Gruesome Discovery Ends Mystery
Feb. 10 -- A gruesome discovery has ended the mystery of what happened to Lucie Blackman, a young British woman who disappeared in Tokyo months ago, Japanese police said today.
Authorities confirmed parts of a woman's body — including a severed head, torso and hands — found Friday encased in concrete belonged to Blackman, who went missing on July 1.
Blackman, a 22-year-old former airline stewardess, had been working as a bar hostess in Tokyo's trendy Roppongi entertainment district.
"We have determined the identity of the body, and it is an unfortunate outcome for the parents and family of Lucie-san,"Akira Hiromitsu, head of the first investigative section of Tokyo's Metropolitan Police Department, told a news conference. Authorities used dental records to confirm their findings.
He said coroners were still investigating the cause of death.
Public attention surrounding the case has been intense, in part because crimes involving Western women are very rare in Japan, which made the case even more absorbing for the public. Posters of Blackman are posted throughout the district where she disappeared.
The possible involvement of Joji Obara, 48, a wealthy Tokyo property developer, added to the media frenzy.
A High-Profile Suspect, a Rare Crime
Tokyo police said today they would charge Obara with abandoning Blackman's corpse.
Blackman's remains were found in a 20-inch deep pit about 750 feet from an apartment owned by Obara.
Japanese police had already revealed there were links with Obara, who has been arrested on charges of raping several foreign and Japanese women.
Obara has denied any involvement in Blackman's disappearance although he has admitted having drinks with her at the bar where she worked.
At a trial for allegedly raping two foreign women last month, prosecutors told a Japanese court they found videos of Obara having sex with foreign women. Prosecutors accused him of lacing the women's drinks with pills that temporarily knocked them out.
Popular Reads
ABC News Live