Police are pleading with the wife of alleged cop killer Dezi Freeman to co-operate fully with them in their hunt for her fugitive husband.
In a shock update on Monday afternoon, Victoria Police Superintendent Brett Kahan said at least one person could be helping Freeman evade capture.
Further, he said while the police had spoken with Amalia Freeman, “it’s two different things to be speaking with police, and co-operating with police”.
“We would invite full co-operation with police in respect to this double murder investigation, if people such as the fugitive’s wife (Amalia) isn’t giving us full co-operation, I would encourage her to do so,” Kahan said.
He said “people know” where the fugitive might be, seven days after he allegedly gunned down two police officers on a property outside Porepunkah.
“People know the whereabouts of the person who has killed two cops, people have chosen, for whatever reason, not to come forward,” Kahan said.
“I’m taking this time to appeal to you to come forward in that respect.
“Last time I spoke in front of you, I appealed directly to Dezi Freeman to ring triple-0, and then we could work towards a surrender plan with him.
“I’m going to change tack a little bit … I extend that invitation to anyone who’s harbouring Dezi Freeman, who’s considering harbouring Dezi Freeman, or knows something about the people that are harbouring Dezi Freeman, that offer is absolutely out to you as well.”
Kahan said police had already received 450 separate pieces of information to assist in their search.
“You are committing an extremely serious crime by harbouring or assisting in the escape of Dezi Freeman,” he said.
Victoria Police have set up a mobile police facility in the centre of nearby town Bright, where people were urged to offload any information.
“We are absolutely hunting for a fugitive,” Kahan said.
“You might have the information that fills the gaps which we’re looking to fill.”
Kahan confirmed that police believed Dezi Freeman was still alive, despite not being sighted since the shooting seven days ago.
The search area continues to change and widen as police receive new information, with Superintendent Kahan mentioning the town of Nagambie – 150km west of Porepunkah – as a potential new area of interest.
The Superintendent said the week-long manhunt had so far involved more than 450 police officers.
“It’s not lost on me that we now have to also resource the funerals of two fallen colleagues on Friday and Monday, that alone is a significant resource drain while we continue the search for Dezi Freeman,” Kahan said.
Closing his address, Kahan pleaded with Freeman’s suspected accomplices to come forward.
“I’ll just extend that final offer to those that are harbouring, or know of those that are harbouring, Dezi Freeman to take up that offer, whichever means you may like,” he said.
“Whether it be triple-0 or otherwise, and we will formulate an appropriate surrender plan.”
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