WEBVTT - Outlaw Dezi Freeman is probably dead, say cops

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<v Speaker 1>Today's biggest news from The Australian. I'm Claire Harvey with

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<v Speaker 1>the Front's afternoon headlines. In some of Australia's most rugged country,

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<v Speaker 1>so called sovereign citizen Desi Freeman has been on the

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<v Speaker 1>run since August twenty twenty five after allegedly shooting dead

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<v Speaker 1>two police officers. Now Victoria Police are launching a new

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<v Speaker 1>five day search for Freeman, whom they've been hunting for

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<v Speaker 1>six months, but now they're searching for a corpse. The

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<v Speaker 1>Mount Buffalo National Park in the Australian Alps is about

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<v Speaker 1>halfway between Melbourne and Canberra, and it looks like something

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<v Speaker 1>from Middle Earth. Cliffs, impossibly steep gullies and impenetrable bush

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<v Speaker 1>where temperatures range from minus eight in winter to the

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<v Speaker 1>low thirties in summer. Freeman was a survivalist who believed

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<v Speaker 1>normal laws didn't apply to him, and when Detective Leading

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<v Speaker 1>Senior Constable Neil Thompson and Senior Constable Vadim Devat Hottart

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<v Speaker 1>showed up to execute a search warrant Rouli to alleged

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<v Speaker 1>historical sex offenses, Freeman allegedly shot them dead. A third

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<v Speaker 1>officer was seriously wounded that was at Freeman's makeshift home

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<v Speaker 1>a bus on his property near the town of Pora Punker.

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<v Speaker 1>The officers were killed shortly after ten thirty am. Freeman

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<v Speaker 1>went on the run immediately, but around two hours later

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<v Speaker 1>police say a member of the public heard a gunshot

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<v Speaker 1>and that's why they now think Freeman is dead. Victoria

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<v Speaker 1>Police say they've conducted firearms and acoustic testing to determine

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<v Speaker 1>where the gunshot came from. They're also examining possibilities that

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<v Speaker 1>Freeman was able to escape the area and is being

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<v Speaker 1>harbored by someone, or that he fled the Alps and

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<v Speaker 1>is still on the run. So far, the search for

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<v Speaker 1>Freeman has been the biggest tactical operation ever undertaken in Australia,

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<v Speaker 1>including searches of caves, mines, huts and waterways using dogs,

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<v Speaker 1>drones and search and rescue specialists. There's a one million

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<v Speaker 1>dollar reward for information that leads to Freeman's arrest or

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<v Speaker 1>the location of his body. You can check out that

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<v Speaker 1>story live right now at the Australian dot com DOREU

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<v Speaker 1>and come back to the front first thing in the

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<v Speaker 1>morning for our look at interest rates. Are they going

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<v Speaker 1>up and if they do who's to blame,