly two camps. Many people thought that he had gotten away after that initial shooting in Pawpunka and And others thought that he had perhaps died in the Mount Buffalo National Park in the days following that shooting on August 26. We know that the weather following that day was terrible. It was cold. It was raining. And, of course, it had been seven months since he had last been seen. Victoria Police had confirmed that there had been absolutely no sightings of him.
What events led to the death of Dezi Freeman?
Mm-hmm. And so there were really those two theories that people thought he had either gotten out or that he was dead. And I arrived at that scene in Pulp Unca very early as that situation was unfolding. And there, it wasn't cordoned off. So I can understand why people did think that perhaps he had gotten away on that day.
Yeah, the property he was living on there backed onto the Mount Buffalo National Park. So that's where he was kind of thought to escape into after shooting Neil Thompson and Vadim Devat-Hodart. Then obviously Tholigalong, where he was found about 150 kilometres from all of that, all of these in northeastern Victoria. And Ash, we're now in the coronial process looking at what happened with these deaths. This isn't a process of determining criminal responsibility. It's just what happened. And as I mentioned, there's two inquests, one into Freeman's death, which we'll talk through today, and then one into the deaths of Thompson and Devathodat that we'll unpack on Thursday.
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Chapters
6 chapters
1
What is the main topic discussed in this episode?
0:00–3:13
2
What events led to the death of Dezi Freeman?
3:13–4:26
3
How did the police respond to Freeman's escape?
4:26–6:25
4
What new details emerged from the coroner's court about Freeman's final moments?
6:25–7:25
5
What were the circumstances surrounding the police officers' deaths?
7:25–11:02
6
How did the community react to Freeman's actions and subsequent death?
11:02–28:06
Speakers
4 identifiedMore from The Case Of
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