A man has been cleared of links to the hunt for fugitive Dezi Freeman as authorities ramp up the search of a popular national park for the accused police killer.
Freeman has been on the run for more than five weeks since Neal Thompson and Vadim de Waart-Hottart were shot dead while serving a warrant at his home in Porepunkah, 300km northeast of Melbourne.
Detective Senior Constable Thompson, 59, was just a week away from retiring while Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart, 34, was on temporary assignment to the area.
There has been no sign of Freeman since the shooting on August 26, despite hundreds of police scouring the area.
This week an additional 100 officers from the Public Order Response Team were deployed to Mount Buffalo National Park to conduct further sweeps of the area, with the park off limits to the general public.
It came as attention turned to a new area about 100km away from his last known location.
On Wednesday, police searched a rural property in Goomalibee near Benalla and a man was intercepted at Undera near Shepparton as part of the probe.
However, police have confirmed the unidentified man was not involved.
“He has been cleared of any link to our current investigation,” Victoria Police said in a statement on Thursday.
Freeman, 56, was last seen fleeing into bushland in the mountainous region shortly after the shooting.
About 400 officers including specialist teams from interstate and abroad were out looking for him at the height of the operation but that number has since been scaled back to about 200.
More than 40 square kilometres of land have been searched on foot and by air.
Police previously flagged the possibility a member of the public knows Freeman’s whereabouts.
Anyone who sees him is urged not to approach him as he is considered armed and dangerous.
A $1 million reward and the possibility of indemnity for information leading to his capture is on offer, with some 1400 pieces of information provided to investigators since the killings.
“We will not give up until we find that person,” Victoria Police Chief Commissioner Mike Bush told reporters on Monday.
“This has really damaged our police service and the community and we are determined to bring this matter to a conclusion.”
Freeman’s wife, Mali, and a 15-year-old boy were previously arrested and released without charge.
Thousands of mourners in August paid their respects to both officers at funerals at the Victoria Police Academy in Melbourne’s east and each man was buried with full police honours.
They were immortalised at memorials earlier this week to mark National Police Remembrance Day, during which their families and colleagues placed floral wreaths in their honour.
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