NSW woman arrested as part of Dezi Freeman investigation

Fri 17 Jul 2026 at 4:06pm

Fri 17 Jul 2026 at 4:06pm

In short:

A NSW woman was arrested in Bairnsdale in Victoria's east today as part of an investigation into the movements of police killer Dezi Freeman.

The investigation has involved the arrest of several people since Freeman's fatal shooting of two police officers near the north-east Victorian hamlet of Porepunkah.

What's next?

Police say investigations into Freeman's support network remain ongoing.

A NSW woman has been arrested in Victoria's north-east today as part of an investigation into who helped Dezi Freeman remain out-of-sight after the fatal shooting of two police officers in Porepunkah.

In a short statement released this afternoon, Victoria Police confirmed the arrest as part of a wider probe into the movements of the police killer during his seven months as a fugitive, before he was shot dead in a March stand-off.

"Detectives from Taskforce Summit arrested a 58-year-old NSW woman in the Bairnsdale area this 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 read.

"The woman 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 time."

Since his death, several people have been arrested as part of a wider investigation into whether he was assisted while on the run, before being released without charge.

Detectives are retracing Freeman's movements in the weeks and months after the shootings.

Seven properties across north-east Victoria and New South Wales, including Umina Beach, more than six hours from Porepunkah, have been searched.

They are also investigating if a broader network may have helped.

Attention has now turned to why anyone might have been willing to help Freeman and how those connections formed.

Freeman shot dead Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart in Porepunkah in Victoria's north east in August last year.

Freeman himself was fatally shot in March during a confrontation with police at a rural property at Thologolong on the Victoria-New South Wales border.