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early 2000 21 year-old Lucy Blackmon and her longtime best friend Louise Phillips
00:01:47
devised the plan to spend a few months living and working in Japan the pair had lived two seemingly parallel lives with
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both working in an investment bank before commencing work as flight attendants for UK airline British
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Airways Lucy's previous nine-to-five corporate job in London had left her bored and her expensive spending habits
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had led her into debt she craved a life of adventure where she could travel internationally and experience different
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cultures but couldn't afford to travel in style under the concept of backpacking held no appeal in 1998
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Lucy's impressive customer service on short haul flights led to a promotion to the Intercontinental circuit not only
00:02:33
did her new role take her to exotic and glamorous destinations she also received
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a healthy pay increase with bonuses for longer flights and generous daily meal allowances despite these perks the
00:02:46
initial appeal of her jet-setting career quickly faded Lucy soon found the job tiring and monotonous as her days became
00:02:54
a blur of in-flight meals and a generic hotel rooms her health began to decline as she was constantly jetlag and she had
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fallen further into debt by spending more money than she was earning her best friend Louise Phillips was equally
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disenfranchised and both women craved a new adventure Louise's older sister Emma had
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previously been on a working holiday to Japan where she was employed as a hostess although Lucy wasn't clear
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exactly what Emma's Japanese job had entailed she knew it involved bars waitressing
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to the potential to earn a lot of money she became convinced hostessing presented a great opportunity to pay off
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her debts while seeing more of the world and decided to leave her job at British
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Airways to pursue the idea Lucy's family and friends were confused about her sudden decision to head
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overseas and buy what exactly she planned to doing Japan Lucy's mother Jane had a particularly ominous feeling
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about the trip and even considered hiding Lucy's passport to prevent her daughter from leaving before she
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departed Jane snuck a guardian angel card and healing crystals into Lucy's luggage for protection Lucy was
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seemingly unfazed by the concerns of those close to her in early 2000 she and Luiz obtained a 90 day tourist visas and
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departed for Japan arriving in Tokyo on May 4 neither spoke Japanese until they were quickly overwhelmed by the enormity
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of the foreign city prior to their arrival Lucy and Louise had arranged accommodation through Louise's sister
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Anna who was no longer living in Tokyo but had booked a room for the girls through a friend the room was in a
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gaijin house inexpensive hostel style accommodation rented to foreigners known for being cramped dirty and unsanitary
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with a constantly rotating roster of inhabitants Sasaki house the place Lucinda Louise were staying was no
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exception they quickly nicknamed their undesirable home away from home the shoot house and two tried to beautify
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their small dingy room it wasn't long before Lucien DeLuise headed straight to the world-famous
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party capital of Roppongi a district popular with tourists and backpackers the thriving entertainment district
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featured many social haunts and hangouts with organized the Japanese crime syndicates the Yakuza known to have a
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large presence in the area although efforts to clean up rock and ice lazy reputation were underway when Lucien
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DeLuise arrived it was still very much a melting pot of sordid bars nightclubs strip clubs massage parlors and brothels
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within a few days of their arrival a Japanese man approached the young women on the street and told them he could
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help them find a jobs as hostesses he introduced them to the manager of a hostess bar called Club Casablanca where
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both Lucy and to Louise were hired on the spot club Casablanca was an older slightly rundown Club with nine other
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foreign hostesses working at the bar the concept of what exactly hostessing entails is complex but stems from the
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geishas of the 17th century highly skilled women trained in the arts of dancing music costume conversation and
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ceremonial tea service modern-day hostessing isn't quite as sophisticated but like the geishas before them her
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hostesses job is to entertain young women many of whom are foreigners working illegally on tourist visas are
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paid to smile while providing male clients with company flattery and often karaoke whilst serving them drinks and
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snacks at over inflated prices [Music] hostess bars are hugely common in Japan and are a popular way for the
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white-collar male workforce to entertain clients and relax in the sleazier clubs
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of Roppongi the hostessing service can also include stripping and sex acts but this wasn't on the menu at Club
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Casablanca there the hostesses were expected to appear available for the clientele but would lose their jobs if
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they ever crossed the line into providing sexual services regardless the nature of the job mayn't conversation
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with intoxicated clientele often turned intimate and it was degrading to the hostesses one former hostess described
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to the work at Club Casablanca as follows you say what the men want to hear ng B what they want you to be
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sometimes you have to play psychologist other times men come in and totally just
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want to get drunk and party and want to go out to join them earning decent money
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was based on a hostesses ability to gain as many regulars as possible in turn earning more money for the club
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owners when clientele returned to the club and exclusively request to see a certain woman they pay extra for the
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privilege resulting in a bonus for the hostess hostesses can secure an extra bonus by organizing a private dinner
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date with customers known as dough hands although foreign visitors are not legally entitled to work on a tourist
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visa it was known that Japanese authorities typically turned a blind eye to the act something club managers often
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used as a bargaining chip for exploitation in terms of shifts and wages as Lucien to Louise learned at the ins
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and outs of the job it quickly became clear that any hostess who didn't start accruing personal requests from regulars
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or arranging multiple Dohan dates per month would lose her job within her first two weeks at Club Casablanca Lucy
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gained a doting regular named Ken who visited her most days but the pressure to gain more private requests and Dohan
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weighed on her heavily and exacerbated her insecurities she constantly compared herself to Louise who she felt was
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getting far more attention from clients and adjusting better to their increasingly hectic social life outside
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of work most nights after finishing at Casablanca Lucy and Louise would descend into Roppongi zhh nightlife dancing and
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drinking with other expats and travellers until the early hours the cycle of working partying and sleeping
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before doing it all again the next night began to exhaust Lucy the working holiday to pay off her debts wasn't
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coming together at all like she had planned and the pressure to earned more at the club through bonuses was starting
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to become overwhelming on May 26 2000 three weeks in Japan Lucy confessed her feelings in her diary writing on not
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coping well here I can't pull myself out of this hole I've fallen into I feel so
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ugly and fat and invisible in there I constantly hate myself I'm so [ __ ] up to my neck in debt and
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so badly need to do well but on a crap hostess I'm so exhausted with feeling this [ __ ] and feeling so lonely I
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sometimes really can't be bothered to wait and find out what happens I just want to disappear
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[Music] [Music] by the start of July after two months in Japan Lucy was finally starting to feel more
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at ease with her new foreign life she had recently began dating a young US Navy Marine stationed in Tokyo named
00:11:14
Scott and her spirits lifted as she began to fall head-over-heels the improvement in her mood seemed to have a
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positive impact on her hostessing has she gained more regular clients at Club Casablanca and secured several more
00:11:28
Dohan dates Lucy seemed to be in a far better place and was starting to become more comfortable on the afternoon of
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Saturday July 1 Lucy received a call on the Shedd payphone at Sasaki house where her into
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Louise was still living the call was from a customer she had a pre-arranged to Dohan lunch date with who was calling
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to advise he was running late and would ring back when he was ready to meet her at the train station a short while later
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he called again to advise he was now ten minutes away Lucy didn't mention the man's name or say where they were going
00:12:08
for that date but she was excited because the customer had promised to give her a mobile phone
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she and Louise both had the night off from work so they made a plan to meet up after Lucy's date later that evening
00:12:22
after making her way to sendagaya station to meet her date Lucy called the ways from her unnamed customers mobile
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phone at 5:00 p.m. to let her know that were travelling to the seaside she assured the way she would still be home
00:12:36
in time for their night out as planned just after 7:00 p.m. the Waze received a second phone call from Lucy advising she
00:12:46
would be home within the hour she was in good spirits as this time she was calling from her new mobile phone gifted
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by her date along with a bottle of champagne Lucy then called her boyfriend Skott but when there was no answer she
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left a message advising she would meet up with him the following day two hours went by and Lucy still hadn't returned
00:13:12
home causing the waves to become increasingly worried she went to club Casablanca to report her concerns to
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co-workers but they suggested that Lucy had simply decided to stay the night with her customer Louise felt strongly
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that her friend would never do such a thing so she had a Japanese speaking co-worker call around to some of the
00:13:33
bigger hospitals in the area to check if anyone matching Lucy's description had been admitted but there had been no sign
00:13:40
of her unable to sleep the way spent the night wandering around Roppongi visiting
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the clubs and bars that she and Lucy frequented to ask if anyone had seen her friend no one had anxious about their
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illegal working status Louise hesitated about going to the police despite growing more and more panicked
00:14:06
Lucy didn't return home or make contact - during the remainder of the weekend by
00:14:12
the morning of Monday July 3 Louise who was so stressed she had barely slept finally filed a missing person report
00:14:20
with the azubu Police Station in Roppongi she didn't mention that Lucy had been working as a
00:14:26
hostess and was attending a Dohan date instead saying she had simply gone out on a day trip with a Japanese man she
00:14:33
had met the police didn't seem overly concerned about the missing Westerner after all
00:14:40
lucy was an independent adult who may have decided to continue traveling and had simply failed to notify anyone
00:14:48
disheartened by the lack of action Louise then went to the British Embassy in Tokyo and admitted the whole truth
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telling the vice consul about Lucy's illegal hostessing work and to the fact she had gone to meet a customer on the
00:15:02
day she was last seen the embassy official was alarmed that the club would encourage such adings the vice consul
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called as a bhoot police station to advise the embassy was extremely concerned about Lucy's well-being but
00:15:17
despite telling police they feared Lucy had been abducted the police still didn't seem overly concerned at
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approximately 5:30 p.m. that afternoon Louise received a phone call on her mobile phone from an unknown man with a
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strong Japanese accent and a good command of English the caller who identified himself as a Kira Takagi said
00:15:43
he was calling on behalf of Lucy he told the ways that the traffic had been bad on the night Lucy went missing so she
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decided to take the train home instead of accepting a ride with her date at the train station she met a guru and on the
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spur of the moment decided to join his cult the newly risen religion in the city of chiba the wilded the ways asked
00:16:09
to speak to Lucy but Akira said she wasn't feeling well and didn't want to talk to anyone although she might want
00:16:16
to talk later in the week he hung up abruptly the callback moments later explaining that Lucy had started a new
00:16:25
life and wouldn't be coming back he said she was now paying her debts back in a better way and wanted her friends to
00:16:32
know she was okay akira then asked the ways for her address in japan as he made it to send
00:16:40
some of Lucy's belongings back the ways evaded this request and in a bid to gain
00:16:46
more information asked if she too could join the cult she pleaded to speak to Lucy
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but Akira rendered the call stating I'm sorry I just had to let you know that you won't be seeing her again
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goodbye terrified Luiz returned to the British Embassy where she was advised to go back to the police station and admit
00:17:09
the whole truth about what Lucy had been doing when she vanished later that same
00:17:15
night a teary and distressed Louise finally worked up the courage to call Lucy's family in England to advise them
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of her disappearance Lucy's mother Jane Stier had been preparing a care package to sent to Japan containing some of her
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daughter's favorite sweets and cosmetics when she answered the call as she began
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to absorb the bizarre news that Lucy was missing and had allegedly joined the Japanese cult a group of Lucy's friends
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and her two younger siblings sister Sophie and a brother Rupert gathered at Jane's home to offer
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their support and figure out what to do next Lucy's father Tim Blackman who had not
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spoken to his ex-wife since their divorce several years earlier was also notified those close to Lucy were
00:18:03
certain the story that she had joined a cult was a complete fabrication they feared she had met with foul play
00:18:11
Lucy's 20 year old sister Sophie and ex-boyfriend Jamie decided to fly to Tokyo immediately to begin searching for
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her Lucy's mother Jane didn't want to leave her teenage son Rupert alone in the UK so she made the tough decision to
00:18:27
stay at home on July 4 three days since Lucy had failed to return from her Dohan
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date Sophie and Jamie departed for Tokyo where they spent a week paying multiple
00:18:40
visits to the British Embassy and to the a zaboo police station in Roppongi none of the visits proved helpful as the
00:18:48
police treated their concerns with the same indifference they had shown the weaves faced with the inaction of local
00:18:56
police Sofie spoke with her father Tim Blackmon in the UK and discussed going public with Lucy's story and enlisting
00:19:03
the help of the media to gain interest than help for her disappearance although they all held concerns that
00:19:10
going public may have an adverse impact and caused Lucy's abductor to panic and harm or kill her in the end the decision
00:19:19
was made for them as back in London Louise's sister Emma Phillips had already taken the story to British
00:19:26
newspaper The Daily Telegraph with the media now notified Lucy's disappearance was quickly
00:19:33
plastered throughout UK papers despite the public attention Tokyo police continued to show little interest in
00:19:41
pursuing an investigation frustrated the Blackmon family decided to embrace the media attention towards fullest in the
00:19:49
hopes their efforts would compel someone with information to come forward on July
00:19:57
12 eleven days into Lucy's disappearance her father Tim Blackmon made the overseas journey to join the search and
00:20:05
raised media awareness the next day Tim and his daughter Sophie held their first
00:20:11
press conference at the British Embassy in Tokyo imploring anyone who had seen Lucy to contact police reports that Lucy
00:20:20
suddenly abandoned her life to join a cult seemed unlikely to her family as she had never demonstrated much interest
00:20:27
in religion they also rejected claims she may have run away to escape her credit card debts describing the amount
00:20:35
of money she owed is manageable during a subsequent press conference Tim issued a passionate plea to loose
00:20:42
his abductor to release his daughter quote we are all starting to feel very desperate and upset that Lucy is kept
00:20:51
somewhere in difficult conditions where she will be extremely upset herself by therefore as her father beg of them
00:20:59
humbly to please just release her to us again I just can't begin to describe to this person or these people that
00:21:07
devastating sorrow we've been through and how we are being torn apart by Lucy being held away from us after this
00:21:16
emotional display media interest in the story intensified and two British reporters arrived to Japan in droves to
00:21:23
interview Tim and Sophie the father and daughter appearing on multiple TV shows in both the UK and Japan with the
00:21:32
increase the media attention putting pressure on the police to act the Tokyo Metropolitan Police upgraded at Lucy's
00:21:39
disappearance through a criminal investigation while out to dinner one night Tim and Sophie Blackman were
00:21:48
approached by a wealthy British expat named Hugh shake Schaaf who recognised them from their many media appearances
00:21:54
Suzy had been following Lucy's disappearance closely Hugh generously donated a 100 thousand pound reward for
00:22:02
information and offered the Blackmun's the use of his business officers in Roppongi as their operational base Tim
00:22:10
and Sophie used this opportunity to set up the Lucy Blackburn hotline where people who were hesitant about going to
00:22:17
the police could call in with information offers of assistance poured in from the UK with the Virgin Atlantic
00:22:25
airline conglomerate financing the advertisement of the hotline number Virgin's founder Sir Richard Branson
00:22:31
also offered financial assistance in the search the hotline which was staffed by experts
00:22:38
began operation 21 days into the search for Lucy calls came flooding in with many witnesses reporting seeing the
00:22:47
missing 21 year old but they had simply mistaken other blonde western women for Lucy the answering machine for the
00:22:55
hotline also recorded many bizarre messages including laughter strange rants and incoherent mumbling police
00:23:05
interviewed Lucy's US Marine boyfriend Scott as a person of interest but he had been aboard a naval ship on the day of
00:23:12
her disappearance Lucy's regular customer at Club Casablanca kan was also interviewed but
00:23:19
he too was eliminated as a suspect between July 21 and 23 the 26th annual g8 summit was held on the Japanese
00:23:30
island of Okinawa where world leaders from eight different countries including the United Kingdom and Japan came
00:23:37
together to discuss a range of global issues prior to the g8 summit British Prime Minister Tony Blair agreed to meet
00:23:46
with Tim Blackman to discuss Lucy's disappearance and gain an understanding of the issues the family were facing in
00:23:53
their efforts to find her this conversation prompted Tony Blair to discuss the case directly with Japanese
00:24:00
Prime Minister Oshiro Mori which propelled the Tokyo metropolitan police into further action a large number of
00:24:08
detectives were assigned to the case and 30,000 missing person posters featuring
00:24:13
a photograph of Lucy sitting on a sofa wearing a black dress we're distributed throughout Japan
00:24:20
supposed to used bilingual text in both the Japanese and English to describe the
00:24:25
21 year-old and urged anyone who had seen Lucy or had any information to contact their nearest police station a
00:24:34
police spokesperson told the media quote we are involved in a very difficult investigation since we have yet to
00:24:42
obtain a single tip that has led us to a major breakthrough Tim and Sophie with assistance from generous volunteers
00:24:51
walked the streets of Tokyo handing out the missing person fliers urging passers
00:24:57
buyer to come forward with any information on August 1 1 month after Lucy's disappearance Tokyo Police
00:25:09
received the type 2 letter allegedly written by the missing 21 year old the letter insisted she was fine urging her
00:25:17
family not to worry and to return to England where she would call them later however it appeared that whoever wrote
00:25:24
the letter was not a native English speaker as it was filled with all kinds of linguistic and grammatical errors
00:25:30
with police promptly dismissing it as a hoax on August 4 an exhausted Tim Blackmon returned home to the United
00:25:40
Kingdom leaving Sophie in Japan to continue the search for her sister despite police increasing their efforts
00:25:47
they continued to leave Lucy's family in the dark about any progress in the investigation soon after Tim arrived
00:25:56
home he received a startling phone call from a British man named Mike Hills who lived in Holland and claimed to have
00:26:03
contacts in the Japanese underworld mark said these figures had a vested interest
00:26:09
in finding Lucy as the resulting police pressure was impacting arms dealers and other Kusum members from effectively
00:26:16
conducting their unlawful business to ensure their dealings resumed to normal these gang members were willing to try
00:26:24
and find Lucy but their assistance came with a price Tim arranged to meet with my kills but before the meeting Mike
00:26:35
called back with the news that one of his contacts had discovered lucy was alive she had been kidnapped and sold by
00:26:42
a group involved in the trafficking of foreign women this contact could find her lucien to buy her back for the price
00:26:49
of $50,000 tim was deeply unsure about Mike's claim but was willing to take any chance to
00:26:58
find his daughter the two men met and Mike explained to Tim would have to make an on-the-spot payment of twelve and a
00:27:05
half thousand dollars to secure the deal he would then need to travel to Japan to
00:27:10
hand over an additional 25,000 dollars followed by a final payment of twelve and a half thousand to be paid once Lucy
00:27:18
was safely returned Tim paid the twelve and a half thousand in cash as instructed and quickly made his way back
00:27:26
to Japan upon his arrival my story took a turn Lucy was no longer in Japan but had been
00:27:35
smuggled out on a ship and was on her way to Hong Kong the ship could be intercepted but it would require an
00:27:42
additional payment of $10,000 desperate to save Lucy Tim handed over the money following this
00:27:52
transaction Mike's story constantly changed he continued to ask for more money despite seeming to be no closer to
00:28:00
retrieving Lucy eventually the course from Mike Hills stopped entirely and Tim was unable to contact him
00:28:08
leading to the stark realization that the vulnerable father had been conned Tim reported his experience to police
00:28:19
who discovered Mike Hills had an extensive criminal history for deception and theft having also scammed another
00:28:25
English family whose son had gone missing in South America for his lies to both families Mike Hills was later
00:28:33
charged with obtaining property by deception and sentenced to three and a half years in prison
00:28:39
of the scam Tim Blackmon later said it produced a huge strain on our family it was a terrible terrible thing that he
00:28:49
perpetrated on us he is absolutely evil he was preying on our family's misfortune and you cannot
00:28:57
get more evil than that throughout August Tim and Sophie Blackman continued to travel back and
00:29:06
forth between Japan and to the UK meaning the hotline and spending time in the hostess bars of Roppongi seeking any
00:29:14
information that might lead them to Lucy the dark side of Japan's hostessing industry soon came to light as they
00:29:22
heard many harrowing stories of foreign hostesses who had gone missing or experienced violence at the hands of
00:29:28
customers three years prior to Lucy's disappearance 27 year old Canadian hostess Tiffany Fordham disappeared
00:29:37
after she was last seen with the customer in the elevator of a Roppongi nightclub she was never seen again with
00:29:45
police conducting no efforts to find her other foreign hostesses reported incidents where customers had taken
00:29:53
advantage of them during Dohan dates with reports of drink spiking violence and rape as most hostesses were working
00:30:02
illegally a majority of these incidents were not reported to police and to the ones that were were rarely taken
00:30:09
seriously September 1 marked two months since Lucy Blackburn left for her Dohan date and
00:30:18
had never returned back in the UK her mother Jane and younger brother Rupert released 1002 balloons over the
00:30:25
cricket ground of Lucy's hometown to commemorate her 22nd birthday as the month wore on Lucy's family became
00:30:34
increasingly despondent they boosted the reward money for information in an attempt to generate new leads but all
00:30:42
this did was increased the number of false sightings placed to the hotline despite all their efforts nobody seemed
00:30:50
to have any information about Lucy's last movements or her whereabouts tensions began to rise between the
00:30:58
Blackmun's and Tokyo Police who insisted technical difficulties and complicated laws regarding the disclosure of private
00:31:05
information was stopping them from obtaining phone records from the caller who rang Louise on July 3 advising that
00:31:13
Lucy had spontaneously joined a cult they eventually said they were obtaining a court order to gain access to the
00:31:21
records but advised to Lucy's family to be patient as it would take some time in late September Lucy's mother Jane
00:31:31
traveled to Tokyo and to gave a press conference in which she implored of Lucy's captor to release her daughter
00:31:36
and to begged anyone with information to come forward stating it's the worst nightmare and it never goes away I feel
00:31:46
as if my heart has been ripped out as a family we will never give up looking for
00:31:51
Lucy and we will never take a no for an answer by early October Lucy's family were overwhelmed with all
00:32:01
kinds of challenges their makeshift Operations Center at the officers provided by hue Sheikh shaft had fallen
00:32:08
apart his hue felt Tim Blackman had abused his hospitality by disrespecting his staff ordering expensive dinners on
00:32:15
his tab and constantly inviting members of the media into the office for interviews
00:32:21
despite specifically being asked not to the relationship between Lucy's parents was also under strain and to their
00:32:29
visits to Japan was strategically timed to avoid one another this discord between the divorced couple spilled out
00:32:37
during media interviews putting increased stress on the family having spent tens of thousands of pounds flying
00:32:45
back and forth between Japan and the United Kingdom they were also burdened with financial
00:32:50
pressure exhausted and tired of feeling like the Tokyo Police were intentionally
00:32:57
shutting them out Lucy's mother father and sister felt they had hit a brick wall in their efforts reluctantly they
00:33:05
each departed Japan and returned home but unbeknownst to the family their heavy media presence had actually paid
00:33:14
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00:38:59
was an American woman who had been working as a hostess in Roppongi in 1997 as part of her duties she agreed to
00:39:07
visit a customer named Koji at the sushi marina apartment complex in the seaside
00:39:12
town of zou she located an hour's train ride from Tokyo after taking a sip of a drink Koji offered to her the woman
00:39:22
blacked out and awoke sit on the couch many hours later wearing nothing but her underwear with no memory of anything
00:39:29
that had happened Koji explained there had been a gas leak which had caused her to lose consciousness but the woman
00:39:36
suspected she had been trapped she reported the incident to the azubu police station with help from her
00:39:43
employer providing a description of Kody's appearance the location of his apartment and his mobile phone number
00:39:50
but her rapport was met with indifference she later described her ordeal in Richard Lloyd Perry's book
00:39:57
people who ate darkness quote the officers showed in no interest whatsoever to help or take any further
00:40:06
action they said they could not investigate my incident because of a lack of evidence I was made to feel as
00:40:13
if I were in nuisance and to wasting police time three years later the woman was still living in Tokyo when she heard
00:40:22
about Lucy Blackmun's disappearance reminded of her ordeal in Zushi years earlier she immediately returned to the
00:40:30
as abou police station to report concerns that the same man who attacked her could be the customer Lucy had
00:40:37
visited on the day she vanished the American woman wasn't the only former hostess who provided police with
00:40:44
information in 1995 a Scottish expat went on a series of extravagant Dohan dates with a wealthy customer who called
00:40:53
himself for Yugi Honda one night Yugi took his hostess to his seaside apartment where he asked her to drink a
00:41:01
rare wine more than 12 hours later she awoke in his apartment with no memory of what had happened she decided not to
00:41:10
report the incident to police but held on to yuji's mobile phone number just in case five years later when this woman
00:41:19
heard about lucy Blackmun's disappearance she traveled from her home in osaka to the as abou police station
00:41:25
to report her concerns that the man she knew as Yuji Honda could be involved although she felt her statement was met
00:41:33
with disinterest several other hostesses also came forward to report similar experiences ensuring police could no
00:41:41
longer ignore the similarities between witness accounts police were also finally granted warrants to access
00:41:51
telephone records and were able to trace two calls the one made by Lucy's customer to the Sasaki House pay phone
00:41:59
on the morning of her disappearance and to the call Lucy placed to her friend in
00:42:04
the ways from her customers mobile phone on the afternoon she vanished both calls
00:42:10
were traced to a mobile phone that had been purchased two using a fake name further analysis of the phone records
00:42:17
determined to both calls were made from the Zushi marina apartment complex the same location the American former
00:42:25
hostess had identified as the building where she was drugged back in 1997 by a man she identified as Koji several other
00:42:35
hostesses also identified the sushi marina as the location they were drugged and stripped naked but none were able to
00:42:43
remember the exact building or apartment number the incidents occurred police searched with the criminal
00:42:49
records of all apartment owners within the complex looking for anyone who had a history of sexual offences they made a
00:42:57
startling discovery 48 year-old Joe G ybarra was a wealthy property developer and a business owner who had been
00:43:08
arrested in 1998 for attempting to videotape unsuspecting women in public toilets he pled guilty to the crime and
00:43:16
was issued with a small fine when police showed a Joe Gees mug shot to the hostess's who had come forward claiming
00:43:24
to have been drugged and assaulted they unanimously identified a Joe G abara as their attacker police obtained CCTV
00:43:34
footage that revealed a luxury vehicle registered to Joe G abara had traveled to Tokyo on the day Lucy Blackburn went
00:43:40
missing police now felt confident they had identified their prime suspect but needed to concrete evidence before they
00:43:48
could make an arrest further investigation into ybarra revealed he also owned a property in the
00:43:56
blue C apartment complex on the Miura Peninsula a rugged coastline approximately 32 kilometres from Zushi 5
00:44:05
days after Lucy's disappearance the apartment manager of the blue sea building had phoned police to report one
00:44:12
of his residence had been making unusual sounds in his apartment local police visited the apartment and
00:44:19
found a shirtless Joe G abara dirty and covered in sweat with concrete residue on his hands he allowed the officers to
00:44:28
enter his home where they noticed the chunks of cement was strewn about along with a tool resembling a garden hoe and
00:44:35
a sack containing a large item Obara refused to let the officers inspect the rest of his apartment and as
00:44:44
they had to no warrant to proceed with a search they left the property at the time lucy Blackmun's disappearance
00:44:52
hadn't even made the news so attending officers had no reason to be overly suspicious of a borough but
00:44:59
now that he had become their prime suspect in Lucy's abduction this bizarre incident became highly suspicious
00:45:08
records revealed that Obara had recently purchased the boat which stood out to investigators as unusual considering he
00:45:16
had never owned one before and had no prior history of boating although there still wasn't enough evidence to arrest
00:45:23
him in relation to Lucy Blackmun's disappearance investigators became increasingly nervous that he may use
00:45:30
this new boat to dispose of evidence on October 12 police placed Joji ybarra under arrest for five charges of rape
00:45:40
for the reported assaults on other hostesses intending to build their case against him for Lucy's abduction once he
00:45:47
was in custody with abara now under arrest search warrants were granted for his many properties throughout Japan had
00:45:58
his largest property had decaying neglected mansion in the denon chofu district of southern Tokyo police were
00:46:05
confronted with a rubbish strewn yard containing several disused luxury cars including a Maserati the classic early
00:46:13
1960s Aston Martin and a Bentley the house held decades have accumulated clutter broken televisions old car
00:46:23
batteries and to dust covered furniture a large freezer contained to the frozen body of a dead dog which I borrow later
00:46:31
explained had been his favorite pet he had frozen the body in the hopes that technological advancements would one day
00:46:38
allow the dog to be restored to life or cloned included in piles of evidence seized from Oh borrows denon trophy
00:46:48
mansion and other properties were piles of Diaries notebooks documents videotapes rolls of film audio cassettes
00:46:56
and photographs the Diaries and audio recordings dated all the way back to oberus teenage years outlining in
00:47:05
meticulous detail his sexual fetishes fantasies and experiences in what he referred to as conquest play her
00:47:15
Burroughs records revealed a prolific sexual predator his method of assaulting women was always the same he would pick
00:47:23
up a hostess or occasionally a woman who advertised in Lonely Hearts classified ads and would then covertly administer
00:47:30
some sort of tranquilizer within her food or drink if the woman had concerns about the strange taste he would explain
00:47:39
that drink was rare or the food contained special herbs once the woman was rendered unconscious he proceeded to
00:47:47
rape her in one gauri entry Jabara admitted he had no sexual interest in women who were
00:47:55
conscious his Diaries detailed the various drugs he used to render women unconscious along with a rating of their
00:48:03
effectiveness a dozen different types of drugs were recovered from his properties
00:48:08
including chloroform sleeping pills barbiturates rohypnol and a GHB giorgia bars prolific history as a
00:48:18
violent sex offender was further evident within a large collection of videotapes
00:48:23
dating back to the 1980s many of which featured a woman's name written along the spine the tapes were recorded using
00:48:31
a tripod mounted camera with bright lights capturing the full extent of a bar as depraved attacks off-camera
00:48:40
a television monitor displayed the assault so abara could watch it as it was happening while another played a
00:48:46
pornographic film on camera and naked Obara wore a mask that matched that worn by the fictional characters Zorro a
00:48:55
strip of black fabric with holes cut for the eyes pulled across the upper face and tired at the back of the head he
00:49:03
would carry his unconscious victim to bed before subjecting them to repeated acts of sexual assault with many attacks
00:49:10
lasting upwards of 12 hours in the event that a woman's third or awoke during an
00:49:17
assault Obara would administer a chemical soaked rag over their mouths to once again
00:49:23
render them unconscious when the woman awoke after the attack feeling disoriented and sick often vomiting and
00:49:32
unable to stand Obara would provide a vague explanation for how they came to pass here including
00:49:38
that there had been a gas leak or that the woman drank too much alcohol the exact number of videotapes recovered
00:49:46
by police is uncertain with reports ranging from 200 to 1000 with the recorded names and videotape footage
00:49:56
police identified both the American and Scottish women who had come forward during the Lucy Blackmon investigation
00:50:02
and who they were also able to trace many of the other survivors many of the women refused to cooperate with the
00:50:10
investigation preferring to forget their ordeal however several were willing to proceed with pressing charges
00:50:21
despite uncovering a long list of women who had been violated by giorgia borough
00:50:26
investigators were unable to find anything in his Diaries or video tapes to confirm Lucy Blackmon was one of his
00:50:33
victims but they did find strands of long blonde hairs in the bathroom of Obara Zushi marina apartment they were
00:50:42
tested for DNA and came back with a match the DNA sequence match hairs taken from Lucy's Tokyo apartment and two
00:50:51
samples that had been provided by her family several rolls of film found on oberus property were later developed and
00:51:00
also provided concrete evidence that Lucy had entered his apartment there amongst the images were two photographs
00:51:07
of Lucy smiling as she posed on the balcony of his sushi marina apartment furthermore the phone Lucy had used to
00:51:17
call Lewis Phillips on the day she went missing was also recovered providing another director link between Lucy and
00:51:25
he accused receipts from multiple stores revealed that on July 4 just three days
00:51:32
after Lucy vanished Obara had purchased several suspicious items that would assist with the
00:51:38
disposal of a body including cement large camping tarps gloves a shovel and axe and a chainsaw police now felt
00:51:49
confident that Lucy had been drugged assaulted and subsequently murdered by Obara but without locating her body
00:51:57
they could prove was that the two had met in November 2000 one month after his initial arrest ho burrows lawyer issued
00:52:07
a statement in which he denied any knowledge of Lucy Blackmun's disappearance he also insisted the
00:52:14
assaults captured on video were consensual acts of conquest play which each of the women had entered into
00:52:20
voluntarily in exchange for money Obara said he believed to police had set him up ending the statement with I hope they
00:52:29
catch the real criminal soon in the United Kingdom Lucy's family were provided with no
00:52:37
information other than the fact that an arrest had been made they had the source
00:52:42
information about oberus predatory history and his many survivors from media reports rather than police Lucy's
00:52:50
father expressed his frustration in an email address to the Tokyo Metropolitan Police reproduced in Richard Lloyd
00:52:57
Perry's book people who eat darkness tim wrote i am very upset and traumatized that the police did not give a single
00:53:06
consideration to how the family feels as victims and it is disgraceful and inhumane that you do not provide any
00:53:13
news or information to the family to help them cope with this terrible and tragic event tim blamed to the fear of
00:53:22
being deported for young hostesses not reporting crimes committed against them during their work duties and questioned
00:53:29
why the reports about joe gia borrow from other hostesses had not been investigated in the past quote this
00:53:37
makes the police guilty of the disappearance of lucy and when the next girl is abducted and raped or murdered
00:53:43
the police and the Immigration Department will be guilty of that crime too as reports of viboras disturbing
00:53:53
crime spread across the world there was another family that had a strong reaction to the news in 1992 the family
00:54:02
of 21 year old Australian Corita Ridgeway were left devastated when she died under mysterious circumstances
00:54:07
while working in Tokyo carita a model waitress and aspiring actor who had many friends had moved to
00:54:16
Tokyo in December of 91 to join her sister Samantha for a working holiday hoping to save some money for the acting
00:54:23
classes she was attending back home in Sydney she had also recently gotten engaged to her boyfriend Robert and was
00:54:31
eager to put some financial savings towards their life together having spent the last few years traveling to Nepal
00:54:38
Mexico into the United States carita was a worldly and confident traveler in Japan she intended to find a job
00:54:47
teaching English but when that plan wasn't immediately successful she responded to a job ad in the newspaper
00:54:53
for hostessing work at club a Akagi in the upmarket Ginza district known for its exclusive restaurants and designer
00:55:01
stores hostessing at club a Akagi involved the same task that Lucy Blackmon had undertaken o'clock
00:55:09
Casablanca chatting with customers while stretching their drinks and lighting their cigarettes
00:55:14
although carita didn't enjoy the work she was making good money and it didn't expect to be doing it for long before
00:55:21
she could return home with our savings on the night of Friday February 14 1992 carita along with several other club a
00:55:33
Akagi hostesses accepted an invitation from a customer to dine externally on a group Dohan and a nearby restaurant
00:55:41
Caritas sister Samantha had spent that weekend out of town when she returned to their share house on Sunday morning
00:55:48
another housemate informed Samir thought that her sister wasn't at home someone had phoned the house and left a vague
00:55:56
voice message saying corrida had gone away for the weekend with friends by Monday morning carita still hadn't
00:56:04
returned home and Samantha was becoming increasingly worried she then received a
00:56:10
phone call from the local hospital explaining her sister had been admitted with severe food poisoning a Japanese
00:56:17
man calling himself Akira Nishida had dropped a crater off that morning providing hospital staff with some
00:56:23
this phone number according to Nishida who left abruptly without providing any identification corrida had developed
00:56:32
food poisoning after eating bad shellfish Corita was non-responsive in slipping in and out of consciousness
00:56:39
she was diagnosed with acute liver failure and by the time her mother annette father Nigel and fiancé Robert
00:56:47
reached Japan she was near unresponsive Samantha attempted to communicate with her sister but all Kirino could manage
00:56:56
was holding out her hand wanting it to be held the doctors were at a loss to explain how the 21 year old had become
00:57:04
so ill so quickly they performed an expensive blood washing liver procedure but with no success the toxins in
00:57:14
Korea's body soon overwhelmed her system turning her skin yellow Corita fell into
00:57:20
a coma and was placed on life support as her devastated family stood by and watched on helplessly as carita lay
00:57:30
unresponsive in hospital her sister Samantha received several calls from Akira Nishida who provided the same
00:57:37
story about corrida falling ill after eating shellfish he refused to provide his phone number or address so Samantha
00:57:45
reported the phone calls to the police and urged them to investigate the caller sued detectives eventually interviewed
00:57:54
Samantha who described her interaction with law enforcement as threatening and hostile and felt no effort was made to
00:58:01
find Akira Nishida in the hope that better facilities might improve her chances of survival carita was
00:58:09
transferred to the Tokyo women's University Hospital in Shinjuku but pronounced the brain dead shortly after
00:58:16
her arrival on Saturday February 29 just three days before her 22nd birthday caritas family made the difficult
00:58:26
decision to switch off her life support with doctors ruling hepatitis E as the cause of her death
00:58:34
caritas body was dressed in a pink kimono and covered in flowers before being taken to a buddhist shrine in the
00:58:41
hospital's basement where the intensive care staff lit incense sticks in her honor carita was cremated
00:58:48
two days later traumatized from Caritas unexpected death the Ridgeway family made no request to have an autopsy
00:58:56
conducted prior to the cremation however the small sample of her liver had been taken whilst the doctors were attempting
00:59:04
to save her life and was still retained on file by the hospital shortly after her sister's death
00:59:14
Samantha Ridgeway was once again contacted by the man identifying himself as a Kieran Ishida when he learned that
00:59:22
Kurata had passed away he insisted on meeting with her parents to offer his condolences and explained the events of
00:59:28
their daughter's final weekend Annette and Nigel Ridgeway met in a shader in a hotel near the Tokyo Airport
00:59:37
he was immaculately dressed although sweating profusely as he explained he had brought carita back to his house
00:59:43
after dinner as she had fallen ill from eating oysters her condition soon deteriorated and he called a doctor to
00:59:51
administer an injection for the nausea when the injection didn't work he drove her to hospital Annette and Nigel noted
01:00:01
Nishida seemed at desperate to convince them he had tried to care for their daughter he expressed his intense
01:00:07
affection for her saying he loved carita and had wanted to spend much more time with her he presented a net in Nigel
01:00:15
with a diamond ring and a gold necklace that he had planned to give to Corina for her birthday and insisted on paying
01:00:21
for her funeral transferring the funds to Samantha's Japanese bank account after this bizarre meeting Caritas
01:00:30
parents sent fiancé Robert flew back to Australia with corridas ashes there was no further investigation into her death
01:00:39
then nine years later as reports of Giorgio Barris crimes made their way into the Australian media the
01:00:47
waise noticed chilling similarities for the circumstances of corridas death and when they saw a picture of georgie abara
01:00:54
they immediately recognized him as the man who had introduced himself as akira ishida
01:01:04
following this revelation Caritas former fiancé Robert immediately contacted the
01:01:10
Australian Embassy in Tokyo who alerted police as it turned out the Japanese authorities had already made the
01:01:17
connection between curry to Ridgeway and Choji ybarra amongst the piles of paperwork seized from a Baris Zushi
01:01:25
marina apartment was a receipt for Caritas hospital admission additionally one of the videotapes from a virus
01:01:34
extensive collection featured an unconscious carita as she was raped by Obara during which he dosed her with a
01:01:41
liquid soap drag to ensure she remained unconscious he detailed the assault in one of his diary entries riding beside a
01:01:50
Caritas named too much chloroform the Peace of Caritas liver that had been removed by doctors prior to her death in
01:02:00
1992 was recovered and tested the sample was found to contain traces of chloroform a highly volatile organic
01:02:09
compound intended to be used for an aesthetic purposes when administered in excessive doses the drug poisons the
01:02:18
liver and can lead to death although the presence of chloroform had not been tested or detected by doctors when
01:02:25
carita was still alive there was now no doubt that her death was due to chloroform poisoning the funds the
01:02:33
Samantha Ridgeway had received to help pay for her sister's funeral were traced and to led directly back to Giorgio
01:02:40
Barra in January 2001 corridas mother annette Ridgeway traveled to Tokyo and formally
01:02:48
identified at Barra as Akira Nishida the man she and her husband had met with following caritas death Oboro admitted
01:02:57
to posing as Akira Nishida and confessed the being with Carina the night she was
01:03:02
hospitalized though stuck by his story that he had tried to help her after she became ill dropping her at the hospital
01:03:09
out of genuine concern with the evidence indisputably linking ybarra to carita ridgway's death formal charges were laid
01:03:19
against him for her murder in January 2001 an intensive search for Lucy Blackmun's body commenced throughout
01:03:29
Obama's numerous properties when the search proved fruitless police concentrated on the beaches caves and
01:03:37
coastline around oberus blue sea apartment building on the Miura Peninsula where police had been called
01:03:43
to investigate strange noises in the days following Lucy's disappearance the area had already been searched following
01:03:51
a Beres initial arrest but this time the search was much more extensive employing
01:03:57
the use of sniffer dogs into ground-penetrating radar approximately 180 meters from the blue
01:04:04
sea apartment building was an isolated cliff hidden from view of the nearby houses a portion of the cliff had eroded
01:04:11
and collapsed creating a small cave that could barely be seen two passers-by on the morning of February 9 2001 police
01:04:21
discovered the cave and found an old rusted bathtub within partially buried facedown in the sand they dug it up and
01:04:30
turned it over finding a plastic bag buried in the sand underneath there was no mistaking what
01:04:36
the bag contained human body parts the dismembered body appeared to have been cut with a chainsaw the skull then
01:04:47
encased in cement the estimation took several hours during which time the media learned of the discovery and quick
01:04:55
we gathered at the scene police constructed a makeshift marquee around the cave entrance the camera crews
01:05:02
hovered above the shoreline in helicopters and photographers boarded fishermen's boats to get the best angles
01:05:08
of the scene from the water Lucy's family in the UK were not notified by Japanese police that a
01:05:15
search was underway or that a body had been found only learning of the discovery as it was broadcast on
01:05:22
television a post-mortem examination of the body compared the victims teeth against to Lucy's dental records
01:05:30
revealing a match seven months since she was last seen alive Lucy Blackmon had finally been found the
01:05:39
deterioration of her remains were so extensive that no cause of death could be officially determined after Lucy's
01:05:48
remains were discovered her family traveled back to Japan to bring her home on March 19 2001 almost a year since she
01:06:00
first departed for Japan a funeral was held for Lucy Blackmon and Saint Nicholas Church in her hometown of
01:06:06
Chislehurst more than 260 friends and family members attended the service with a large media presence gathering outside
01:06:16
inside the church incense burped alongside a framed photograph of a smiling Lucy a gift from the Tokyo
01:06:23
Metropolitan Police Prime Minister Tony Blair and to the Japanese ambassador in London had flowers delivered to the
01:06:31
service to express their condolences many mourners were moved to tears during a touching performance of the ballads
01:06:38
wind beneath my wings and I will always love you Reverend Charles Walker told the
01:06:45
congregation Lucy was a glorious girl who can light up a room with her presence her vitality sense of life and
01:06:53
fun her laughing face her warm heart and concern for others he read from a letter
01:07:01
sent by a Japanese family who had lost their daughter while she was traveling in Europe they had been praying that
01:07:08
Lucy would be found liven whoa and stated we are so ashamed of ourselves as a nation outside the
01:07:17
church Lucy's mother Jane steer told a journalist I am pained by the thought of what happened to Lucy before she was
01:07:24
killed she was a tragic victim of a perverted psychopath and I cannot get the terrible thought of how she may have
01:07:31
suffered out of my mind as a mother I hope her death was painless and that she would have felt no fear on
01:07:41
April 6 2001 whilst in custody for the other allegations against him jouji ybarra was formally arrested for
01:07:49
lucy Blackmun's murder his trial commenced three months later on July 4 2001 where the public got their first
01:07:57
insight into the accused Obara was born to Korean immigrants in the Japanese city of Osaka in 1952
01:08:06
although his parents were poor when they arrived in Japan his father gradually built a fortune
01:08:12
investing in taxis car parks poker machines and property insuring Obara lived a privileged life he attended an
01:08:22
exclusive prep school in Tokyo before moving on to the prestigious ko University where his father purchased
01:08:29
him that denon chauffeur mansion and hired a maid to take care of him while he completed his studies when Obara was
01:08:37
17 years old his father died in Hong Kong during an overseas business trip which many speculated was at the hands
01:08:44
of the Yakuza with whom he was said to have business dealings his vast fortune was passed on to his children and
01:08:52
widowed endo Barra became incredibly wealthy after receiving his inheritance Jabara traveled internationally for
01:09:01
several years before obtaining degrees in politics and law he lived a lavishly in Tokyo and also purchased the multiple
01:09:10
properties all over the country which increased in value during Japan's bubble economy of the mid 1980s leading him to
01:09:17
form an investment company and to purchase several property development businesses
01:09:22
he frequently drive his luxury cars to high-end hostess clubs where he spent large sums of money to secure the
01:09:29
company of Western hostesses who served as a status symbol it was during this time that he established his sexually
01:09:37
predatory behavior and began keeping records of the women he assaulted when the economic bubble burst and the
01:09:45
Japanese economy collapsed in the early nineteen nineties Huaraz investment company folded into many of his assets
01:09:52
were decimated he was pursued by multiple creditors and reportedly used one of his companies as a front for
01:09:59
Yakuza money laundering operations the stay afloat financially by 1999 Jabara was being sued for unpaid loans yet he
01:10:10
still owned multiple companies and several residential properties this allowed him to continue his lavish
01:10:17
lifestyle where he frequently spent large amounts of time and money at hostess bars living a mostly nocturnal
01:10:23
existence cruising back and forth between his coastal and central Tokyo apartments Obara had an apparent dislike
01:10:33
for his own physical appearance he reportedly underwent extensive cosmetic eye surgery to make his eyes appear more
01:10:40
westernized and wore shoe lifts to disguise his five-foot five inch eye he also took a regular doses of human
01:10:48
growth hormones large quantities of which were found on his properties during police searches following his
01:10:54
arrest he avoided cameras his whole life refusing to be photographed wherever possible very few photos existed of
01:11:03
Obara where he was not intentionally looking away from the camera or wearing sunglasses even in his police mugshot he
01:11:11
kept his eyes cast to the ground as a garish trial commenced he faced charges for abduction eight cases of rape and
01:11:23
two rape resulting in death for Lucy Blackmon and Currier Ridgeway in the Japanese legal system the charge of rape
01:11:30
resulting in death is similar to manslaughter in that it doesn't carry the full of a murder charge defendants are also
01:11:38
invited to respond to the charges against them with a statement as opposed to a simple plea of guilty or not guilty
01:11:45
in oberus statement he denied being responsible for the death of me the woman alleging he and carita Ridgeway
01:11:52
had engaged in consensual sexual relations and that he had tried to save her by dropping her at the hospital
01:11:58
laughter she became ill he alleged Lucy Blackmon had invited herself to his apartment where she had tried to pursue
01:12:06
him they drank alcohol and to watch television together but didn't engage in any conquest play nor did he administer
01:12:15
her any drugs without her knowledge according to ybarra Lucy left his apartment the next morning alive and
01:12:23
well in the indictment for Lucy's death the prosecution put forward that on Saturday July 1 2000 her borough had
01:12:32
invited Lucy to his sushi marina apartment where he provided her with a drink laced with sleeping pills before
01:12:39
using chloroform to render her unconscious he then raped her and at some point during or after the assault
01:12:46
she passed away due to a fatal overdose of the drugs he had administered two days later Jabara called Louise Phillips
01:12:56
and to provided a fictional story about Lucy joining a cult to halt an investigation into her disappearance and
01:13:02
deflect any suspicion from himself on Tuesday July 4 he went to a hardware store to purchase a variety of materials
01:13:11
including hammers cutters sleeping bags tents a shovel a chainsaw cement and a chemical agent that speeds up the
01:13:20
setting process of cement the next day he drove to his blue sea' apartment on the Miura Peninsula where he dismembered
01:13:29
who is his body with a chainsaw covered her head in cement put her limbs into plastic bags and buried her remains in
01:13:36
the cave covering them with the bathtub a neighbor had seen him on the beach carrying a shovel while a tent uncovered
01:13:45
from the cave matched the one Jabara had purchased the marks on Lucy's bones were found to
01:13:51
be consistent with the same type of chainsaw he had bought despite the overwhelming amount of circumstantial
01:14:00
evidence against him in the Japanese justice system everything must be proven through concrete evidence before a
01:14:07
connection can be drawn between one event and the next for example just because Obara purchased the particular
01:14:14
maked model of a chainsaw that matched the marks found on Lucy's body it doesn't prove without doubt that he was
01:14:21
the one who killed her due to the deteriorated condition of Lisa's remains and to the fact that no
01:14:28
evidence was found of her being sexually assaulted amongst oberus possessions no
01:14:33
unquestionable physical link was established to prove without doubt that Obara murdered Lucy in a situation where
01:14:41
the accused denies any wrongdoing Japanese criminal trials can be exhaustive in 2001 Japan was not using a
01:14:49
jury system and - the court hearings did not run over a continuous period instead
01:14:55
giorgia borrows trial was overseen by a panel of judges over a series of monthly
01:15:00
hearings that continued for several years with the trial held up further Ueno borrows initial legal team resigned
01:15:07
after the first year as the prosecution strived to prove every aspect of the indictment the defense exploited the
01:15:18
lack of physical evidence they argued that not a single trace of Lucy's blood had been found anywhere at oberus
01:15:24
apartments rendering the notion that he had dismembered her body with a chainsaw
01:15:29
is highly unlikely when Obara eventually took the stand for Lucy's death he outraged her family by
01:15:37
alleging she had willingly consumed a large amount of recreational drugs and alcohol leading to an overdose he
01:15:44
claimed he had contacted a distant acquaintance who had since passed away to take Lucy to the hospital and he
01:15:51
didn't know what happened to her after that he explained he purchased the chainsaw and other tools used for
01:15:57
dismemberment with the intention to dispose of the body of his beloved pet the one police had found frozen inside
01:16:04
his Denon Chaffee mansion a few days after Lucy's overdose he spent the night walking around looking for a place to
01:16:12
dispose of his dog's body but was bitten extensively by bugs forcing him to cancel his plans hospital records
01:16:20
confirmed he did indeed seek medical treatment for bug bites for the charges relating to create a Ridgeway her beras
01:16:29
defense maintained to the conquest play between their client and the deceased had been consensual they argued that the
01:16:37
video where Corita was unconscious had been filmed months prior to her death during an established consensual
01:16:43
relationship on the night of her death they engaged in consensual sex before corrida fell ill and Obara did
01:16:51
everything he could to ensure she received a medical care the trial dragged on for several years during
01:17:00
which Barra turned his cell into a makeshift illegal office he had a team of 10 lawyers working for him in
01:17:07
relation to the criminal trial and further litigation involving debts owed to creditors across these various
01:17:12
companies during this time Obara was declared bankrupt with debts exceeding twenty three point eight
01:17:20
billion yen the equivalent to approximately 200 million Australian dollars the only visitors Obara received -
01:17:29
during his incarceration where his mother and his lawyers he was well behaved with one guard commenting my
01:17:37
impression is that he is totally sane there's nothing crazy about him except the way he treats women he's very very
01:17:45
clever but very selfish totally convinced that he is right and he never listens to the opinions of other people
01:17:52
he is a very lonely person when Lucy's father Tim Blackmon saw Obara in court for the first time he too was struck by
01:18:04
oberus sense of loneliness later commenting I see somebody who is the same age as me who has by his actions
01:18:12
produced the most terrible situation for himself but doing something so heinous to somebody else's life and in a very
01:18:20
strange way there's a pathos that neutralizes the more natural anger I feel sorry for him in April 2006
01:18:32
Pozzo burrows trial entered its fifth year who's his mother Jane father Tim and carita ridgeway's mother and net
01:18:40
provided evidence similar to a victim impact statement they each expressed the emotional
01:18:46
suffering and the life-changing trauma caused by the deaths of their daughters with Tim Blackman telling the court of
01:18:52
the devastating effects Lucy's death had on her sister Sophie who had since attempted self-harm
01:18:59
Obara who had studiously attended every hearing beforehand to take comprehensive
01:19:05
notes refused to leave his cell on the days when the families were speaking wedging himself into a small crevice so
01:19:12
he could not be physically removed by the guards as the trial continued Lucy's parents were contacted individually by
01:19:23
an associate of O Burroughs who wanted to discuss the possibility of an atonement payment based on the Japanese
01:19:30
honor system this kind of payment is offered following a wrongdoing to avoid dishonor being brought upon the
01:19:36
wrongdoers family it typically occurs when the party offering the payment admits guilt however in this case Obara
01:19:45
was admitting no guilt or responsibility for Lucy's death but offered the financial compensation as an expression
01:19:53
of his condolences whilst Lucy's mother Jane turned to the payment down unbeknownst to her her ex-husband
01:20:01
accepted 100 million yen approximately 1.2 million Australian dollars in today's currency would be paid to Tim
01:20:11
Blackman on the condition he signed a document written in poorly phrased English which called into question the
01:20:17
cause of Lucy's death as alleged by the prosecution thinking the risk of jeopardizing the case was negligible Tim
01:20:25
recognised the money would benefit his family and be vital in the ongoing running of the Lucy Blackman Trust and
01:20:32
not-for-profit organisation he had established to help young people be more aware of their safety when traveling
01:20:38
overseas he accepted the payment and signed to the document stating to me it was just a meaningless piece of paper
01:20:47
Lucy's body was so decomposed none of us knew the cause of death for certain after signing it Tim wrote a letter to
01:20:57
the prosecution categorically stating he believed Oboro was guilty of all charges
01:21:02
and to that accepting the money in no way signified any forgiveness towards the accused carita ridgway's family were
01:21:11
also offered a similar payment but turned it down Sophie Blackmun supported her father's decision to accept the
01:21:19
money stating don't--i used that money to pay back his family who gave us thousands of pounds so that we could
01:21:26
afford to fly back and forth to Japan over the last seven years he has also put a lot of it into the Lucy Blackman
01:21:33
trust which we set up in memory of Lucy during this emotionally exhausting period of public scrutiny Joe gia
01:21:44
borrows trial which had now been in the courts for six years finally drew to a conclusion on April 24 2007 her crowd
01:21:54
gathered in the public gallery of the Tokyo District Court has judged satto mutata he delivered the unanimous
01:22:01
verdict to reached by himself and to the two other judges presiding over the case
01:22:06
for the rape leading to death of curator Ridgeway and to the rapes of eight other
01:22:11
women judge Tochigi declared to Joji abara guilty and imposed a life sentence telling him quote he treated these women
01:22:21
as sexual objects to satisfy your last one opinion might be that these women were careless but I believed that they
01:22:29
could not anticipate your deviant behavior you repeated the same routine over eight years treating their lives
01:22:36
and their bodies carelessly it is rooted in your self-centered attitude you have
01:22:42
trampled on the dignity of women judge Tochigi then shocked the courtroom by announcing Obara was acquitted of the
01:22:51
charges relating to Lucy Blackmun's death citing a lack of evidence linking him to lose his murder and at the
01:22:58
disposal of her body judge Tochigi said while it was clear that Lucy had been with a bara prior to
01:23:06
her death the prosecution had not been able to prove without doubt that he was responsible judge Tochigi made
01:23:13
particular reference to the lack of evidence around the circumstances in which her body had been moved from the
01:23:19
site of her death to the cave where she was buried for these reasons the court was unable to fully discount the
01:23:26
possibility that someone else was involved they made it clear the document signed by Tim Blackman for the
01:23:33
condolence payment had nothing to do with the acquittal Lucy's family was devastated by the
01:23:41
verdict in a subsequent press conference Tim Blackman said I'm afraid to say the
01:23:47
lack of justice for us today has been the failure of the prosecution team to develop the case adequately there is
01:23:54
nothing that will change that Lucy is dead but in many respects Lucy has been robbed of her justice we believe our
01:24:02
family deserves to get proper justice for Lucy and to that prosecutors should strongly consider an appeal Lucy's
01:24:11
mother Jane's dear said I'm heartbroken absolutely heartbroken I just can't believe this verdict my worst fears have
01:24:22
come true the Ridgeway family stated they found comfort in O Burroughs life sentence as
01:24:29
it ensured he would no longer be able to harm innocent people both the defense center the prosecution appealed the
01:24:40
verdict with the defense maintaining oberus innocence on all charges and to the prosecution seeking another
01:24:47
opportunity to convict him for Lucy Blackmun's death after the appeal hearing in 2008
01:24:53
presiding judge here 'she Cardno ruled that georgie abara was guilty of kidnapping lucy with the intention of
01:25:00
drugging and raping her before dismembering her body at his sushi marina apartment however due to the lack
01:25:08
of physical evidence he upheld the finding of the original trial that declared Obara not guilty for causing
01:25:15
Lucy's death judge Cardno quote the Court recognizes that the defendant is responsible for damaging and abandoning
01:25:24
the body his action was ruthless and did not even give the slightest consideration to her dignity the court
01:25:33
believes the defendant kidnapped her with the intention of drugging and raping her but the court could not prove
01:25:39
he made her past hour by using chloroform or that he carried out his intentions judge Cardno upheld Oberoi's
01:25:48
life sentence and ruled out the possibility of any further appeals while the ruling didn't provide her Lucy's
01:25:56
family with the outcome they hoped for Tim Blackman told the press that Obara is now starting a life sentence for his
01:26:05
terrible crimes against the women over many decades and two that it was Lucy who finally brought him to justice his a
01:26:11
satisfactory overall result and I feel justice has finally been served Lucy's travel companion and a best
01:26:22
friend who Louise Phillips struggled in the years following Lucy's death tormented by guilt in an interview with
01:26:29
journalist Richard Boyd Perry for his book people who wait darkness she described the crushing weight of Lucy's
01:26:36
death as ever-present quote I felt guilty on my wedding day so guilty that I was getting married and she wasn't I
01:26:45
felt guilty for being happy guilty for getting older it seemed like it was my fault that I was here and she wasn't
01:26:56
in 2011 carita ridgway's mother annette brokered decades-long silence about the death of her daughter in an interview
01:27:04
with Australian magazine Women's Weekly during the interview and that candidly spoke of her fear that Obara would elude
01:27:12
justice calling the convicted killer her beast with a human face and that thinks
01:27:19
about her daughter often quote I try to be happy I know carita would want that I miss her
01:27:28
smile so I cling to that and try to be as happy as I can but it's not easy carita had her life stretching out
01:27:36
before her and to then it just stopped I lost my daughter and everything we'd ever share with her I'll never know the
01:27:44
grandchildren she might have had her future disappeared because one man wanted to satisfy some weird sexual urge
01:27:52
there's no closure not for me I won't have closure until that man is dead but even then I'm not sure that will help
01:28:02
nothing can bring carita back in the end that's all you're left with that immeasurable loss the Lucie Blackman
01:28:15
Trust is still in operation today providing support to British nationals in crisis overseas the organization
01:28:23
helps those dealing with death abduction sexual assault incidents of serious crime into missing person cases and has
01:28:31
assisted thousands of families facing international law deals Tim Blackman is currently in the process of raising
01:28:39
funds for a project titled Lucy's retreat which aims to provide a safe peaceful setting for the families of
01:28:46
missing people abroad to take rest by and to receive support the retreat will offer therapy
01:28:53
logistical problem-solving live link ups between courtrooms in the UK and around
01:28:58
for the world satellite news channels and feature a memorial garden where visitors are invited to create a peace
01:29:05
in memory of their loved ones that can be revisited over Tolan in August of 2018 as what would have been Lucy's 40th
01:29:16
birthday approached Tim Blackburn reflected on what he thought his life might have been like if she was still
01:29:21
alive he's convinced his bubbly and ambitious daughter would have built a successful career for herself
01:29:28
and to be raising a family of her own Tim Blackman quote every day you think about what she'd be doing now whether
01:29:38
she would be married whether I'd have grandchildren by her it leaves the constant chasm of emptiness when you
01:29:45
lose someone young like that you hear this word closure but it just doesn't exist in these sorts of cases the notion
01:29:54
that you just shut the door on that part of your life just doesn't happen as a father you don't want to put that burden
01:30:02
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