'I knew something had gone wrong.' The true story behind Netflix's Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case.

Content warning: This story includes depictions of violence and sexual assault that may be distressing to some readers.

When Lucie Blackman went missing in Tokyo Japan, it soon sparked a massive manhunt and media frenzy, Japanese police determined to find out what had happened to the young woman.

Lucie - a 21-year-old British tourist - disappeared on July 1, 2000, the case unpacked in Netflix's new true crime documentary, Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case.

When Tim Blackman received the phone call to say his daughter had gone missing, he didn't believe it.

Lucie had been working over in Tokyo as part of her plans to travel around Asia. She had left behind her job as a flight attendant and was working in hostessing at a venue called Casablanca in Roppongi, Tokyo.

Watch archival footage of Japanese police handing out missing posters on Lucie Blackman. Post continues below.

In the Netflix documentary, it was explained that there isn't much of a Western equivalent to the job of being a hostess in Japan. Essentially, a hostess club is a sort of nightclub that employs predominantly female staff to cater to wealthy men seeking drinks and attentive conversation. There is a strict no-touching policy. 

"I was immediately thinking there must be some rational explanation, there must be some reason why she's not been able to get in touch," Tim said about the first time he heard of Lucie being non-contactable for three days.

She had gone missing on July 1, 2000.

After the gravity of the situation hit Tim, he and Lucie's sister Sophie travelled to Tokyo and immediately began speaking with both the Japanese and British media - desperate to get Lucie's face in the news cycle, in the hopes she would be found.

As for what police knew about Lucie's disappearance, it was the following.

They knew that on the day Lucie had gone missing, she had gone on a dōhan - a paid dinner date - with a Casablanca customer. This was common for some hostesses to do as a means to make more money, although the dates were intended to be, and usually were completely platonic. 

Other than a few calls to a friend during the date, no one heard from her again.

Lucie Blackman. Image: Netflix.

30,000 missing posters were plastered throughout the city by police, and they had begun their investigations. But there was a cultural barrier between Tim and the Japanese police, in terms of their barring communication styles.

Tim wanted direct answers from the Japanese police - but the officials had a different way of going about things, and would say their investigations were underway and not to be disclosed. 

The superintendent on the case recounted in the documentary: "I hadn't had much experience talking to people from other countries, so I was surprised by the questions he had in certain areas.

"He asked me whether I had done a proper security camera investigation. At the time I explained to him the limited use of security cameras in Japan because of privacy concerns. And he said: 'You must be joking'."

Tim was fearful that enough wasn't being done to find his daughter, therefore why he did so many press conferences and spoke to the media. Tim also managed to speak to then-UK Prime Minister Tony Blair in Tokyo, while Blair was in the city of the political G7 Summit. Blair then publicly spoke on the case and the need for the culprit to be found. 

As Tim noted: "I had to think of some way to make an investigation take place. People thought I was doing it because I loved being interviewed. I just wanted the attention to continue to find Lucie. The only way of doing it was to 'feed the animal' [the media]."

"The Japanese thought I was a bit rude, which is probably how it came over because I didn't have the time or the mental capacity to indulge in their protocols. I was in a pretty ragged mental state."

When it came to leads, there were a few lines of inquiry.

One theory was related to a phone call Lucie's friend in Japan had received on July 2 from a stranger, claiming Lucie had "joined a cult and wouldn't be seen again".

Lucie's loved ones strongly believed their daughter would never join a cult.

Around 15 days after Lucie's disappearance, a suspect was looked into by police, however, he had a strong alibi. But months into the investigation, another suspect emerged.

Lucie Blackman, and her father Tim Blackman. Tim was interviewed extensively throughout the Netflix documentary. Image: Netflix.

There had been reports of a serial rapist, particularly a sexual predator who had been targeting hostesses on dōhans. 

As a result of the publicity surrounding the Lucie Blackman case, three foreign women came forward to describe waking up sore and sick after going on a dōhan with a certain man. This man was Joji Obara. 

Each woman said they woke up in Obara's bed, with no memory of the night before. Several had reported him to Roppongi police, but the cases were not properly investigated.

As one journalist explained, foreign hostesses working in Tokyo were at risk if they went to the police about their victimisation, because they could then be arrested for violating their visa and working hours. 

Obara was a wealthy Japanese-Korean businessman. He had multiple sports cars, and was referred to as a "playboy millionaire". He was also a serial rapist, who reportedly sexually assaulted approximately 400 women.

He became the lead suspect in Lucie's disappearance and after being questioned he admitted to meeting with her and having drinks on a dōhan, but he denied any other involvement.

Then in February 2001 - seven months after she disappearance - Lucie's body was found buried in a shallow grave under a bathtub in a seaside cave at Miura, Kanagawa. This was just a few hundred metres away from Obara's apartment.

Upon searching his properties, police found hundreds of videos of Obara sexually assaulting women. They did not find any video evidence related to Lucie. 

He also had a diary that the police recovered. In one passage, he wrote about deciding to "dedicate" himself to "becoming evil."

One of the videos found by police did implicate Obara in another high-profile murder. 

The video showed Obara drugging and sexually assaulting Australian woman Carita Ridgway in 1992. She had been taken to hospital by Obara who said she had food poisoning. She died soon after due to liver failure. A toxicology report showed her death had been caused by an overdose of chloroform administered by Obara.

Australian woman Carita Ridgway, one of the victims of Joji Obara. Image: Netflix. 

Obara was charged with drugging, raping and killing Blackman, as well as with raping eight other women and the manslaughter of Ridgway.

There wasn't a verdict until 2007, when Obara was jailed for life after being found guilty of multiple rapes and rape resulting in death in the case of Ridgway. 

But much to the horror of Lucie's loved ones, Obara was found not guilty of Lucie's rape and murder, due to a lack of forensic evidence over how she died. However, prosecutors launched an appeal in 2008 and the Tokyo High Court ruled that Obara was guilty of abduction, dismemberment, and the disposal of Lucie's body. He remains in prison to this day.

The guilty verdict, coupled with the previous guilty verdicts, determined that Obara's life imprisonment would be irreversible - no possibility of parole.

For Tim, he said he was glad to get legal justice for both his daughter and Carita Ridgway, and the additional victims of sexual assault.

Every year, the superintendent who worked on the case visits the seaside cave where Lucie's body was found and prays and does a smoking ceremony. 

Lucie's remains now reside back home in England.

"In some strange way, Lucie has given us an experience of life however ghastly and beastly it's been," Tim said. "It's a legacy Lucie has left in my heart and in my soul. Those feelings are very pure and untainted by hatred and anger and all the rest of it, because I kept that out of Lucie's memory."

If this has raised any issues for you, or if you just feel like you need to speak to someone, please call 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732) – the national sexual assault, domestic and family violence counselling service. 

If you find yourself needing to talk to someone after reading this story, please call Lifeline on 13 11 14.

Feature Image: Netflix.

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