The Big Picture
Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case is a gripping true crime documentary on Netflix about the 2000 disappearance and murder of British tourist Lucie Blackman in Tokyo. The documentary highlights the toll the case took on Japanese detectives and the international attention it garnered, as they tirelessly searched for Lucie with a challenging suspect who kept evading them. While some faults have been pointed out, director Hyoe Yamamoto is praised for sensitively approaching the subject without sensationalizing it, delivering a solid crime documentary.
Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case is another Netflix deep dive into a true crime, and another solid entry at that, currently sitting at 83% on Rotten Tomatoes and is still on Netflix’s Global Top Ten list. It’s a look into the 2000 disappearance and murder of 21-year-old Lucie Blackman, a British tourist, in Tokyo. The documentary includes interviews with the Japanese detectives who worked the case, revealing the toll of looking for Lucie with international attention had on them, especially with a suspect that challenged them ceaselessly. As with any crime documentary, people have pointed out some faults, like moments that are left out, but director Hyoe Yamamoto has largely been credited with delivering a crime documentary that sensitively approaches its subject without sensationalizing it.
What Happened to Lucie Blackman?
The documentary tells us that Lucie Blackman, from Kent, England, was a flight attendant with British Airways. Young Lucie and her friend Louise Phillips, who was also a flight attendant, decided to do what many young people do: take a gap year in order to do some exploring. So the pair left British Airways and set their sights on Japan, excited about the opportunity for new experiences in the country. In May 2000, Lucie and Louise landed in Tokyo on a 90-day visa and took jobs as hostesses at the Casablanca bar, an establishment in the city’s fashionable Roppongi district. The job consisted mainly of hostessing duties and serving drinks, but also required them to be a dōhan, a companion, leaving the bar with clients on paid dates every month. On July 1, Lucie headed out on a date with a paying customer. That would be the very last time anyone saw Lucie alive.
The next day, Louise, already concerned about her friend not returning home, received a strange, offsetting phone call. The caller, a mysterious man who identified himself as Akira Takagi, told Louise that Lucie was “undergoing training” as part of a religious cult she had joined. Worse, he told Louise that she would never see Lucie again. A frantic Louise immediately called Lucie’s family, telling them how Lucie had gone missing, and the mysterious, unsettling phone call she had received. A few days later, Lucie’s sister Sophie arrived in Tokyo, followed shortly after by Tim, their father. Tim held a press conference, asking for any information on where Lucie could be. 30,000 missing person posters hit the streets of Tokyo, promising a £9,500 reward (which was raised to £100,000 by an unknown businessman) for her safe return.
How Did the Japanese Police React to Lucie Blackman’s Disappearance?
The Japanese police, on the other hand, were not alarmed. They suggested that Lucie simply ran away to Bali with a new boyfriend, a common practice among foreign hostesses. Their tune changed as pressure to investigate started coming from not only the Blackman family, but Robin Cook, the British Foreign Secretary, and even British Prime Minister Tony Blair. In August 2000, a letter from Lucie was sent to the police, reading, “I am doing what I want so please leave me alone.” The letter was quickly, and rightly, dismissed as fake by both the detectives and the family. A possible lead brought them to the apartment of a Japanese businessman, but he was found dead.
Police soon had a new suspect: a Korean-Japanese property developer by the name of Joji Obara. Obara admitted to having drinks with Lucie at the bar but otherwise had no other involvement with her. However, the publicity around Obara prompted three women to come forward, telling of how each had woken up sore and sick in Obara’s bed, unable to remember the events of the night before. Finally, on February 9, 2001, seven months after her disappearance, Lucie’s body was found in a seafront cave, not far from one of Obara’s properties.
Who Killed Lucie Blackman?
Detectives found Lucie through the use of sniffer dogs and ground-imaging radar, but the condition she was found in was beyond sickening. Lucie had been cut into eight pieces with a chainsaw, and her head was separate, encased in concrete nearby. In April 2002, police formally charged Obara with abduction, rape resulting in death, and the disposal of Lucie’s body. In addition, Obara was charged with raping eight women, and the murder of Australian model Carita Ridgway. Carita’s death seven years prior shared horrifying similarities with Lucie’s. She, too, moved to Tokyo at the age of 21 and worked as a hostess, but was dropped at a Tokyo hospital in critical condition by a man named “Nishita.” She had liver failure, was in a coma, and was brain-dead, only alive with the use of life support, which the family painfully had turned off. It was Lucie’s case that connected Obara, aka Nishita, to Carita, with evidence found during Lucie’s investigation uncovering a diary note that read, “Carita Ridgway, too much chloroform,” with a video of Obara raping her.
Obara’s trial began in October 2002, but it wouldn’t be until April 2007 that a verdict was reached. Obara was found guilty of raping the eight women, and the rape and manslaughter of Carita Ridgway. Sickeningly, Obara was cleared of the rape and murder of Lucie. As reported by the BBC: “The judge said there was no proof Obara alone was responsible for the death of Miss Blackman… it was clear the victim and the accused were together before she vanished and then died but he said this was not enough to secure a conviction.” Despite Obara being sentenced to life, the fact that Lucie had been denied any justice was heartbreaking, pushing her sister to a suicide attempt and leaving her brother Rupert “tortured and damaged.”
Tim, however, would be heavily scrutinized for accepting £450,000 from associates of Joji Obara, which according to Jane Steare, Lucie’s mother, resulted in Tim contesting parts of the prosecution’s evidence against Obara. Whether that was true, or if the money was used to help create the Lucie Blackman Trust, it was still a move that could have seriously impacted the appeal case against Obara. Thankfully, justice for Lucie finally came with that appeal case in 2008, where the Tokyo High Court found Obara guilty of the charges related to Lucie’s death. Despite an appeal in 2010, Obara remains in custody, and with that comes the hope that Lucie has, at long last, found peace.
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