For the Taiwanese public, relief at Chen Chin-hsing's surrender has given way to concern about the role played by the media and fears his exploits may be copied by other criminals.
After the cold-blooded killing of Pai Hsiao-yen, the teenage daughter of TV actress Pai Ping-ping, Chen taunted police as they hunted him.
He has also admitted killing a plastic surgeon, his wife and a nurse during his six months on the run. He then stormed a diplomatic compound in a bid to have his wife's involvement in the crimes reviewed.
Donna Sun, 27, who works in Taipei, said suggestions that he had heroic intentions were 'nothing but a way to get people to mellow their outrage towards his original crime'.
'Saying he is good to his wife is a bit of a shallow way to look at things.' A colleague, Wang Yuan-fen, 26, agreed Chen should not be awarded hero status, but said: 'There is some feeling that he is good when it comes to thinking of his family and his wife.' Ms Wang felt the Government and police had done what was necessary but wondered if other criminals would now seek to gain world attention. 'Bad people will follow his example. If they are in trouble with the police, all they have to do is kidnap a diplomat. It is pathetic.' A systems administrator in Taipei, Andrew Chiang, 40, said that from the beginning, Chen had toyed with the media.
'The media have not been analysing what is going on. They are so concerned with getting whatever they can out of his mouth he has been able to create an image for himself. He's made himself a model for criminals.' Many doubt the Chen saga is over, but Ms Wang said: 'I'll give it two months more. Slowly people forget. Even now, the two incidents [murder and kidnapping] are being mixed. The impact of his first crime is being lost in the drama of the diplomat's kidnapping.'