Police were on the verge of discovering Dezi Freeman’s hundreds-strong trove of child abuse files when he fatally shot two officers at his Porepunkah home, police have revealed.
The well-known conspiracy theorist and self-described “sovereign citizen” gunned down Victoria Police officers Vadim De Waart-Hottart and Neal Thompson on August 26 last year. The pair were among a group of 10 local officers and members of the sexual offences and child abuse investigation team serving a search warrant to Freeman at the makeshift property, 330 kilometres from Melbourne.
Aside from police attributing it to an investigation by the Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team, details about the warrant have been scant in the months since, throughout one of the largest manhunts in Australian history and following Freeman’s death in a police standoff on March 30, until now.
News.com.au has now been told police officers found hundreds of files containing child abuse material on the 56-year-old devices.
While Victoria Police would not officially comment on specifics of the material found, a spokesperson said: “Police initially attended the Porepunkah property on 26 August 2025 as part of an investigation by the Wangaratta Sexual Offences and Child Abuse Investigation Team.”
“We won’t be commenting on the specifics of that investigation,” they added.
Multiple law enforcement sources told the ABC on Wednesday the investigation into historical sex offences included allegations of sexual exposure, and that detectives are in contact with one alleged victim.
Weeks on from Freeman’s death, questions remain over where he spent his more than 216 days on the run, how he was able to evade capture for so long, and if he had help.
Freeman was finally cornered at a property at Thologolong on the Victoria-NSW border, about 150km from where he was last seen.
YouTube video subject of police probe
Officers from Victoria Police’s Special Operations Group (SOG) forced an armed Freeman outside the converted shipping container he had been hiding in. He was then fatally shot.
“We will track backwards from here to work out how long he’s been here, and who helped him to be here,” Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush said at the time.
“(It is) very important for us to understand how long he’s been here and who else was complicit in getting him here, and then caring for him or providing him with food and other things to this point.
“If anyone was complicit, they will be held to account.”
A man and a woman, both associates of Freeman and not family members, were taken into custody earlier this month and interviewed by detectives, but were released “pending further inquiries”, a police spokesperson said at the time.
Last week, an Australian content creator provided an inside look at the Thologolong property, which has been combed by police.
In a lengthy video uploaded to YouTube, the rural abode appeared to be littered with rubbish, and had bullet holes in a nearby boat and numerous coloured drums.
“Every one of these bullet holes is an exit bullet hole,” the YouTuber told his viewers, noting only one bullet hole was exempt.
The entrance to the shipping container is also captured – revealing a pair of glasses still intact from police investigations.
Shirts can be seen hanging from shelves as the YouTuber enters the container, which is strewn with rubbish.
He captures footage of food containers, a gas bottle, a number of multivitamins on a table, and an AM radio.
“I can’t breathe in here,” he is heard saying as he moves outside.
“The chemicals are so strong. Like … you just don’t know what Dezi’s or what’s not Dezi’s.”
A nearby trailer is seen piled with beer bottles.
The video is now the subject of a police probe.
“Police are investigating a report of a trespass at a property on Murray River Rd in Thologolong on April 16,” a Victoria Police spokesperson told NewsWire.
“Investigators are aware of a video posted online in relation to the trespass and are investigating the circumstances.
“The investigation remains ongoing.”
– with NewsWire
