Dezi Freeman manhunt day 14 LIVE updates: Shattered widow of cop Neal Thompson allegedly gunned down by Dezi Freeman is comforted by loved ones at moving funeral

Lisa Thompson, Neal Thompson’s partner, broke down while telling the chapel how she and Detective Thompson met while on the force in 2016.

‘We worked one shift together and it changed the course of my life,’ she said.

‘I had never laughed so much with someone I’d just met.’

‘I knew Neal to be an intensely private person, a provider and protector.

‘We were the opposite in every way, but together we were unstoppable.’

Attendees have started filling the pews at the Victoria Police Academy Chapel.

Among them is Prime Minister Anthony Albanese, Victorian Premier Jacinta Allan, Victoria Police Commissioner Mike Bush and Police Association chief executive Wayne Gatt.

Detective Thompson’s coffin laid in front of the packed chapel, draped in an Australian flag and topped with a Victoria Police cap.

The priest at the church where Dezi Freeman was a parishioner said the fugitive seemed ‘agitated’ in the days before he allegedly shot dead two police officers.

Father Tony Shallue told the Daily Mail Freeman and his wife Mali and their two younger children attended Our Lady of the Snows ‘every Sunday’.

The family was so closely linked to the church that special toys were placed to occupy the Freemans’ toddler while mass was on, and Mali often volunteered to help others.

Father Shallue said he last saw Freeman at mass just two days before the alleged murders, which sparked one of the biggest manhunts in Victoria’s history.

‘His love of his family was strong, he was part of the community, but that particular Sunday [two days before the alleged shootings] I just sensed it, and I didn’t know a reason, but I sensed that he just seemed a little agitated,’ he said.

‘He was jagged in his movements and walking quite quickly, whereas he’d usually just stay around and chat to people, but not that Sunday.’

Father Shallue said he first noticed a change in his ‘community and family’-focused parishioner when Pope Francis died on April 21 this year.

• Dezi Freeman, 56, remains on the run, 14 days after he allegedly gunned down Detective Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart-Hottart, 35, at his Porepunkah property in Victoria’s High Country.
• Ten officers attended the property on August 26 to serve a warrant over historic sexual assault charges involving a minor when Freeman allegedly opened fire, killing two and wounding a third.
• Detective Thompson will be farewelled at a funeral in Melbourne on Monday morning, days after hundreds of officers gathered to pay tribute to Senior Constable de Waart-Hottart at the same chapel.
• There have still been no confirmed sightings of Freeman despite police issuing a $1million reward for information leading to his arrest on Saturday.
• Heavily-armed officers executed a search warrant on Freeman’s Porepunkah home on Thursday, where computers, cameras and other items were seized.
• The manhunt is ongoing with police continuing to clear the surrounding bushland, including caves and mineshafts.
• Police earlier said they believed Freeman was being helped by people in the local community but now say there is nothing to suggest he is being helped by a specific person.
• Dezi Freeman’s son, Koah, told the Australian and Herald Sun on Sunday his father had the skills to survive harsh rural conditions but was probably dead.

The son of accused cop killer Dezi Freeman has said his father had Rambo-like skills but is ‘probably dead’ in his first interview since two officers were gunned down.

Authorities continue to hunt the 56-year-old, who allegedly shot dead Detective Neal Thompson, 59, and Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart , 35, at his rural property in Porepunkah in the Victorian High Country on August 26.

During the operation, a third officer was also allegedly wounded by Freeman, who then fled into bushland and has not been seen since.

The second police officer killed in a fatal ambush at Porepunkah in Victoria will be farewelled today as the hunt for his alleged killer continues.

Detective Leading Senior Constable Neal Thompson, 59, (pictured below) was killed in the line of duty on August 26 while executing a search warrant at the home of Dezi Freeman.

He was one among ten police officers convened to carry out the search including Senior Constable Vadim De Waart-Hottart, 35, who was also killed at the scene.

Senior Constable De Waart-Hottart was farewelled at the Victoria Police Academy Chapel in Glen Waverley, in Melbourne’s east on Friday.

On Monday, Detective Thompson will be laid to rest at the same chapel – on the campus where his career began nearly 40 years ago.

He was due to retire from Victoria Police on Friday last week.

Detective Thompson will receive full police honours at the funeral service on Monday morning, which will be followed by a private cremation.

Mourners have been directed to donate to Police Legacy instead of buying flowers.