The elusive Cai Chang Pan was found dead weeks after the death row inmate pulled off an unlikely escape from a Tangerang prison.
Cai, a Chinese national, was found hanged at a tire factory in Bogor regency on Saturday. Authorities said Cai often hid in the factory since he made his escape in mid-September.
“We found him dead after he hanged himself,” Jakarta Metro Police spokesman Yusri Yunus told reporters on Saturday.
A security guard at the factory said the fugitive threatened to kill him if he told the authorities about the hideout.
It’s not yet clear why Cai would take his own life after pulling off an ambitious escape. An autopsy carried out on his body showed no evidence of foul play, and it’s believed that he had been hanging for a few days before he was found.
Cai escaped from prison by digging a 30-meter long tunnel from his cell into the sewers in eight months using tools obtained from a construction site at the prison, evoking comparisons to the movie The Shawshank Redemption. Police later found that the inmate bribed two prison officials IDR100,000 (US$6.80) to obtain the tools for his dig and keep quiet about his escape. The two officials have since been dismissed and charged.
Police believe that after his escape, Cai headed towards forests near where his wife and children live in Bogor regency. Armed with military training, he was able to survive in the wild for weeks.
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