How fugitive Dezi Freeman used bush to evade capture
Cop killer Dezi Freeman is the latest violent fugitive to use Australia’s remote and rugged bush to evade capture.
The self-described sovereign citizen was killed by police on Monday at a remote hideout in Victoria’s northeast, about 200 kilometers from where he first fled.
Freeman was wanted for the fatal shootings of Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart, who were among a team of police officers serving an arrest warrant at his home in the small town of Porepunkah in late August.
Both police and experts suggested it was likely that Freeman had helped him evade capture and get that far.
Bushcraft survival expert Gordon Dedman told AAP he did not believe Freeman could procure and prepare food without being detected, adding that he may have had a stash of equipment hidden somewhere in the bush.
“There’s not much to eat, so my guess is he had a cache of long-lasting food,” Mr. Dedman said.
At the time of his disappearance, Freeman knew “the bush like the back of his hand” and was a “modern-day Ned Kelly”, locals told AAP.
Fugitives have been moving towards the forest area for a long time to avoid being caught, taking advantage of the distance and the lack of witnesses who can alert the police.
Police continue to search for Julian Ingram following an alleged domestic violence-related shooting at Lake Cargelligo in central western NSW.
The 37-year-old council worker allegedly fatally shot three people, including his pregnant ex-partner Sophie Quinn and his aunt Nerida Quinn, hours after applying to the police station to be released on bail.
A $250,000 reward for information to catch Ingram has been offered, with police scouring more than 24,000 hectares of what Deputy Commissioner Andrew Holland described as “dry country”.
Malcolm Naden had been on the run for seven years after killing his neighbor Kristy Scholes and her cousin Lateesha Nolan in June 2005.
While hiding in the woods between 2005 and 2012, Naden broke into several properties and stole thousands of items of food and clothing, as well as several guns.
Police cornered him near a campsite in Nowendoc in 2011, but he escaped after shooting an officer in the shoulder.
The $50,000 reward for information leading to Naden’s capture rose to $250,000 when he was finally arrested in 2012 at a private property near Gloucester in central NSW.
Former fugitive father and son Gino and Mark Stocco also eluded police for eight years, sparking a massive manhunt in October 2015 when they opened fire on highway patrol officers to avoid arrest near Wagga Wagga.
The couple were tracked to the Elong Elong property in central west NSW and arrested by heavily armed police officers.
James D’Zilva repeatedly evaded police in the Yarra Ranges bushland east of Melbourne after stabbing Senior Constable Chris Bullen at a service station in Healesville on December 7, 2010.
He was eventually caught by police in Melbourne’s inner suburb of Richmond on 5 January 2011.
