the keys to the Netflix series about Marta del Castillo that could turn the investigation around
Do a thorough investigation of some of the fringes that remained in the media case of the murder of Marta del Castillo and reflecting after the passage of time on the mistakes that were made is the objective of 'Where is Marta?', the first docuseries that addresses the case and that can be seen in Netflix.
"The series talks about one of the most relevant cases at the national level, the most media, and the point of view from which we have done it is important, which is get away from the noise and try to apply a look of calm and reflection”, Tells Efe Marga Luis, executive producer and scriptwriter of the series.
Produced by C Quartz Productions (Banijay Iberia) and made with the full consent and participation of the young woman's family, 'Where is Marta?' It starts that January 24, 2009, when the 17-year-old Sevillian disappeared, after meeting to speak with Miguel Carcaño, with whom she had had a relationship of little more than a month. Never came home again. 20 days after the disappearance, the Police found evidence that triggered a wave of arrests, with five defendants and the holding of two trials (one for minors and one for adults).
An unsolved story, with seven different versions of the confessed murderer, a cover-up defendant, and the victim's body missing, after being searched unsuccessfully in a river, in a garbage dump, and on vacant lots.
The miniseries directed by Paula Cons shows for the first time audios of phone calls of those involved in the days after the disappearance and has more than 20 interviews with family and friends from Marta, lawyers and other experts and professionals who lived through the case.
Year and a half of research
And, above all, it is supported by an investigation of a year and a half carried out by a team of eight journalists who managed to discover some mistakes that were made in the case. “What we discovered is that there are certain things that could have been done and were not done. It is not a question that they can be done now with the technology of 2021, it is a question that in 2009 there were certain things that could be done and we saw that there was a lack of data to be analyzed in the summary ”, explains Luis.
What was discovered by the documentary has allowed the Court of Instruction number 4 of Seville to have delivered a series of evidence to a judicial expert to analyze, including Miguel Carcaño's mobile phone.
The judge has required all telephone companies to raw data from the phones of those involved, which presumably would serve to reconstruct with the maximum detail the movements of those involved, something that had not been done before. “We want to be very careful with this, we have come to this. The series is what it arrives at, but you say, what would have happened if this had been analyzed in its day? ", Adds the producer.
During the investigation, the team held meetings with members of the constitutional Court, the Prosecutor's office, the Supreme, and the Ministry of Interior, among others. But not with the National Police, who declined the invitation.
The defendants were also contacted and the documentary appears the testimony of Francisco Javier Delgado, brother of Carcaño, who, with his back turned and hooded, continues to deny his involvement in the case. “He did not put a single barrier to any of the questions. It was a very long interview and we had a hard time preparing it because we wanted to react to their responses. He was aware that the interview was going to be tough and that he was facing something that he probably has not faced in all these years, ”he points out to Efe Cons.
In the documentary they wanted to give "everyone a voice", but always with a counter-question and then "let the viewer decide" whether or not they have answered "convincingly".
Avoid morbid
Another of the most important things about this project, Cons says, has been avoid falling into morbid, so every detail has been taken care of to the extreme. “The series is well thought out. Every decision that is made, every shot that is used, every archive image, has to have a reason ”, he explains. It has to serve to "shed some light on the causes and consequences" of a case that also portrays very well the Spanish society of the time, which was entering one of the toughest economic crises in its history.
A society in which "it is read sexism everywhere, a country that is entering a very serious crisis that is going to mark it, kids without morals, ethics, without a future, without an educational base, politicians who pressure and a thunderous noise that does not allow us to get anywhere, "he says.
