Judging by the brutality of the Chinese government, especially under Deng Xiaoping, I think the tank man was most likely killed shortly after the riot or imprisoned and then eventually killed. Although when interviewed, Jiang Zemin said he was not killed while an unconfirmed report by Bruce Herschensohn (former deputy special assistant to Richard Nixon) read that he was executed 14 days later. But because he is so elusive, I think that just adds to the Tank Man phenomenon. What an impacting event.