The matriarch of a distinguished AFL household whose properties have been twice raided by police has detailed the lengthy friendship she shared with police killer Dezi Freeman, which included organising journey for his spouse to come back to Australia and later storing his weapons.
In an unique interview with the ABC, Kay Reid, the mom of premiership gamers Ben and Sam Reid, mentioned she and her husband Bruce’s deep ties with Freeman’s household dated again twenty years, however denied ever serving to or harbouring Freeman whereas he was on the run.
Ms Reid mentioned she facilitated Freeman’s spouse, Mali, coming to Australia via her journey company.
“We have been mates as the entire neighborhood have been … inside Porepunkah and Shiny and the better north-east,” she mentioned.
Kay Reid says she doesn’t condone Dezi Freeman’s taking pictures of the 2 cops however can “perceive why it occurred”. (Provided)
In an indication of their friendship, Ms Reid mentioned they’d beforehand saved Freeman’s registered weapons at their property in a secure inside a locked shed, and saved the household’s storage container on their land.
“As you do to assist individuals out when they’re caught,” Ms Reid mentioned.
Dezi Freeman killed two cops in Porepunkah within the state’s north-east in August final yr. He evaded police for seven months earlier than he was shot lifeless by officers in a stand-off in March on a property close to the NSW border.
There was intense deal with Ms Reid and her husband Bruce’s hyperlinks to the Freemans after it emerged their Buckland dwelling was searched this week by Victoria Cops from Taskforce Summit, who’re investigating Freeman’s actions.
Police converse to Bruce Reid whereas looking out the couple’s Buckland dwelling on Tuesday. (Provided)
Ms Reid spoke in regards to the incident on a podcast she co-hosts, on which she usually shares scepticism about vaccines and COVID-19, which she refers to because the “plandemic”.
It was not the primary time the couple was raided — simply hours after Freeman fled into the bush, their vacation rental home and cabins, additionally in Buckland, have been searched.
Ms Reid advised the ABC the couple was fishing within the Gulf of Carpentaria when the taking pictures occurred, and later obtained a name from police within the early hours of the next morning.
Kay Reid says her vacation cabins have been broken when police raided her Buckland property.
She claimed police triggered $26,000 in injury throughout their search, together with by shattering a glass door and burning the carpet with stun grenades, which she mentioned the couple was compensated for.
Ms Reid mentioned her husband knowledgeable police they’d saved Freeman’s weapons on their property.
“Bruce rang them and advised them they higher go and verify,” she mentioned.
She rejected any suggestion that the couple had ever aided Freeman,
“We had nothing to do with it … as if we will do this, as if we might’ve assisted, spare me,” Ms Reid mentioned.
“[The] taking pictures of a police officer or anybody of that matter is the mistaken factor to do … nonetheless, why? What led him to do it, is not that the query we should always ask to cease violence?”
In August 2025, 10 cops went to the bus that Freeman and his household used as a house to execute a search warrant for digital units.
The ABC first revealed Freeman was on the verge of getting his secret stash of kid abuse materials uncovered when he opened hearth on police, who have been investigating him for an alleged sexual assault of a kid below 16.
He was additionally being investigated for allegedly making an attempt to contain a minor within the manufacturing of kid abuse materials.
There was an unprecedented manhunt for Freeman, which ended 216 days later when he was discovered holed up in a transport container at Thologolong.
Investigators now imagine Freeman travelled throughout the border into New South Wales whereas he was on the run and obtained help from a number of individuals.
Police arrived at Kay and Bruce Reid’s Buckland dwelling earlier than dawn on Tuesday with a warrant to look the property. (Provided)
On Tuesday, Kay and Bruce Reid’s dwelling was amongst a number of properties police searched as a part of a blitz throughout New South Wales and Victoria.
Police have arrested and launched 5 individuals. Mr and Ms Reid weren’t amongst that group.
“We tried to assist [police], we tried to assist as a lot as we may, and so they come and deal with us with suspicion, spare me,” she mentioned.
The ABC can reveal police imagine these arrested and launched since Freeman died are loosely linked via shared sovereign citizen beliefs.
Kay Reid says she efficiently sought compensation from police after her property was broken throughout a police search. (Provided)
Investigators have been utilizing their powers of arrest to grab digital units, predominantly telephones, as they attempt to uncover any community that supported him, the ABC understands.
The main focus of investigators has been on figuring out who supplied Freeman with materials assist, reminiscent of cash, transportation, or lodging.
Since Freeman’s dying, no-one in his household has been arrested, and of the individuals already arrested and launched, none have been arrested twice.
The deaths of the 2 cops are actually the topic of a coronial inquest, which earlier this month aired disturbing new particulars about their closing moments, together with that Freeman stood over their our bodies and taunted them.
Freeman’s personal dying after a three-hour stand off with Victoria Police’s elite Particular Operations Group will even be probed by the coroner in a second inquest.
