Tatsuya Ichihashi was born on January 5, 1979, in Gifu Prefecture, Japan. He was raised in both Gifu and Chiba Prefecture. Coming from a highly educated and professional family, his mother was a dentist and his father a medical doctor. Ichihashi pursued higher education and graduated in 2005 from the Department of Horticulture at Chiba University. Despite his education, he did not seek employment and instead relied on a monthly allowance from his parents—approximately ¥100,000, which was around $760 at that time. By 2007, at age 28, he lived alone in Ichikawa, Chiba. People who encountered him before the crime often described him as quiet and isolated. He had no known history of serious criminal behavior, though some would later characterize him as socially detached and controlling in personal relationships.

On March 25, 2007, Tatsuya Ichihashi murdered 22-year-old Lindsay Ann Hawker, a British language teacher working in Japan. Hawker had agreed to a private English lesson at a cafe, which Ichihashi used as a setup to lure her back to his apartment. There, he held her captive, bound her, and eventually strangled her to death. After the murder, he buried her naked body in a sand-filled bathtub on his balcony. When police arrived the next day to question him based on Hawker's report of concern to her boyfriend, Ichihashi managed to flee barefoot, launching a massive two-and-a-half-year nationwide manhunt.

During his time on the run, Ichihashi underwent extreme efforts to change his appearance, including self-administered cosmetic surgery using scissors and a needle, and later professional surgery under false identities. He took odd jobs and lived in remote areas to avoid detection. Finally, on November 10, 2009, Ichihashi was captured at a ferry terminal in Osaka.

In court, Ichihashi claimed that he had not planned the murder, insisting that it was an act of panic when Lindsay tried to escape. However, evidence of her being tied up and the attempt to hide her body undermined his defense. On July 21, 2011, the Chiba District Court sentenced Ichihashi to life in prison. The case shocked both Japan and the UK, raising concerns about the safety of foreign teachers in Japan and sparking intense media attention. He remains imprisoned in Japan today.