What Netflix doesn’t tell you in the Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case documentary

There’s much more to the story

9 months ago

If, like the rest of us, you watched Netflix’s true crime drama Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case over the rainy weekend, you’ll have been intrigued by the underground world of Tokyo’s hostess culture, horrified by Joji Obara’s sickening crimes against women, and left with a lot of questions. Like, why didn’t Lucie’s mum have a voice in the documentary? And what ever happened to Lucie’s younger sister Sophie?

Well, it turns out Netflix’s documentary, which heavily involved Lucie’s father Tim, didn’t quite tell the whole story of what happened to Lucie’s family after the tragic death of their 21-year-old daughter after she went missing while working in Tokyo. So, in case you’ve still got questions, here’s everything Netflix didn’t tell you in the Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case documentary:

Lucie’s mum and dad are divorced and fell out over Tim taking money from Lucie’s murderer’s friend

Credit: Netflix

Although Netflix used archival footage of Lucie’s mum Jane in their documentary, she was notably absent from Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case and actually hasn’t spoken about her daughter’s disappearance publicly in over two years.

Jane and Lucie’s father Tim had already divorced before Lucie went missing, some time around 1996, and have both since remarried. They both cooperated with and spoke to each other during the search for Lucie and trial of her murderer Joji Obara but fell out during the proceedings.

In April 2007, one day before Joji was acquitted for charges related to Lucie, Jane revealed to the Mail Online she was horrified her ex-husband had accepted more than £450,000 in “condolence money” from one of Lucie’s murderers friends.

“It is like fighting two battles—one against [Lucie’s] killer and one against my former husband,” she said. “Whose side is he on? How is this helping justice for our daughter? I feel so utterly powerless.”

After the news broke Tim had accepted the money, he wrote to the judge in Joji Obara’s case saying: “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.”

He also added he was going to use the money for the Lucie Blackman Trust, which he started to help young people travel safely. “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.

But Jane said Tim hadn’t even told her about setting up the trust. “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,” she told the MailOnline at the time.

The Lucie Blackman trust has since been rebranded to LBT Global, after Tim and his family stepped away from the organisation in 2020.

Lucie’s sister attempted to take her own life the night after burying her ashes

Credit: Netflix

Lucie’s death had an intense impact on her brother Rupert and her younger sister Sophie. According to Tim, Sophie and Lucie were essentially inseparable until Lucie left to work in Tokyo. Sophie was 19 years old at the time of her big sisters disappearance.

When Tim gave a statement to Tokyo district court, he revealed Sophie had attempted to take her own life the night after burying Sophie’s ashes, The Guardian reported at the time:

“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 said, adding Sophie, “who had amazed the world by her strength and courage” during the seven month search for Lucie, was now receiving in-patient care at a psychiatric unit.

In 2007, Sophie told the BBC: “The one thing I find quite sad are the things [Lucie] won’t do. It’s very easy to miss the things we used to do together but the things she’ll never have I almost miss the most, things like getting married and having children.

“[Because of] Lucie’s love for people and love for children I think she would have made a very good mother. It’s a real shame that she’ll never have the opportunity to do that.”

Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case is available to watch on Netflix now. For all the latest Netflix news, drops and memes like The Holy Church of Netflix on Facebook.