Where Is Marta? (2021) s01e01 Episode Script

THE FIRST SYMBOL IN WHICH WE RECOGNIZE
HUMANITY IS IN THE BURIALS - JACQUES LACAN
[wind blowing]
[woman] We just want to bury Marta.
We can't live
not knowing where she's rotting.
JANUARY 24, 2009
[woman] They thought she was
gonna be just another missing girl,
but her father and I are here.
As long as there is someone
from the Del Castillo Casanueva family,
this will not stand.
[unsettling music plays]
A NETFLIX DOCUMENTARY SERIES
[Marta's mother] I haven't counted
how many letters of support we've gotten.
However, in case I decide
to write back to all the people
who've shown their support,
I marked "answered" on the ones
I already wrote back to.
ANSWERED
[Marta's mother] Then, one day,
I decided to write everything down
so that I would never forget it,
although I don't really need to write
this down to know what happened that day.
But I made a decision to write it down.
Saturday, January 24th, 2009.
Antonio and I got up early.
It was 9:00 a.m. I made breakfast.
Since it was Saturday, it was time
to change the sheets on the beds,
and Marta helped me.
She was happy that day.
She couldn't stop talking about her plans
for later that afternoon.
MARTA'S MOTHER
She told me,
"Mom, I don't know what to do today."
"I might go with my friends to Nervión,"
a shopping mall.
"Maybe I'll meet Gabi and Carlos."
"Then I'm meeting Pitu,"
her friend Cristina.
"We were going to go
to an embroidery workshop in Triana."
Since Christmas was over,
she was starting to think about Holy Week.
[man in distance] Little by little,
the right forwards and the left backwards.
[procession music plays]
[man in distance] Good, Xavi. Good.
[Eva] She was a big fan
of the Hermandad de los Gitanos.
The Marcha de la Saeta song.
She played it all the time.
[crowd chattering]
[procession music plays]
[Eva] My father visited
and she begged him,
"Grandpa, can I have a little money?
I want to buy
It's kind of like a chimney
that you put incense in."
MARTA'S GRANDFATHER
[Jose] "How much is it?" I asked.
"Grandpa, five or six euros."
I said jokingly, "No, buy a can
of tomatoes and put the incense in that."
[procession music plays]
[Eva] She played it, and I said,
"Marta, for God's sake,
it's still January."
"Why are you lighting incense
and playing processionals?"
She told me, "I can't wait for April 4th."
Palm Sunday.
[crowd applauding during procession]
She was getting ready.
I said, "So, what are you doing?"
"I'm meeting Pitu."
I said, "Who's that?"
"Oh, it's Migue."
[melancholy music playing]
"Migue? What's he doing here?"
She said, "We have
to clear something up."
[melancholy music continues playing]
Miguel and Marta knew each other
because Miguel's niece
went to the same school.
[laughter]
SAN JUAN BOSCO SCHOOL
It seemed that he liked Marta,
and so he started to woo her, as they say.
And Marta seemed to like him, too.
Evidently.
She was with him for a month and a half.
They started seeing each other
during Holy Week
and broke up after the Fair.
She said, "Mom, I left him
because he's very jealous
and controlling, and I don't know"
I know she was still in love with him,
but she listened to her head
over her heart.
JANUARY 24, 2009
YES, YES. SO
WHAT ARE YOU WEARING TODAY?
I'M GETTING DRESSED. WE'LL BE IN TOUCH.
[buzzer]
GURL, I HAVE TO GO.
MIGUEL IS DOWNSTAIRS.
I'M GOING TO TALK TO HIM.
I'LL CALL YOU LATER
AND WILL TELL YOU EVERYTHING. I LOVE YOU.
SEND
[motorcycle engine purring]
I said, "Tell me about it
when you get home."
She said, "Fine."
I watched her leave. "See you later, Mom."
And I never saw her again.
[ominous music playing]
[door creaking]
[chattering]
[Antonio] I was returning from the store.
It was 5:30 p.m.
I was loaded with bags,
and she was in the doorway
talking to Miguel.
[motorcycle engine purring]
I saw Miguel had his motorcycle,
and I told her
I didn't want to see her riding on it.
That was all I said to her
that afternoon.
- [thunder rumbling]
- [motorcycle whirring]
[motorcycle whirring
fades away in distance]
That day, she made the wrong choice.
- [traffic]
- [siren wailing in distance]
[ringing tone]
[rainfall]
[ringing tone]
[ringing tone continues]
[Antonio]
Normally, she'd call to check in.
But that afternoon, she didn't.
My wife called her several times
and she didn't pick up the phone.
It'd go straight to her voicemail.
[female over voicemail]
The Orange phone you are calling
is switched off
or out of range at this time.
I had a hunch, I wasn't feeling well.
I felt like something had happened.
Something wasn't right.
MARTA'S SISTER
[Lorena] I had a gut feeling.
I thought, "She's not coming back."
Because it was very strange
that she didn't pick up her phone.
And I thought,
"Something's happened to my sister."
"My sister's not coming back."
[dog barking in distance]
[ringing tone]
[female over voicemail]
The Orange phone you are calling
is switched off
or out of range at this time.
[ringing tone]
[female over voicemail]
The Orange phone you are calling
[disconnecting tone]
[Eva] From 9:00 to 9:30,
we called Marta.
- [ringing tone]
- [Eva] No answer.
At about 10:00, I called her again.
No answer.
At 10:34 p.m., again, no answer.
I began calling her friends.
MARTA'S FRIEND
[Cristian] Eva called: "Marta hasn't come home."
"Where's Marta?"
Your daughter, who's obedient, who
always calls, and she's missing so late?
It's not normal. Something's wrong.
He told me that she'd been in the square
and left with Miguel on the motorcycle.
I called Samuel
and heard music in the background.
[upbeat dance music plays]
The first thing I thought
was that he was in a club.
I told him, "Marta hasn't come home."
"I know she's been with Miguel,
but I don't have a phone number for him."
He says, "Oh, yeah, I talked to him,
but I don't know anything."
"The only thing he told me
is that he left Marta at 12 o'clock."
Then, my husband goes like this
and says,
"It's not 12:00 yet."
[wind howling]
[male news reporter]
While half of Spain is freezing,
Andalusia is suffering
because of the rain.
Heavy rainfall
has caused flooding in Seville.
Up to 80 liters per square meter
[heavy rainfall]
[Alejandra] The night of the 24th,
I remember it like a nightmare.
MARTA'S FRIEND
Eva called me
and asked for Miguel's phone number,
because Marta hadn't come back.
I immediately called Miguel,
and he didn't pick up.
[ringing tone]
When I talked to Samuel,
he told me he was in Montequinto.
He didn't know anything about Miguel.
And the funny thing is,
when I called Cuco,
he sounded drunk.
A lot of noise.
It was weird. And
He knew nothing about Miguel.
Nobody had seen him.
Strange, because the three of them
are always together.
But that night, nobody saw anybody.
[suspenseful music plays]
[siren wailing]
VIRGEN MACARENA HOSPITAL
[Antonio] I went to the Macarena hospital,
because my first thought
was that she was in an accident,
that she got on the motorcycle
and something happened.
They said they couldn't
give me any information so
[thunder]
[Antonio] I went home.
My wife asked,
"Antonio, did you go to Miguel's?"
I said, "No"
"Why don't you go by Leon XIII?"
"Go there. It's on the ground floor."
"See if there's a light on or something."
"Maybe she went there."
"I don't know."
"Look. Just look there."
[Antonio] In the only window
with the lights on,
there was a man watching TV,
so to make sure,
I knocked on the window
and asked him, "Does Miguel live here?"
"Yes, he's in the window next door."
It was all dark inside
and the blinds were down.
I knocked on them.
[knocking]
But it was dark
and the blinds were down.
[knocking]
[rapid knocking]
Miguel had several phone numbers.
And I don't know if Eva had
one or two numbers
and her friends had the others.
[cell phone ringing]
[Eva] I finally got in touch with Miguel.
I said, "Hello, Miguel.
I'm Marta's mother."
"Marta hasn't come home,
and I know she was with you."
And he said,
"No, I left her by the glassware shop."
DIMA GLASS SHOP
[motorcycle engine revving]
[motorcycle engine whirring]
MARTA'S DOOR
I said, "No."
And that's when I felt fury, rage, fear
I don't know. A lot of feelings at once.
So I said, "I need to get
to the bottom of this."
So I called back.
[cell phone ringing]
I said, "Look, Miguel.
If my daughter doesn't come home,
know that I have family in the Civil Guard
and they'll be all over you."
"She's only 17 years old. She's a minor."
"I'm not going to"
[clears throat]
One minute.
And he simply answered, "Okay."
- And he hung up.
- [disconnecting tone]
[thunder rumbling and rainfall]
At that point, we organized the best we
could and went looking for Marta.
[suspenseful music playing]
I literally put a jacket
with my pajamas on and my boots,
and went to Seville with my mother.
Not knowing what to do,
where to go, nothing.
We were lost, stumbling in the dark.
The night was very cold,
the weather was awful.
[thunder rumbling and rainfall]
The first thing we decided
was to go to Miguel's house.
[thunder rumbling and rainfall]
[thunder rumbling louder]
My friend, my father, and I went.
I lifted the blind.
I saw everything was dark, no lights on.
[rainfall continues]
You know something's not right,
you're nervous,
but what matters the most is to find out
what happened to your friend.
[Susana] We went to Cartuja,
wandering around the river basin,
shouting her name everywhere.
I remember sitting
in my mother's car shouting "Marta"
in case she had fallen or was disoriented.
I was overwhelmed.
[siren wailing in distance]
[Antonio] I went to file a police report
because my daughter hadn't come home,
and I reported her as missing.
DIRECTORATE GENERAL OF THE POLICE
DISAPPEARANCE OF:
MARTA DEL CASTILLO CASANUEVA
The police told me,
"She must have gone to a party
or slept at a friend's."
I wasn't going to argue with them.
I filed the report,
but those words really bothered me.
MIGUEL SAID HE LEFT HER AROUND 9:30 p.m.
SAMUEL SAID MIGUEL LEFT HER AT 12:00 a.m.
AND THAT JAVI
WAS WITH HER IN THE AFTERNOON.
That night,
the police didn't search with us.
What mattered to me at that point
was to find Marta.
I wanted to find her. Period.
With her photo in my hand,
I asked around the industrial park,
the clubs, groups of young people
[crowd cheering]
The downtown area:
Torneo, Chapina, Cartuja
We went to the Nervión neighborhood
in case she happened to be there.
Then we went directly to Triana.
We gathered at the Plaza del Altozano.
That's where Samuel joined us.
[Alejandra] He arrived with wet hair
and wearing a very thin sweater.
It was a very cold night.
The first thing
that caught our attention was,
"Where is he coming from?"
He said, "I was running."
We were shocked to see him like that
because it was very cold out.
[ringing tone]
[Susana] We really wanted
to talk to Miguel,
but he wouldn't answer
any of his phone numbers.
[ringing tone]
[ringing tone continues]
So then I called Miguel's brother
to ask for Miguel's new phone number.
[ringing tone]
In the beginning, Francisco Javier was
absolutely willing to help.
However, he didn't want to give me
his brother's phone number,
but he said,
"Don't worry, I'll talk to him."
Fine.
Five minutes later, he called.
[ringing tone]
He told me that he'd spoken to his brother
and he said the same thing:
that he'd left Marta by the glassware shop
and that was it.
DIMA GLASS SHOP
We had nowhere else to look,
so we drove down the street
where Miguel and his brother lived.
And Alejandra said,
"Mom, that's Miguel's motorcycle."
[ominous music playing]
As soon as I saw the motorcycle,
it started to smell fishy.
Let's wake his brother up.
[buzzer]
[Susana] We rang the bell,
Francisco Javier answered,
he opened the door and let us in.
I wanted to go in and turn everything
upside down until I found her.
But only the parents went in,
my mother and the father
of one of our friends.
Miguel came out with his head like this
"Miguel, where did you leave Marta?
When did you leave her?"
Of course, he kept quiet,
so his brother said,
"He says he left her
in the glassware shop."
But that didn't make sense.
Why isn't he talking?
Why is his brother telling it all?
I said, "Let's go."
My mother said to me, "Alejandra,
that house stinks of bleach."
The smell was strong. So strong.
I thought, "That's bad."
[Antonio] So, that annoyed me
and we went to file an extension
of the initial report.
And I told the police
that she had gone out with a friend,
Miguel Carcaño,
who lived in Leon XIII,
and I gave them all the phone numbers
for Miguel Carcaño that we had.
DECLARANT GAVE FURTHER INFORMATION
REGARDING THE LAST PERSON WHO SAW
AND WAS WITH HIS DAUGHTER
But they told me,
"We'll wait until Monday."
I said, "What do you mean, Monday?"
"Don't the police work weekends?"
JANUARY 25 - 1:00 p.m.
15 HOURS MISSING
I walked up to a police car and asked,
"Are you looking for a missing girl?"
And I showed them
the picture of my daughter.
They said, "We don't know anything
about a missing girl."
[church bells ringing]
[Antonio] What you feel is anguish.
You don't think about what you feel,
but rather you ask yourself,
What do I do?"
"What should I do?"
"Where can I go?"
I mean Where do you go?
[Javier] I went to my sister's house,
and when I opened the door,
the sight was Dantesque.
I will never forget
my sister sitting there
and Marta's two sisters, two little girls,
trembling, crying, their confused faces
That image Terrible.
[ominous music playing]
Since Miguel Carcaño
was the last person to see her,
I decided to return there.
- Two of Marta's friends came with me.
- [handbrake cranks]
I parked on the street,
and then they said,
"Look, that's Miguel's brother's car."
[buzzer]
I rang over and over.
No one answered the door.
I pressed another buzzer
and I identified myself.
"Can you open up?"
"I'm the uncle of a girl
who has disappeared,
and we need to talk to Miguel Carcaño."
They opened the door.
I ask them,
"Does Miguel Carcaño live here?"
"Have you seen him lately?",
etcetera.
The guy tells me,
"Well, I saw Miguel Carcaño yesterday,
and I thought it was weird
because it was early in the morning
and I saw him with a wheelchair."
[suspenseful music playing]
[Javier] Something inside me broke.
I thought, "Something's happened here.
She didn't voluntarily disappear."
[banging]
I started knocking on the door again.
Then I heard the latch open and
I didn't realize
it was Miguel Carcaño's brother,
because I didn't know Miguel
or his brother.
He opened the door rather aggressively.
And he asked me
what the hell was going on,
insulting me
I said, "Pardon me,
I'm Marta del Castillo's uncle,
the girl who disappeared."
Then I noticed he calmed down,
and he said, "Come in."
When I came in, he closed the door
and left the kids outside.
[door closes]
And he simply tells me that his brother
had left Marta by her door,
his brother had gone back to Camas,
and he didn't know anything else.
I left and went to my sister's house
with that information.
I asked, "Javi, what happened?"
He said
"Sister, I have a bad feeling.
A really bad feeling."
I collapsed, I started crying
My girls were still here,
so I didn't want to
I didn't want to scream
[sniffs]
What I wanted
was for my girls to leave the house.
[Lorena] My aunt
she removed both my sister and I
from that nightmare,
so that we wouldn't suffer or know
what was happening at that time.
They told him
they had seen Miguel with a wheelchair.
That was a red flag for us.
NATIONAL POLICE
11 HOURS SINCE THE FIRST REPOR
We filed a third report
at 1:30 p.m. that day.
There was now this detail,
the wheelchair,
which was a very important detail.
POLICE
The policeman who was handling
the complaint said,
"I'm going to call the room
to see if they pick up the phone."
"It's bad timing
because we're changing shifts."
Not prioritizing cases like this
shows a complete lack of sensitivity.
UPLOAD PHOTO
NAME: MISSING
MARTA DEL CASTILLO CASANUEVA
[Alejandra]
While the police were doing nothing,
we were all on Tuenti
asking if anyone had seen her that day,
if anyone knew anything about her,
anything at all.
We were looking for any ray of hope.
COMMENTS
ANGEL: HOW AWFUL
CARLOTA: MARTAAA!
ROSA: EVERYBODY IS LOOKING FOR YOU
ISABEL: MARTA, COME BACK
CARLOS: LET'S FIND HER
CRISTINA: COME BACK
SANDRA: WE MISS U
People were mobilized.
Her school, friends, everyone.
Seville was mobilized.
35, 36, 37 COMMENTS
ANGEL: THAT'S HORRIBLE WHERE ARE YOU?
CARLOS: LET'S ALL GO OUT LOOKING FOR HER
CRISTINA: COME BACK
62, 63, 64 COMMENTS
17 HOURS SINCE THE FIRST REPOR
Back at home, we decided
to watch Miguel Carcaño's door.
"Let's see if this guy comes out.
Let's see what's going on there."
[male homicide detective]
On the 25th, at 7:15 p.m.,
homicide department received a call
that Sunday evening.
I was informed
that there was a disappearance,
that the girl's parents
were in front of a certain building,
thinking that the girl was inside,
or that someone inside could
provide a clue as to her whereabouts.
So, I decide to at least check
if the girl was inside.
I don't think it took even 15 minutes
to get there.
[Javier] That's when
the first policeman showed up.
He said, "I'm from the Homicide Division."
"In theory, the Child Protection Division,
the one handling the case,
will be in charge tomorrow."
"But I'm going
to do the first investigation."
"I'm going to go in and talk."
- [buzzer]
- [door opening]
[Javier] The person in the house
at that time was María Mendaro,
who was in a relationship
with Miguel Carcaño's brother.
EX-GIRLFRIEND
FRIENDS - FRIENDS - GIRLFRIEND
GIRLFRIEND
[male homicide detective]
María García Mendaro told me
she knew nothing about Marta del Castillo
having been inside the house.
She told me that
she had been there all night on the 24th,
that she was studying for an exam,
and that she had not left the house
until 8:30 or 9:00 in the morning.
After giving that explanation,
I asked her,
"Would you allow me
to take a look around?"
She didn't object.
We went into the apartment
and looked inside.
It smelled clean, in my opinion.
I tried to make several calls
to Miguel and his brother Francisco,
but they never picked up.
It is true that at that moment,
that raised a concern.
[police siren wailing in distance]
[Chema] You could say
that the police reacted late.
It took 17 hours
from the time Marta disappeared
until the police first showed up
at the Leon XIII apartment,
although the protocol
for the disappearance of minors
indicated that immediate action
should be taken.
And those lost hours might have been key.
MISSING
[male news reporter]
Seville's Minors' Division
is trying to locate a 17-year-old girl.
She has not been heard from
since Saturday.
[female news reporter] She is 17,
the eldest of 3 sisters
and very family-oriented.
She did not take
any clothes or personal effects.
[male news reporter 2] The police
have taken her computer and diary
in order to find some indication
of either a voluntary escape
or of someone forcibly taking her away.
I remember exactly
how we talked about it in the newsroom,
that it was a small item.
SEARCH FOR GIRL
MISSING SINCE SATURDAY NIGH
We thought it was just a 17-year-old girl
who had run away
and would eventually show up.
GOVERNMENT DELEGATE
The police chief told me
that a young woman had disappeared
and that, based on his experience,
this case gave him a very bad feeling.
MISSING
[Chema]
It was the disappearance of a minor
and, as such,
it was a Minors' Division case,
and María Jesus Cervantes was in charge.
It was perhaps the logical thing to do,
although there has been a lot of doubts
whether this was really
one of the failures,
one of the blunders of the case.
HEAD OF THE MINORS' DIVISION
[María Jesus]
One of my bosses passed it on to me
and told me I had to go back to work,
that there was a disturbing disappearance.
My colleague from the Homicide Department
informed me of the steps
he had taken that weekend.
The first steps taken
were to contact all the people
who had been with Marta that afternoon.
POLICE HEADQUARTERS
[Chema]
The police began the investigation.
They took statements from Miguel Carcaño
and the friends she was with that night.
Miguel Carcaño was 19 years old then.
He worked as a cleaner,
cleaning a bingo hall.
In January 2009,
Miguel was living in Camas
at his girlfriend's house,
or rather
at his girlfriend's family's house,
because his girlfriend, Rocío,
was only 14 years old at the time.
I think that would be
absolutely inconceivable now,
that a 14-year-old minor would live
with a 19-year-old boy in her family home.
But, for Miguel Carcaño,
it was absolutely normal.
ROCIO AND MIGUE
I LOVE U, PRINCESS
[suspenseful music playing]
MIGUEL'S VERSION
ARGANTONIO ST.
[Chema] In his first statement,
Miguel Carcaño said
that he picked Marta up at her home,
he went to the square with her
and his friends,
including "Cuco."
Later, on his motorcycle,
they went to Triana
to meet a friend of his, an embroiderer.
According to Miguel's statement,
first, they were in Leon XIII,
in his house
then he brought her
to a nearby glassware shop
next to Marta's house,
and he left her there safe and sound.
He then went to where he was living
at the time in Camas,
with his girlfriend's family,
and the first news he had
of Marta's disappearance
was at 12:10 a.m.
when Samuel called him.
[cell phone ringing]
He said that he had no idea what happened,
that he'd left Marta safe and sound
near her house,
and went back to bed.
[cell phone ringing]
Around 1:00, he said
that Eva Casanueva, Marta's mother,
called him for the first time.
And half an hour later,
Eva called him again, much more upset.
[cell phone ringing]
At around 4:20 he received
a call from his brother, Javier Delgado,
who told him to go
to the Leon XIII apartment right now.
[ringing tone]
- [Francisco Javier] How are you?
- [Miguel] What's up?
[Francisco Javier] Apparently,
someone says they saw you here
in the hallway, by the door,
at one o'clock at night, on Saturday.
[Miguel] Yeah?
[Fco. Javier] At one o'clock at night?
Where were you?
Hey, has your boss been called
to testify and all that stuff?
[Miguel] Yeah.
[Fco. Javier] You were in Camas
at 1:00 a.m., right?
- [Miguel] Me? Yeah, of course.
- [Fco. Javier] Okay.
[chattering]
[male detective] We took the wheelchair
on the afternoon of the 26th,
after taking a witness statement
from Miguel Carcaño's brother.
We asked him if he would
authorize us to go to his home
and pick up the wheelchair,
which a neighbor had said he'd seen.
He authorized us, so went there.
The forensic police seized the chair
and took it to their laboratory
to do their job.
[female reporter] The boy who
accompanied Marta home at 9:30 p.m.
has already been questioned by the police.
It's believed that this young man
was the last person
to see her that Saturday,
but yesterday, a neighbor recalled
coming across her in the doorway.
She opened the door
when she saw us coming.
She said, "Hello, Encarni."
I know it was 9:30
because I had just been shopping
and I didn't want to miss the Copla Show.
So, I said to my husband,
"Thank goodness, it's 9:30."
I knew it was that time, roughly.
MIGUEL LEAVES MARTA BY THE GLASS SHOP
[female presenter]
As always, we're live at the Copla Show.
A NEIGHBOR SEES MARTA IN THE DOORWAY
[ringing tone]
MIGUEL CALLS JAVIER
- [Fco. Javier] Hey.
- [Miguel] Javi
[Fco. Javier] What?
[Miguel] The El Diario de Sevilla
newspaper sent me a message on Tuenti.
They want me to contact them.
[Fco. Javier] No, no. Forget about it.
Besides, I saw on TV
that a neighbor saw her
in the doorway at 9:30 or 9:40, or so.
[Miguel] Okay.
[Fco. Javier] You know?
Just don't meet with or talk to anyone.
[Miguel] Okay.
[Fco. Javier] Do I make myself clear?
Don't talk to anyone.
[commotion]
JANUARY 27, 2009
FIRST PRESS CONFERENCE
[male reporter] Antonio, you've found
the strength to talk to us,
but we know Marta's mother is
She's
She is completely absent.
She's in bed sedated,
eating soup, medicated, and that's it.
She's in her room lying down and she is
When I came out
I was so overwhelmed the first time.
I don't know how many cameras I saw.
It was overwhelming.
My world fell apart.
That month and a half,
the only thing I remember is
my mother or mother-in-law
They'd wake me up, sit me up.
They gave me broth or baby food.
They would take me to the bathroom.
[reporter] Are you happy, Antonio,
with the police's performance?
- Even though there's no results?
- Yes, of course.
The police are doing their best.
Everyone's helping a lot.
[sniffs]
[female reporter] This kindness helps
at such a difficult time, doesn't it?
- A lot.
- We'll leave you in peace.
Thank you.
This doesn't come
with an instruction manual.
It grabs you, overwhelms you,
and you do the best you can.
JOURNALIS
In 2009, when Marta disappeared,
it was just another case.
But as it progressed,
I developed a relationship
with Antonio and Eva.
It became an obsession.
It's the case of my life.
[suspenseful theme tune playing]
We journalists wanted to know,
because it became
the case that opened the news.
It opened the news.
LA SEXTA NEWS
In Seville, they are still looking
for the 17-year-old
Her whereabouts are unknown. The family
Still no information on her whereabouts.
Friends and neighbors
have begun to cover the neighborhood
where she disappeared with her picture.
We ask every parent to post a picture
of my daughter on their front door,
because this could happen anywhere.
I would go out in the street
and there were posters everywhere.
In black and white, in color.
There wasn't a house
without Marta's picture on it.
MISSING
[female reporter] No means
to find Marta have been ruled out.
On social media, search platforms
have already been created.
In one of them, we can see her profile,
where she greets her friends,
friends who are now
looking for her relentlessly.
Right now, we don't know who did it
or what happened, what's going to happen.
Right now, we don't know anything.
We are
MARTA'S FRIENDS ARE DISTRAUGH
I don't know. It's very weird.
I can't explain it.
Every day, we're more anxious, more tired,
but every day is a day closer
to finding Marta, of course.
EMERGENCIES
[female operator] Emergencies
112 Andalusia. How can I help?
[male caller]
I've seen Marta del Castillo.
[female operator]
Where did you see her, sir?
[male caller] Around Santa Justa,
where she lives.
[male operator] Emergencies
112 Andalusia. How can I help you?
[male caller 2]
I know where Marta's body is.
- [male operator] Which Marta?
- [male caller 2] Marta del Castillo.
[female operator 2] This is 112.
We received a call from this number.
We were informed
that Marta del Castillo has been seen.
- [male caller 2] Yeah.
- [female operator 2] Please don't hang up.
We'll transfer you
to the National Police force.
[sirens wailing in distance]
POLICE HEADQUARTERS
[man] They called me on the phone.
They asked if I wanted
to be the private prosecutor
in the case of Marta del Castillo.
"The girl that everyone's talking about?"
"Yes, yes."
"Sure, then."
In this case, I became a liaison
between the police
and Marta del Castillo's family.
The police felt
that they should inform the family
promptly and consistently.
But at some point,
the police might feel pestered
by the requests of the family,
and the actions of the police
might feel insufficient to the family.
My daughter is out there
and the police have nothing reliable.
They're following all the leads.
Some will be good, some will be bad, but
they're lost, completely lost.
[José] From the police's point of view,
there was a concern about public image,
that sometimes Antonio can
interfere publicly
and that could be considered inconvenient,
or that did not favor
the public image of the investigation,
and so on.
I'm going to say something
[clears throat]
I don't know
There are neighbors who heard a scream.
I can't say anything more.
[Juan] If you say
how the police are working
and what leads they're pursuing,
you're jeopardizing the investigation.
Therefore, you're harming
Marta's own interest.
The police often blamed me for the fact
that as soon as Marta disappeared,
the cameras were already here.
I didn't call anyone.
No network, no newspaper, no one.
It didn't occur to me, either.
What's more, I found out a lot of things
thanks to the media.
No, they haven't explained anything to me.
I found out from you
that they're combing the river,
that there are boats and helicopters.
INSPECTOR
We continue to investigate.
We continue to examine certain clues.
We have searched close to 100 sites.
More sites
than what you read about in the press.
The police had to face
a brutal level of pressure.
People in the streets,
parents talking to the media
[crowd chants] Marta del Castillo,
Seville is with you!
Marta del Castillo, Seville is with you!
[Chema] With that pressure,
with that overwhelming social backing
and support that they had,
it played in their favor, and they used it
so that the investigation
would not only continue,
but it would not decline in the slightest.
My daughter's bed is empty,
and nothing has changed.
The culprit is fighting the police,
who seem to be
Whoever did this is winning.
I want you to do everything you can,
that's all I ask.
And put pressure on the authorities.
The pressure was huge
because it had to be.
It had to be like that.
The police had to be tough enough
to withstand that pressure
and much more.
I told them many times
that in this job, we needed to man up.
The pressure
I'm not going to lie, we wanted it.
Because
you know how this works.
There are people that,
if you don't push them
they won't do anything.
[female reporter] Wait a moment.
Excuse me, are you friends of Marta's?
Yes, but
[female officer]
Please step away from the door.
[María Jesus] Definitely,
the limits were exceeded.
It was completely excessive.
The kids were constantly harassed
so that they would talk to the media,
and there was a continuous public exposure
of the minors' images,
some of which had been given voluntarily
and some the journalists had found
by accessing their Tuenti profiles.
This was a world
that was the kids' private life.
[Chema] It overwhelmed us all.
And that also provoked excesses
and mistakes that the media made
in handling this case.
MY PHOTOS
[Chema] We journalists had to learn
the hard way how Tuenti worked,
what Tuenti was, how to access Tuenti.
Then we all created profiles on Tuenti,
because the young people
were living their lives
completely out in the open on that site.
There were many photographs
of Marta del Castillo on the site,
and we all went there
to get to know Marta,
as well as the other protagonists
for this story.
Tuenti was a key element.
JUDGE ORDERS THE CLOSURE
OF MARTA DEL CASTILLO'S PROFILE ON TUENTI
I asked for the Tuenti profiles
to be shut down,
but of course
the images had already been saved.
[ringing tone]
[Miguel] What's up?
[Fco. Javier]
Today, it was your sister-in-law's turn.
[Miguel] How did it go?
[Fco. Javier] They wanted
to ask her about you and me,
maybe in case I'm a bad guy
and I'm covering for you.
It's okay, though.
The poor girl doesn't know anything,
so what is she going to tell them?
She doesn't have a fucking clue,
I swear to fucking God.
[Fco. Javier sighs]
Sometimes I'd like
to be less clever, kiddo.
But I knew this was going
to be a big deal. Fuck me.
Don't talk to anyone,
especially journalists, the fuckers.
JANUARY 30, 2009 - 6 DAYS MISSING
[Chema] That day, the house
was searched in the presence
of Miguel Carcaño's brother,
Francisco Javier Delgado.
[male forensic expert]
We went there to detect stains
and sources of valuable evidence.
It was so clean
that nothing was visible to the eye.
Chemicals from detergents,
or whatever substance was used,
interfered with further process
of certainty testing and DNA collection.
[ringing tone]
[María] What?
[Fco. Javier] Hey,
I just got out right now.
[María] Okay.
[Fco. Javier]
They're going to take the car.
- [María] What car?
- [Fco. Javier] Mine!
- [María] You're joking! Why?
- [Fco. Javier] I have no fucking clue.
Maybe they think that
we moved the car with the girl inside.
Samuel, good afternoon.
- [Samuel] Good afternoon, María.
- You are Miguel's friend, right?
[Samuel] Yeah.
And Miguel How would you describe him?
[Samuel] Well, I consider Miguel
to be a good guy, very loving
Sometimes he has a rebellious streak.
Deep down,
he's a kid with a very good heart.
By the way, is Miguel participating
in the search for Marta?
[Samuel] No.
Like anything, the last person
to see her is the best suspect.
I don't know if the police think the same,
because they don't tell me anything.
Maybe it's someone else,
and we're all thinking
that the same suspect is this man.
The police, however, have already
questioned this boy on several occasions.
They have taken his statement.
They have not found anything strange
in any of these statements.
They have also searched his house
and have found no evidence
that could link him to the disappearance
of Marta del Castillo.
Apparently, according to the agents,
this boy could have a very good alibi.
[Fco. Javier] You start to realize
that it's all becoming complicated,
in terms with the media,
when you have journalists
in front of your house every day.
MIGUEL CARCANO'S BROTHER
[Fco. Javier] When different things
are being said on TV
every day
that Miguel
is the main suspect of something
That's when you realize
that everything
has taken a dimension beyond logic.
[ringing tone]
[female over voicemail] Orange voicemail.
Please record your message after the beep.
[beep]
[Miguel] Listen, Javi,
the police called me five minutes ago
and told me to be there in half an hour.
I'm on my way there.
If you call and I don't pick it up,
it's because I'm still there.
Okay? Goodbye.
6:00 p.m.
7:00 p.m.
POLICE HEADQUARTERS
8:00 p.m.
9:00 p.m.
10:00 p.m.
11:00 p.m.
12:00 a.m.
[ringing tone]
- [Miguel over phone] What's up?
- [Fco. Javier] Are you out?
[Miguel] Yes, I just got out now.
[Fco. Javier] What happened?
Were they hard on you?
[Miguel] You can't even imagine, man.
They tried to scare me, man.
They said they were going
to put me in jail for three days
They completely drained me
in a way that
Hell, I even cried. They wore me out
and ran me into the ground.
[Fco. Javier] Wow.
[Miguel] And everyone's saying
that she's dead,
that I've done something to her,
that if I admit I've done
something to her, they can help me.
[Fco. Javier] But you can't confess
to something you haven't done.
You just have your own truth, period.
And that's it.
[Miguel] Yeah, they said everything I say
is a lie and that you're covering for me.
[Fco. Javier]
Sure, what else are they going to say?
Everything they said
was a psychological game, you know.
I think they've gone too far.
We're not cooperating any more.
I'm getting a lawyer.
You're not going anywhere
without a lawyer, do you understand?
[crowd chants] We are all Marta!
We are all Marta!
We are all Marta! We are all Marta!
We are all Marta!
The people of Seville felt
that they had all lost a little girl.
WE ARE ALL MARTA
[Chema] And they went out into the streets
from the very first moment
to show that this girl
had to be found, no matter what.
WE ARE ALL MARTA
[crowd chants] Marta, we are with you!
[Javier] Seville went all out.
MARTA, WE LOVE YOU
They went all out for us,
and that made us see
that we were not alone in this fight.
[Eva] The demonstrations
that took place,
I, of course, was not ready for them.
I thought, "God, why didn't you give me
more strength to step out of that room,
out of that bed
and be there with my husband?
Give me more strength to be there, too,
on the front line with them."
We want this to end as soon as possible.
[male reporter] Marta's friends,
what do they think or say?
Her friends are here. I've seen them.
99% of them are here,
except for one,
who's showing his true colors.
They're all here.
If you're beating him up,
if he's got the TV networks all over him,
how can you expect him to come and help?
I mean, it
It didn't make sense.
[applause]
In fact, I asked Miguel again and again,
and he always denied it,
that he hadn't done anything,
that he was a scapegoat.
FEB 13, 2009 - 3 WEEKS MISSING
- [Fco. Javier over phone] Hello?
- [male lawyer] Javier.
[Fco. Javier] Yes.
[male lawyer] Javier.
Look, I've contacted GRUME, okay?
I have a feeling
something is going to happen today.
I don't know what is going on here,
but something has happened.
[Fco. Javier] Okay.
[ringing tone]
[Fco. Javier] Hello?
[woman] Hello,
is this Francisco Javier Delgado?
[Fco. Javier] Yes, that's me.
[woman] I am calling you
from Group 6 of the judicial police.
[Fco. Javier] How can I help?
[woman] Your brother,
Miguel Carcaño, is under arrest.
HEAD OF THE MINORS' GROUP
[María Jesus]
The fact that he was in the hallway
with a wheelchair in the early hours
of the morning was very strange to us.
We asked his girlfriend's mother
if she would voluntarily give us
the clothes that Miguel Carcaño
was wearing that night.
And she agreed.
MIGUEL CARCAÑO'S LACES
[María Jesus] We went to his house
and picked up the clothes on February 4th.
On the 13th, the forensic department
confirmed that Marta's blood
had been found on the jacket
that Miguel Carcaño
was wearing that night.
THE GENETIC PROFILE MATCHES THA
OF MARTA DEL CASTILLO CASANUEVA
FEBRUARY 14, 2009
[Juan José] I immediately became obsessed
with making sure
this would not be leaked,
and the parents find out.
THE REGIONAL GOVERNMENT OF ANDALUSIA
And I found myself with the terrible duty
of telling Marta's father
that his daughter had been murdered.
[male reporter]
Have they told you anything?
[female reporter]
Can we have your attention for a second?
- Antonio
- [man] Careful, you're going to fall.
[camera shutter clicking]
[male reporter] Any news?
- [reporter 2] Have you spoken to Antonio?
- Not yet.
- [reporter 2] Do you know?
- Antonio, it's me.
I I was half asleep
They came in
Well, I heard them, my husband
and his brother
And then I heard my mother scream
and my mother-in-law was crying out,
"Kill him, kill him."
Antonio came in and told me, "Eva"
"Miguel killed her."
And I said, "How did it happen?"
He said, "Don't worry. She didn't suffer."
[male reporter 2] We all hoped
that Marta del Castillo would be found,
but the news has come too soon,
confirming the worst of theories.
[female reporter]
Marta's ex-boyfriend
finally broke down
in front of the National Police
yesterday at dawn
[female reporter 2]
Everything seems to indicate
that Marta's murderer
was her ex-boyfriend, Miguel Carcaño.
- Miguel Carcaño.
- Miguel Carcaño.
- Miguel Carcaño.
- Miguel Carcaño.
[crowd shouts] Bastard! Scumbag!
You son of a bitch!
[police siren wailing]
THE CIVIL GUARD
[crowd yelling]
[yelling continues]
[female reporter] Although secrecy
in the proceedings continues,
Miguel Carcaño has participated
in a reconstruction of events,
as the judge has tried to establish
what happened on the night of January 24th
when Marta disappeared.
[crowd chants] Son of a bitch, murderer!
You are here, assisted by your lawyer,
and the purpose of this proceeding
is to provide a reconstruction
of the version of events
that you provided in your statement,
which was taken yesterday
in the presence of the court.
Is everything approximately
where it was on the day?
[Miguel] Yes, I was here,
and we were arguing,
and at one point, I grabbed the ashtray
and hit her here, like this.
I didn't put strength behind it.
I just grabbed it and hit her like this.
And she fell to the ground
and she didn't respond.
And then, I got nervous.
I put my head on her chest.
I couldn't hear her heart
And then I went out,
sat down and started crying.
I came back, I held her hand,
I kept talking to her,
but she wouldn't answer me.
And I stayed here
until Samuel rang the doorbell.
[buzzer, door closes]
Right now, we don't know who did it
or what happened
or what's going to happen.
Right now, we don't know anything.
We are
It's really
disgusting.
You've been sitting here with her parents.
You saw our state.
She was your friend.
And you've known what happened
since the very beginning.
I won't say
the word that I would use
to describe Samuel.
[suspenseful music playing]
SAMUEL'S VERSION
[María Jesus] Samuel told us
that in the early morning of the 24th,
Miguel contacted him.
He asked for help,
and he begged him to go to Seville.
He took a bus to El Prado,
and from El Prado, he walked to Leon XIII.
When he arrived, he saw Marta
covered in blood lying on the floor.
Miguel asked for help
in getting rid of the evidence.
They brought Marta out,
put her on the motorcycle
and went to a certain place
on a bridge in
near the Charco de la Pava.
[motorcycle whirring]
[Antonio] The government delegate
told us that Miguel hit her.
He and his friend, Samuel,
put her on a motorcycle.
They put her between them,
like a sandwich.
And they threw her in the river.
[motorcycle whirring]
The police took Miguel to the bridge,
and he even pointed to the spot
where he said
they had dumped Marta's body.
[splash]
[Antonio] When he told me
that Miguel and Samuel
had put her on the motorcycle
Imagine that.
You don't need to be a genius.
But imagine a corpse between two people
on a motorcycle,
driving through Seville
to the bridge to dump her.
Can you believe that?
[sniffs]
[sobbing]
[sobbing continues]
[clears throat]
Nobody could believe that.
How could a guy of his status
tell you that to your face?
[sniffs]
That's not true.
No one from the police
nor the government delegate
questioned that statement.
It doesn't make sense.
ALTHOUGH IT WAS OFFERED,
THE NATIONAL POLICE REFUSED
TO PARTICIPATE IN THIS DOCUMENTARY.
[thunderstorm]
[male reporter] A radical twist
in the investigation
of Marta del Castillo's murder.
Miguel Carcaño, who confessed
to murdering the Sevillian girl,
has returned to court
after changing his statement last night.
[female reporter] Antonio,
did you know, this morning,
- the police went to Leon XIII?
- Yes?
[female reporter]
They found something in the sewer.
Did you know that?
No, first time I hear this.
What did they find in the sewer?
[suspenseful music playing]
Subtitle translation by: Leyre Bastyr