Comment by Dave

May 9, 2007 @ 2:20 pm

Not sure what these pictures, 2 months later are going to reveal. Ichihashi could have easily changed his appearance completely in the time period since then.

Hopefully the police are busy doing work out of the public eye on this case, as I’d hate them to lose interest and trest it with the way the Lucie Blackman case was initially.

Comment by ken

May 9, 2007 @ 3:37 pm

I’m with you Dave. There is so much speculation flying around on this one, that no matter what anyone says, it’s pretty easy to agree or disagree.

That said, just the fact that the cops responded to the missing persons report shows they were handling it better than the Lucie Blackman case. They got nine of them to go hunt for her? Great!

But then he escaped from the nine of them…doh…

And since then it’s not been a PR cakewalk for the police. I know they have their techniques and often feed or withhold information during investigations, so I’m never sure what to believe: Did he really not have a cell phone? Has he really not used his ATM card? It’s hard to be honest with the public on the matters for fear of giving the criminal too much information.

I don’t know what good this video is now, or why it couldn’t have been pulled within 2 days of him going on the run. Might have been helpful back then.

One thing’s for sure: Ichihashi is into himself and cares about the way he looks. When he’s alone with a mirrored surface, he spends a good amount of time preening himself. Even if he has changed appearance, I doubt he’s looking all that bad.

Comment by Dave

May 9, 2007 @ 9:43 pm

Very true. And I don’t believe one bit the people who think he’s killed himself. They don’t understand the mindset in Japan. Suicide would be seen as a way out if he had done something which he thought had brought shame to his family. A murder like this was premeditated and there’s no way he’s going to feel shame and shock by what he’s done. At the moment he’ll be feeling on top of the world because he’s thus far evaded capture.

Comment by DeOrio

May 9, 2007 @ 10:05 pm

While I’m not sure that I agree that suicide in Japan is always or even usually motivated by having brought shame on the family (although that is certainly sometimes a reason), I do agree that it is highly unlikely that Ichihashi has killed himself.

I see him as a serial killer. The murder was premeditated, sadistic, involved, and possibly, probably, sexual in nature. The victim was almost certainly an object of his lust. Were he to be connected to other similar murders, I would not be surprised. I would bet that he showed cruelty to animals in his childhood, trouble dealing with peers, etc. His vanity, while not indicative of much in and of itself, is one more thing that fills in the serial killer profile.

There are two ways I see Ichihashi having committed suicide - if he actually didn’t do it, but knows he’s screwed no matter what or if the elaborate circumstances of the murder were hopeless attempts to cover up a crime of rage instead of parts of the murder and he is not, in fact, psychopathic. I really doubt both scenarios, though.

Comment by ken

May 10, 2007 @ 1:17 am

Dave & DeOrio,

I’m one person who is not convinced that the murder was premeditated. I see him fitting parts of a serial killer profile, but I don’t think he’s one in the ‘narrow sense.’

Here’s what I’m thinking: He was disturbed, no doubt. Had an unhealthy obsession with foreign women and wanted to meet one. His fantasy eventually became the sort of, “I have to have my way with one.” In his mind, they became dehumanized, just objects to fulfill his fantasy. He wanted to have a foreign woman so that he could have his way with her/them, to satisfy his fantasy.

He reached out the only way he knew, which was awkward, but at least got him a lesson with one. He had a simple ruse to get her back to his place: He ‘forgot’ his wallet. He leveraged what trust he could into getting her to his place, where…

Well, much speculation, but I bet he made a move. She clearly rejected him, and this set him off. There have been no reports of neighbors hearing shouting (especially in English), so I bet it was quick. His pride and vanity so crushed, he punched her, and finished it off by choking.

I do not think he planned to killer her. He planned to have his sexual fantasy fulfilled. He did not plan to be rejected.

Comment by DeOrio

May 10, 2007 @ 10:34 am

I can see that, which is kind of what I was thinking of when I mentioned a crime of rage.

Police reports, though, said that she had been, stripped, bound, and beaten before being killed, did they not?

Does anyone know if there was sand in her lungs? I hadn’t heard that and think I heard she was clearly buried after she died, but I’m trying to nail down the presumed chronology.

Comment by Dave

May 10, 2007 @ 11:21 pm

I’m not sure of the timeline, mainly due to the lack of good info provided by the Japanese police about what has happened. There has been very little published in Japanese or English other than the “police went to his apartment… he got away…” stuff.

I’m pretty sure reports said that she’d been beaten at some point during or after death, and also that the apartment showed signs of a struggle.

Comment by shackrat

October 23, 2007 @ 4:48 pm

I hate to be the bearer of bad news, but in my experience living a long time in Japan, Tatsuya will likely never be caught nor has he committed suicide. He wouldn’t need to. The police (especially Chiba police) aren’t seriously looking for him. Think about it. His parents are wealthy and probably not without influence, Lindsay is NOT Japanese and the Chiba police, regardless of what image they project, probably couldn’t care less. While I don’t know much about the Tokyo police, I do know that agencies in the outlying areas eg. outside Tokyo, are amazingly corrupt. I honestly don’t believe they see killing a foreigner as that serious a crime. If Tatsuya had killed a Japanese woman there would be more effort and to a certain degree, their pride as a police force would be on the line. Had he killed a MAN, (provided the man wasn’t homeless, foreign or otherwise of no real importance to them) there would be a great deal of effort, in fact the little bastard would have been caught right away and at this moment on one of the worst “death rows” in the world. My prediction (and I don’t think I’m being pessimistic here) is that little Tatsuya will go about his business wherever he is and eventually become emboldened enough to get up to his old tricks, or get up to some new ones. Either way, if fortune smiles, he’ll slip up. Perhaps he’ll do something to a Japanese citizen or worse yet (for him…) anger some member of the criminal underworld (to whom the police must answer) and thus lose his protection. Then we’ll likely see him brought up on some other charge and to a degree, punished. Tatsuya is clearly a sick pup and so it’s only a matter of time before he steps on the wrong toes. Unfortunately, we’ll probably never hear about it when he does. I sincerely hope I’m wrong. Sadly, I don’t think I am.