[1] In some jurisdictions, the very act of making a getaway from a crime scene is an inchoate criminal offense in itself, though it is generally viewed as natural behavior for a lawbreaker.
[3] Traditionally, for thousands of years, the standard method of escape from a crime scene was for the perpetrator merely to run away, faster than the constable on patrol, sheriff, or the night watchman.
For example, according to the Warren Commission report, Lee Harvey Oswald infamously walked, then ran away from the Texas School Book Depository from where he shot President Kennedy on November 22, 1963.
Many old "Wild West" bank robbers, train robbers and other outlaws such as Butch Cassidy, Tom Horn, Jesse James, John Wesley Hardin, Apache Kid, Bill Doolin, Tiburcio Vasquez, Cherokee Bill, Sam Bass, Billy the Kid, Rufus Buck, Belle Starr, Henry Plummer, Soapy Smith, William Brocius, Queen Ann Bassett, Jim Miller, John Wilkes Booth and Bob Dozier of the 19th century used horses to get away from the scene of their larceny and murders.
[10] During the Columbian search block manhunt, Pablo Escobar and his cartel associates utilized multiple methods to evade the authorities, even at times using escape-horses.
Also, a co-conspirator may cooperate with police, either intentionally by 'turning state's evidence' by way of a plea bargain,[14] or inadvertently by giving away information to persons outside the conspiracy.
"[18] Taking a public bus or taxicab makes the driver an involuntary co-conspirator, yet also creates an eyewitness whose interest it is to cooperate with police.
[19] Witnesses to the crime will often attempt to take note of the tags (registration plate) or other important details of the car and report this information to law enforcement.
Or they might simply be loyal to the perpetrator.The earliest robbers known to have made such use of an automobile were the anarchist-inspired Bonnot Gang, active in Paris of the early 1910s.
Later, the method was used by John Dillinger and Bonnie and Clyde, whose exploits got wide media attention and inspired many less-known robbers.