Content warning: this article contains references to subject matter that some readers may find upsetting.
Netflix has dropped a new true crime doc detailing the case of Brit Lucie Blackman, whose investigation into her disappearance totally 'shocked the world'.
Lucie was 21 years old when she went missing in Japan back in 2000.
The missing person case went on to spark an international investigation, however, as the evidence began to pile up, the police began to worry that a serial criminal was actually on the loose. Check out the trailer here:
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Titled Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case, the true crime doc takes a dive into the harrowing case that made headlines over two decades when Lucie went missing just three weeks after moving to Tokyo for a year of travelling.
The doc is framed both by the inside perspective of the investigation, led by a team of Japanese detectives, as well as Lucie's grieving father, Tim Blackman.
In the Netflix film, Tim opens up about his heartbreaking experience trying to tirelessly track his daughter down over the course of seven gruelling months.
"I was sitting in the garden at home, and I got a telephone call to say that my daughter, Lucie, had gone missing," Tim recalls.
"She was out working in Japan.
"I was immediately thinking, 'Well, there must be some rational explanation'."
However, the worried dad quickly realised something had gone horrifically wrong, revealing: "That feeling of complete blind panic just crashes in on you."
During the search for Lucie, Japanese authorities received a letter claiming to be sent from Lucie.
It stated: "I am doing what I want so please leave me alone," however it was very quickly dismissed as fake.
Flash-forward to early 2001 and human remains that were later identified as being Lucie's were uncovered.
The body parts were found by police inside of a cave located near a beach close to Korean-Japanese businessman Joji Obara’s seaside home.
In April of that same year, Obara was arrested for Lucie's death and in October 2002 he went on trial and was charged with the abduction of Lucie, rape resulting in death and the disposal of her body.
Not only that, but the businessman was also charged with the murder of another woman back in 1992, Carita Ridgway from Australia, as well as raping eight other women.
However, some five years later in 2007, Obara was cleared of the charges related with Lucie's tragic death yet he was still sentenced to life in prison following his convictions of the death of Ridgway as well as eight counts of rape.
Prosecutors later appealed the verdict, with Tim declaring that his daughter was 'robbed of justice' and Obara was later convicted of abducting the 21-year-old in 2008.
While the Tokyo high court stated there wasn't sufficient evidence to convict Obara of Lucie's heinous murder, they did confirm he had mutilated her body.
Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case is available to stream on Netflix now.
Topics: Netflix, True Crime, TV And Film, Documentaries
Rhiannon Ingle