Tatsuya Ichihashi went on the lam for more than 2½ years after strangling 22-year-old Lindsay Ann Hawker in March 2007. On the eve of a new film based on the convicted killer's account of his time on the road, Jun Hongo looks into the factors that allowed the fugitive to stay one step ahead of the police as well as those that led to his ultimate capture.


As Tatsuya Ichihashi's evasion of the police stretched from days to months to years, many people assumed he was either being helped by his parents or the yakuza. In fact, the truth was much more simple: He was just damn lucky.