Netflix true-crime documentary 'Missing: The Lucie Blackman Case' tells the harrowing story of a British traveler who went missing in Tokyo. That was just the tip of the iceberg.

A former flight attendant, Blackman vanished just three weeks after moving to Tokyo for a year of exploration.

She had been working as a nightclub hostess at the time of her disappearance.

After a complicated police investigation hampered by cultural differences and red herrings, the trail of evidence eventually led police to Joji Obara.

Obara, a wealthy Korean-Japanese property magnate, who is described in the film as a "loner," met Blackman while she was working at the Casablanca club in Roppongi, Tokyo.

After he took her on a paid date on July 1, he took her back to an apartment he owned in Miura, Kanagawa, where he drugged and raped her.

Blackman died the same night. Her dismembered body was found in a shallow grave near Obara's home on February 9, 2001.

Prior to finding Blackman's body, a number of other women came forward to police claiming to have been drugged and raped by Obara.

Upon searching his properties, police found hundreds of videos of Obara committing such heinous acts against numerous women, as well as a notebook in which he wrote that he had decided to "dedicate" himself to "becoming evil."

They also found metal attachments on his ceilings which he had used to tie his victims up by their legs.

One of the videos found by police showed Obara drugging and raping Carita Ridgway, an Australian model who died in February 1992 due to liver failure. It was later found that Ridgway's death had been caused by an overdose of chloroform administered by Obara.

As well as being charged in relation to Blackman, whose body had yet to be found, Obara was also charged with raping eight other women and the manslaughter of Ridgway.

On April 24, 2007, despite pleading innocent, he was found guilty of the latter and sentenced to life in prison. He was acquitted of Blackman's rape and murder, however, due to a lack of forensic evidence, despite her body having been found during the trial.

Tim Blackman said he felt his daughter had not been served justice and lodged an appeal. 

On March 25, 2008, an appeal trial commenced in the Tokyo High Court.

In December 2008, Obara was found guilty on the counts of abduction, dismemberment, and disposal of Blackman's body.

Per the Times of London, there was insufficient evidence to prove that he had caused Blackman's death.

"To violate the dignity of so many victims, using drugs, in order to satisfy his lust, is unprecedented and extremely evil, and there are no extenuating circumstances for acts based on determined and twisted motives," said head judge Hiroshi Kadono in a judgment.

Obara received a life sentence.

After the verdict, Blackman's mother, Jane Steare, said: "This has been a harrowing ordeal, not just for today, but for over eight years. But at last, we have two guilty verdicts and a life sentence. Today, truth and honor have prevailed, not only for Lucie, but for all victims of violent sexual crime."

Blackman's father, Tim, told the Times of London: "It is fantastic, and completely unexpected, and no less than Lucie deserves. It sounds churlish to say it's a pity that this didn't happen years ago, because it's been such a long haul, such a merciless torture. But for the police and prosecutors to get him like this is a great achievement."

Obara appealed his life sentence in December 2009, per the Times of London, but his appeal was rejected by the Supreme Court of Japan in December 2010, and his sentence was upheld.

Now 70, he remains behind bars.