Dezi Freeman update: Family member of alleged cop killer warns how the manhunt could end

A family member of fugitive Dezi Freeman has delivered a stark warning about what could happen if the suspected cop killer is confronted by police.

Mr Freeman has been on the run since last Tuesday following deadly violence at his property in Porepunkah, about 300km northeast of Melbourne, with no confirmed sightings of him since.

The 56-year-old is accused of killing Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart, 35, while they were serving him with a warrant.

Speaking to the Daily Mail, one relative, who has not been named, expressed grave fears about Mr Freeman’s state of mind.

“He won’t go to jail. Never. Ever,” the family member said.

“He knows there is a life sentence waiting for him and he won’t serve a single day of it. There are no good outcomes but he would rather live in the bush, take his own life or a possible shootout with the police – death by cop so to speak.”

More than 400 police are searching for Mr Freeman on foot and in the air in Victoria’s high country, with people urged not to approach him because he might be armed.

His relatives, while distancing themselves from his sovereign citizen ideology, say they no longer expect they will see him again.

“We are not defending him, simply providing some insight into the tortured soul that is Dezi Freeman,” the relative explained to the publication.

According to family members, Mr Freeman had become increasingly withdrawn from mainstream life.

“He sees the Australian Government as a corporation rather than as per the constitution. The change of coat of arms et cetera. This is not the family’s belief, we just want to explain it,” the relative says.

They described him as a man obsessed with “doomsday” preparation, living for years with the belief that society could collapse at any moment.

“He has been prepping for doomsday all his life. A comet, WW3, whatever that might be,” the family member said.

“And when that day was to come he would live in the mountains. He believes the police bully him and he just wants to be left alone. Of course the police are holding him accountable, however, he has a way of poking the bear unfortunately, and brings much of this on himself.”

Police continue to comb the rugged Victorian high country for Mr Freeman, however high-tech equipment used in the search could prove useless depending on his hiding place, as investigators believe people know his location.

Experienced drone search and rescue operator Michael Coates said the police helicopter would have infrared and thermal cameras that detect heat through dense bushland, but warned even the most advanced technology had its limits.

“If the person is in a cave or a rock ledge or in a mine shaft and they’ve got no visible presence to the sky, then they basically remain unrecognised as there is no way of seeing through the ground,” the C-Astral Aerospace Australia operations officer told AAP.

“If he was just out sitting under a tree somewhere, they would have found him many, many days ago. ”He’s obviously found shelter or he’s evaded everything and he’s out of the area.”

Victoria Police Superintendent Brett Kahan said the force believed people know the whereabouts of Mr Freeman.

“People have chosen, for whatever reason, not to come forward, and I’m taking this time to appeal to you to come forward in that respect,” he told reporters on Monday.

Supt Kahan said he couldn’t confirm whether Mr Freeman’s wife Amalia would be charged after she was arrested along with the couple’s 15-year-old son at a Porepunkah home last week.

“It’s two different things to be speaking with police and co-operating with police,” he said in reference to Ms Freeman.

Funeral arrangements for the slain officers have been finalised.

Snr Const De Waart will be farewelled on Friday, followed by the funeral for Det Snr Const Thompson on September 8.

Mr Coates said Mr Freeman may have previously stored food and water near his home, but his survival would be hampered by his efforts to stay hidden, with police likely planting motion-sensitive trail cameras in the area.

“Normally you’d light a fire to keep warm. He obviously can’t do that because the fire would show to thermal cameras like a beacon on top of the Harbor Bridge and the smoke would give him away,” he said.

“He needs three things - shelter, food and water.

“If he’s got those three things, it’s not going to be comfortable, but he’s going to be able to survive for an extended period of time”.

- With AAP