Mon Mar 30

How do fugitives like Dezi Freeman evade police for so long?

Written by: Vincent Hurley, Lecturer in Criminology (police & policing). School of International Studies, Macquarie University

Police killer ^[1] Dezi Freeman evaded authorities for more than 200 days before he was reportedly shot and killed by police ^[2] on Monday morning.

Freeman shot and killed two police officers on August 26 last year before escaping and hiding in rugged bushland in north-east Victoria.

His evasion of police captured public attention primarily because it is so rare for fugitives to avoid capture for so long. The hunt for him was the largest tactical police operation ^[3] in Australian history.

How do fugitives like Dezi Freeman evade police for so long?

The rural property where Freeman was shot and killed, near Walwa on the Victoria-NSW border. Google Maps, The Conversation

So, how do people like Freeman stay hidden for so long, considering the technology and resources available to police?

Long-term evasion is rare

During the hunt for Freeman, New Zealand police were similarly trying to locate a man called Tom Phillips, who evaded police for almost four years.

He disappeared with his three children just before Christmas 2021 and hid in dense bush in the North Island’s western Waikato region before being shot and killed by police ^[4] in late 2025.

Both he and Freeman were skilled bushmen with deep local knowledge. And they likely received support from others.

“It would be very difficult for him to get where he was […] without assistance,” Victoria Police chief commissioner Mike Bush said ^[5] of Freeman. “We will be speaking to anyone we suspect has assisted him to avoid detection and arrest.”

In Australia, there have only been four other significant, long-term fugitives in the past 40 years:

John Bobak ^[7], who police believe was responsible for a double murder on the Gold Coast in 1991, is still on the run
Brenden Abbott, nicknamed the “postcard bandit”, escaped from Fremantle Prison ^[8] in 1989. He evaded police for six years
Malcolm Naden hid and lived in rugged bushland around Gloucester and Scone for seven years ^[9] after murdering two girls in 2005. NSW Police eventually found and arrested him in 2012.
New South Wales prison escapee Darko Desic evaded police for 30 years ^[10], living in sand dunes in Sydney’s Northern Beaches until he voluntarily handed himself into police in 2022.

How do these fugitives stay hidden?

A person going off the grid is one of the greatest challenges police face in trying to find someone, because technology serves as a person’s electronic footprint.

It ties a person to a time and place. When someone in a city or regional area with mobile coverage uses a phone, it logs their location, who they are talking to and how long they were on the phone call.

If they use their phone to pay for something, it ties that person to a place and time.

If they drive a car, they may be seen on CCTV on roadways that check for real time traffic conditions.

If they access money from an ATM, there may be facial recognition that captures their image. Not using technology blinds police.

The geography of an area also gives someone who goes off the grid a natural advantage because of the difficulty of physically trying to locate them in bushland. The bigger the area, the more rugged the terrain, the easier it is for anyone with bush skills to hide.

That was certainly the case for Freeman in north-east Victoria.

For police, bushcraft skill would not be as well honed as it would have been 20 years ago.

Technology has totally reoriented the way in which police carry out investigations. The use of drones, aerial surveillance, satellite imagery, number plate recognition, or residential home surveillance systems are rendered pointless for someone living off the grid.

For both police and the offender, these types of searches are a game of patience.

Freeman had time on his side, he knew the area and was a skilled bushman. It seems he was able to blend into the environment and become a shadow in the landscape, outwitting the police for months – until he was eventually tracked down.

How he was eventually discovered is yet to be revealed, but police, those impacted by Freeman’s actions, and the taxpayers footing the search bill, will no doubt be relieved the search is over.