For 216 days, accused cop killer Dezi Freeman managed to evade one of the biggest police manhunts in Australian history.

But for 7NEWS Melbourne Crime Editor Cassie Zervos, the moment it finally ended came in the middle of an ordinary Monday morning with her newborn daughter in her arms.

Zervos joined The Morning Show on Monday to reflect on the investigation that consumed seven months of her life, revealing she first learned Freeman had been found through a series of notifications lighting up her Apple Watch as she prepared for a gym class on March 30.

On Monday, March 30, Zervos was preparing for a gym class with her newborn daughter Lucy when notifications began flashing across her Apple Watch, reading “DF found” and “DF dead”.

“I just froze and thought, ok we need to get confirmation of this as soon as possible,” she said.

Zervos said she immediately handed baby Lucy to her husband before contacting the newsroom, later breaking the news live from her living room on The Morning Show.

The moment brought an end to a manhunt that began on August 26, 2025, when two Victoria Police officers were shot dead during a routine search warrant in Victoria’s Alpine region.

Zervos was there from day one saying she first heard about the incident while covering another crime story during the final trimester of her pregnancy.

“It started like any other day,” she said.

“I was covering a different crime, and I’d just entered my third trimester of pregnancy so I was feeling pretty heavy, my feet were sore, my back was sore, and I was taking a bit of a break inside the cameraman’s car.

“My phone rang, and it was a police contact, and he said that there were three police officers who are currently unaccounted for who had been involved in a routine search warrant in the Alpine region,” she said.

The contact quickly clarified that “unaccounted” means “we believe that they have been shot”.

Zervos said she initially assumed Freeman would be quickly arrested as the team made the four-and-a-half hour trip to Porepunkah.

“I genuinely thought that by the time we got there, he would have been found, and it would have been a case of reporting the latest information that he was in custody — but it was the start of a 216-day manhunt,” she said.

The new podcast series, Dezi Freeman: The Hunt, examines how Freeman managed to evade capture for 216 days, including the network of supporters who allegedly moved him between properties and helped keep him hidden from police.

The series also explores Freeman’s alleged links to the sovereign citizen movement and the broader anti-government ideology investigators believe played a role in the case.

While Freeman’s death brought the manhunt to an end, Zervos said many questions remain unanswered, particularly around who may have assisted him while he was on the run.

The podcast also pays tribute to the two Victoria Police officers killed during the shooting, focusing on their lives, careers, and the devastating impact their deaths had on loved ones and colleagues.