What Netflix's Lucie Blackman documentary leaves out
Note: The following article contains discussion of themes including rape and suicide.
Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case spoilers follow.
Netflix's latest true-crime documentary delves into the harrowing case of Lucie Blackman, a 21-year-old British woman who went missing in 2000 while living in Tokyo, Japan.
The documentary details how Lucie took a gap year in Tokyo "for an adventurous year of exploration" with her friend, Louise Phillips, and soon began working as a hostess at nightclub called Casablanca.
In this role, Lucie was required to go on dates with customers before bringing them back to the club. But, on July 1, 2000, Lucie went on a date with a client and was never seen or heard from again.
The following day, after receiving a mysterious phone call from a man claiming Lucie had joined a cult and wouldn't return home, Louise contacted the Blackman family, who immediately flew out to Tokyo.
Determined to find his daughter, Tim Blackman launched a high-profile media campaign to raise awareness about her disappearance, involving multiple press conferences and interviews, thousands of posters placed throughout Tokyo, and a hefty reward for information about her whereabouts.
The Blackmans also met with then-Prime Minister Tony Blair, who promised to bring the case to the attention of the Japanese Prime Minister.
After months of searching and Tim's tireless efforts to keep his daughter's disappearance in the news, suspicion eventually landed on Joji Obara, a wealthy property developer who was accused of drugging and raping multiple other women.
Following Obara's arrest, the police raided several of his properties in Tokyo and seized over 400 self-recorded video tapes of Obara sexually assaulting unconscious women, who he would lure into his home and drug with chloroform.
Obara admitted to meeting Lucie but denied any involvement in her disappearance, though her dismembered body was eventually discovered in a cave near one of his Tokyo residences in February 2001, seven months after she went missing.
In October 2002, Obara was charged with abducting, rape resulting in death, and disposing of Lucie Blackman's body. He was also charged with the rape of eight other women and the manslaughter of Australian model Carita Ridgway, another hostess who tragically died after being drugged and raped by Obara in 1992.
In 2007, Obara was acquitted of the rape and murder of Lucie due to "insufficient evidence", but was sentenced to life in prison after being convicted of raping eight women and being responsible for the death of Carita Ridgway.
"There is nothing to prove that [Obara] was involved in the rape and her death. The court cannot prove he was single-handedly involved in her death," the judge said at the time, though he did add that it was clear Obara and Lucie were together before her disappearance (via BBC).
Lucie's mother, Jane Steare, said: "I'm heartbroken. I just can't believe this. My worst fears have come true."
But, following a trial appeal in 2008, the Tokyo High Court found that Obara was guilty of abducting, dismembering, and disposing of Lucie Blackman's body. Obara remains in prison for his heinous crimes to this day.
What does Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case leave out?
In 2006, Tim revealed that Lucie's death had deeply affected his two other children, Sophie and Rupert.
In a statement to the Tokyo district court, Tim said Sophie had attempted to take her own life the night after burying her sister's ashes, while Rupert had also been "tortured and damaged" by Lucie's death (via The Guardian).
"I not only have to contend with the death of Lucie, but the terrible and tragic damage to both my other children as a constant reminder of this terrible crime," he added.
In April 2007, the day before Obara was acquitted of his charges relating to Lucie, Jane spoke out against her ex-husband Tim for accepting more than £450,000 in condolence money from a friend of Obara.
"It is like fighting two battles—one against [Lucie's] killer and one against my former husband," she told Mail Online. "Whose side is he on? How is this helping justice for our daughter? I feel so utterly powerless."
During the trial, Tim wrote to the judge in Obara's case: "I do not forgive the defendant in any way whatsoever. The condolence from his friend is accepted just as we have received condolence from around the world."
Tim also stated that he intended to put the money into the Lucie Blackman Trust, which he established to advise young people on travelling safely overseas.
"Nothing I do is going to change what happened. Nothing will bring Lucie back. My responsibility now is for the living," he told The Guardian.
Jane, however, said Tim didn't consult her about setting up the trust, telling Mail Online: "He just went ahead and did it, and since then I have even heard him refer to the Lucie Blackman 'brand'. It feels like it is more about Tim than Lucie."
The Blackman family stepped away from the trust in 2020 and it was rebranded as LBT Global, which aims to provide families with information, liaison, advice and support throughout a missing person's case overseas (via On The Wight).
Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case is now available on Netflix.
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