ShareSaveOttilie MitchellSydneyShareSaveGetty ImagesSix months after one of their own killed two officers, Porepunkah wants to move onMoments after allegedly shooting dead two police officers on his property last August, Dezi Freeman took off into the bush and vanished.
Half a year on from the fatal shooting, authorities are still scouring the mountainous ranges surrounding the small Australian town of Porepunkah to find him.
But there have been no successful leads, despite regional authorities offering the largest-ever reward money in the region for tips about the well-known conspiracy theorist.
And in the meantime, the self-described "tight-knit" residents of the small town have been left to pick up the pieces of a crime that has shattered their community.
Tourist town taken over by manhunt
Usually a hub for tourists wine-tasting and hiking, Porepunkah bills itself as a "favourite place for families to escape".
There are river swims and pub visits to be enjoyed beneath Mount Buffalo, where in the colder months, tobogganing and skiing are popular.
Last winter, though, was an atypical season.
Police were at Freeman's home with a warrant to search it as part of a child sex abuse investigation when the 56-year-old allegedly gunned down Detective Senior Constable Neal Thompson - a local from the region - and Senior Constable Vadim de Waart.
The entire mountain was shut down to search for the escapee, with hundreds of state officers scouring its steep rock faces, which were at times layered with thick snow.
International and specialist teams have since aided in the search that has stretched down caves, across rivers and into old mining huts. Police say they have investigated more than 2,000 pieces of information from the public, and have offered a A$1m (£525,000, $709,000) reward, but no trace of him has been found.
Early on in the investigation, they suggested he was being helped.
Australian media have widely reported that Freeman - whose real name is Desmond Filby - was part of the sovereign citizen movement, characterised by a distrust of authority and rejection of the law.
Locals have told the BBC his fringe beliefs were well-known within Porepunkah, which is host to a cluster of people with similar views - several of whom lived on Freeman's property.
Police did not specify how many people they suspected were aiding Freeman, or whether they lived in the local area - and the accusation left a bitter taste for many in Porepunkah.
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Then, at the start of this month, Victoria Police announced they were starting another five-day search in the area beneath Mount Buffalo.
They declared they now "strongly believe" Freeman is dead - and possibly has been since the day he disappeared - but acknowledged they had no actual evidence one way or another.
A member of the public had come forward saying they had heard what they thought was a gunshot just under two hours after the officers were killed, they revealed.
After corroborating these reports, investigators later combed through an area the size of the Melbourne Cricket Ground 35 times over.
No updates on the case have been made public since that search and police did not agree to an interview for this story.
In that vacuum, theories have abounded.
Survival expert Gordon Dedman said it is possible he could have escaped the local area quickly and is now "long gone".
