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Ichihashi Still on the Loose
The man is determined not to be found:
Police on Thursday released a new photo of Tatsuya Ichihashi, the suspect in the slaying of a British woman in 2007, that was taken last month at a Nagoya clinic before he underwent cosmetic surgery there but after he apparently had had at least one face-lift elsewhere.
Several facial features have apparently changed — he now has double-fold eyelids, a higher nose and thin lips. Two moles that had been on his left cheek have disappeared as well, according to police.
Ichihashi, 30, is wanted in connection with the murder of Lindsay Ann Hawker, 22, an English teacher.
In another development Thursday, investigative sources said Ichihashi had attempted to undergo cosmetic surgery in Fukuoka Prefecture in mid-October before his Oct. 24 face-lift in Nagoya.
It's been two and a half years since he escaped 9 police officers on foot with no wallet, no mobile phone, and no shoes. How does a person with no money and only the clothes on his back to make it to Nagoya and Fukuoka? He's either being helped (by his parents? I seem to recall them cooperating with police but they have been invisible during the investigation) or has manged to scrape some money together by working the odd job.
It doesn't say much about the effort by the police. Two years after Lindsey Hawker's death, the best the Chiba Police could do is create five measly cardboard models of Ichihashi that play a recording of Ichihashi's voice. Bill Hawker was not amused. While this video doesn't show it, he was upset over the fact that only five of the models existed and knocked one of them over in disgust.
For what it's worth, if you have information, contact the Chiba Prefectural Police at 047-397-0110 or email to gyoutoku@police.pref.chiba.jp. You can also send information here.
Why Ichihashi would resort to cosmetic surgery to avoid capture becomes clearer given the nature of his crime. It has been widely reported that Lindsay's body was found in a bathtub of sand, but an article in The Times last year suggests that's not accurate. He wasn't trying to conceal her body, he was trying to dispose of it.
Again, it was widely reported that she was found in a bath full of sand but this too was wrong. Lindsay had actually been buried in a mixture of sand and compost soil which Ichihashi had soaked in a chemical the Japanese use to compact and decompose waste. The police believe he had simply taken a practical approach to disposing of Lindsay’s body. It would be hard to take her out and hide her so he would keep her there until eventually all trace of her was gone. He had cut her hair off and left it in a bag found in the apartment. Hair is evidently slow to rot.
They can't catch this guy fast enough.
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Well done Shawn for putting
Well done Shawn for putting this on the board,every little helps.I sent the family an email as soon as the story broke,the Japanese police didn`t have the decency to contact the family,disgusting !
http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worl...c-surgery.html
The Hawker family are rightly,pretty damn annoyed at the police:
"We have received no official confirmation of the reports despite attempts to do so," Hawker's parents and two sisters said in a statement issued last night.
"[We] would like to know who the surgeons were. Where did Ichihashi, the only suspect, obtain the money for the operation, and who is hiding him? Which hospitals and clinics carried out the work and why would they operate on a man who is allegedly the most wanted man in Japan?"
The family said they would "never give up hope" that Ichihashi will be caught. "He has had two years of freedom too long," they said. "We would like the police to contact us and explain the situation properly, so that we know the facts, not just rumours."
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2009/nov/05/lindsay-hawker-suspect-face-...
Outrageous
It is hard to believe that this guy continues to evade capture. Still I commend the latest clinic for contacting police.
I suspect that the cash he is probably burning through would be more than from working various parttime jobs. The earlier surgical operations would have been pretty costly I imagine when you factor in the cost of hush money.
Hopefully the latest photos will put the heat back on him. Have stories about this appeared on the Japanese TV news?
I hope they can bring him, and the people who have assisted him avoid capture, to justice quickly.
Ichihashi Monster
There is a theory going around that explains a lot, but I think it could be counter productive to post in here, especially if they are one step closer to netting the sick bastard.
You know the theory, Nova Whiz. What say you? Better left unsaid?
THORN
Theory?
I'm not a Nova Wizz, but I can guess.
I prefer the 'Japanese-cops-can't-tell-their-arses-from-their-elbows' theory. 9 of them let him escape initially? What were they doing, lining up politely outside his door?
I've lived in a few countries and have never encountered police who are this incompetent. I read somewhere the other day that Japan has a 99% conviction rate - is that because the police don't investigate case they can't solve?
Seriously, someone knows something about this guy. Someone is hiding him.
Shocking and truly, truly embarrassing for Japan.
I may be wrong, but isn't the
I may be wrong, but isn't the killer gay? I remember hearing something like that sometime way back when, or that he was a crossdresser. I could be wrong.
If I'm right, then maybe he's getting money by prostituting himself to other men.
A Doctor
The fact that his father is a doctor seems to have gone unmentioned in all articles. Come on! Do the J Po Po need it spelled out for them. So dense!
There were reports in the
There were reports in the news about him cross-dressing and being seen around gay bars and areas in Ikebukuro. I read a report which interviewed a guy who reckoned he'd slept with him.
I really doubt his parents are sending him money. Imagine how their lives and careers would be ruined if they were found to have been supporting a wanted man.
I think it's more likely, as you said, that he's been working odd jobs and/or prostituting himself, saved up for the last 2 years and finally got the cash together to get plastic surgery. It seems he's been to 3 clinics in the past month, indicating the guy's pretty desperate.
Family Ties
Eikaiwa Ripper – he was a shameful dead beat anyway, before he allegedly committed this particular atrocity, and his family was still supporting him.
I say allegedly, only because I don’t buy the Japanese system, which is more on the side of guilty until proven innocent, than innocent until proven guilty (and yeah, in his trial, I probably would turn a blind eye to that BS).
Point is, in Japan, blood is thick – I know of several families, who support family members that Westerners would have pushed the reject / eject button on years ago.
However, could it be that he belongs to a family that is not his blood family? His looks, his martial arts fetish, his knowledge of body disposal, etc etc etc, if you know what I mean......and the gay bit perhaps, although it seems he is more out with it, than his possible brethren I suppose......
THORN
If the parents were to
If the parents were to actively support in his capture, they would do so in the knowledge that he faced a certain death penalty. It's a difficult choice, particularly if you don't believe in the death penalty system.
However, in practice, it is highly likely that he goes nowhere near them and never contacts them. Their every financial move is almost certainly monitered, so any financial support that they gave him would have to come from complicit third parties whom they could remmunerate at a much later date with some excuse.
Maybe that is happening. However, the fact that he was able to get surgery, and that his parents are doctors do not provide a necessary connection. These things can also be accessed through the criminal world, and there are other ways that he could have got the money: like prostitution.
Well, his stock as a hooker
Well, his stock as a hooker sure as hell dropped after that surgery; he now looks like a retard.
Parents can do some crazy things for their criminal kids, due to the power of denial; when I was living in Connecticut, one kid's parents flew him out of the country so he wouldn't have to face rape charges.
In the hands of 'certain'
In the hands of 'certain' minders, his stock as a hooker would rest on his notoriety.
Thought I'd copy this here
Thought I'd copy this here from the forum thread:
http://www.japantoday.com/category/crime/view/ichihashis-fingerprint-fou...
It looks like the guy has been working and supporting himself under a false identity at a construction company. It also seems like he might have had plastic surgery a long time ago, as it was only after the latest picture of him was released that someone at the company recognised him. Looks like he's living around the Osaka area, but making trips to Fukuoka as well.
I can't imagine he'd dare venture back up to Tokyo or Chiba where he was living until the murder, nor will he be making any more trips to plastic surgeons. And he's probably blown most if not all of his money on plastic surgery, which is now useless as this new photo is out there. That'll be a serious blow to his morale.
The noose is definitely tightening on him.
Useless
Your faith in the abilities of the Japanese police is poorly placed. I will tell you a story. I lived in Aomori 8 years ago when a man walked into a loans company outlet with a can of petrol. He sprayed all the workers with it then set them alight. 5 died, others were badly burned.
Now, if it were me I would start with company records of those debtors who had been ruined buy the company. After a year of looking for the generic red gas can he used the J police had all but given up. I had a student at the local police station who was giving me their latest theories!
Guess what their leading theory was a year on from the murders! Go on guess.
That`s right! "He had almost definitely hung himself!"
How very convenient.
In the end he was turned in by a family member who had known all along. He lived just a few miles from site of the crime. He used his taxi to carry out the crime. The police had spent a year looking for a mysterious white van.
Useless!
Forgot to mention
Sorry I forgot the puchline.
He had a family connection to someone who had killed themselves over debts owed to the company. If they had only visited the house they would have had him with in days!
They've caught him!!!
Breaking news from Osaka on tv now.
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