Body Parts in Japan May End Mystery

Feb. 9 -- The mysterious case of the young British woman who disappeared in Tokyo months ago appeared to be heading towards a solution with Japanese police finding parts of a woman's body that could belong to Lucie Blackman.

Blackman, a 22-year-old former airline stewardess who worked as a bar hostess in Tokyo's trendy Roppongi entertainment district, went missing on July 1.

Her mysterious disappearance has gripped the Japanese media after Japanese police revealed there were links with Joji Obara, 48, a wealthy Tokyo property developer who has been arrested on charges of raping several foreign and Japanese women.

NHK national television said a partial corpse — including a head, torso and hands — had been found in a cave on a beach near the town of Miura, about 30 miles from Tokyo today.

A spokeswoman for the Tokyo Metropolitan Police Department said they were trying to identify the body parts. "It looks like a woman's body, but because it is so badly damaged, we have yet to make a final determination," she said.

But back home in Kent, England, Blackman's father feared the worst.

"The assumption is that these are parts of Lucie's body," Tim Blackman told the BBC. "I got a phone call from a member of the press in Japan and he was just telling us that parts of a body had been found and that he received this information from the police. We will have to wait if that is confirmed or not through DNA testing."

Hair in the Bathroom

For the Blackmans, the discovery is the latest in an ordeal that began the day the blonde Briton disappeared during a day-trip to the Chiba coast east of Tokyo with an unidentified man more than seven months ago.

The case has gripped Japan — where crimes involving Western women are very rare — especially after Japanese police said hairs found in Obara's apartment may be Blackman's.

Obara has denied any involvement in Blackman's disappearance although he has admitted having drinks with her at the bar where she worked.