Where is Marta: How Netflix true crime documentary tackles case of Marta Del Castillo - student who disappeared in 2009

A new Netflix documentary deep dives into the murder of Marta Del Castillo – one of the continent’s most talked about missing person cases.

Fans of true crime were given a brand new documentary to binge this month with Netflix’s release of ‘Where Is Marta?’

The three part docu-series delves deep into the heartbreaking case of schoolgirl Marta Del Castillo, a 17-year-girl who mysteriously vanished from the Spanish city of Seville approximately 12 years ago.

Del Castillo’s disappearance is one of the most talked about missing person’s cases in Spanish history which sparked a city-wide search for the teenager when she was confirmed as missing after she didn’t return home to her parents late on January 24 2009.

Where Is Marta looks at the case of missing teenager Marta Del Castillo. Photo credit: Netflix.

More than a decade after she was went missing, investigators are still to recover Marta’s body due to a series of changed and misleading statements from suspects in the case. However, the new Netflix documentary – directed by Paula Cons – aims to connect the dots as it looks to bring hope to the parents of the missing girl.

The disappearance of Marta Del Castillo

Following her disappearance, it was confirmed that the teen had gone out with friends earlier in the evening, though she had failed to return home at her regular time of 9pm after going back to the home of a recent ex-boyfriend, whom she had previously been in a month-long relationship with.

As shown in the series, her last known words to the world were in a social media group chat, when she told a friend she was with 19-year-old Miguel Carcaño Delgado – her former partner. The message went on to explain that he was downstairs and had requested to speak with her.

Del Castillo did not return to the group chat and was confirmed missing shortly afterwards when her parents became concerned after she had failed to respond to numerous telephone calls and texts.

Her panicked mother, Eva, then contacted Miguel Carcano Delgado after a friend had handed on his number. Delgado told Eva that he had dropped Marta off at the Dima Glass Shop at around 9:30pm.

Delgado then rejected several following phonecalls from her parents, which led Marta’s Father, Antonio, to travel to the home of the 19-year-old.

The Netflix documentary follows what happened after in the following hours, days, months and now years, in the search for Marta, as they interrogate the ex-partner of Del Castillo, and those close to him who became increasingly connected to the disappearance of the girl.

Where is Marta? – is there new hope?

(SPOILERS)

During the murder investigation, it became evident that the Police’s prime suspects were Miguel, Francisco Javier – Miguel’s step-brother, a friend of Miguel, namely a 14-year-old boy nicknamed El Cuco – real name Francisco Javier Garcia Marn – and Samuel Benítez, Miguel’s best friend.

Each suspect changed their statements multiple times, which sadly sabotaged the investigation, as police were given numerous different versions of events about what had happened on the same night, specifically Miguel, who gave SEVEN different versions of events.

However, the new Netflix documentary finally centres on the seventh version that the 19-year-old gave.

During the making of the documentary, director Paula Cons investigated the cellphone records, discovering a host of missing information regarding the mobile phone’s antennas. Ms Cons believed these records should have given a more precise location of each suspect in the case.

She thought the prime suspects could have, in theory, moved locations to hide Marta’s body at any moment and the investigators would have been able to see that information. However, out of all the other devices, only Miguel’s phone was kept as evidence.

The director has now been given access to data from Miguel’s cellphone. Miguel’s step-brother, Francisco, had been a prime suspect in the disappearance of Marta, and new evidence about his whereabouts could lead to an uncertain turn of events.

It is thought that the data will now be used to recreate the suspects’ movements on the night of Marta’s disappearance.