Marta del Castillo’s body has never been found, despite Miguel Carcaño’s conviction for her murder. Marta disappeared in Seville on 24 January 2009, and more than 17 years later her remains have still not been recovered. Diario de Sevilla has published the first episode in a four-part video podcast examining the case.
The opening episode focuses on the early investigation into the 17-year-old’s disappearance that afternoon and the circumstances of the killing. It examines the motive and the efforts made in the hours that followed to conceal her body. Marta’s remains are still missing, keeping the question of their location central to the case for her family.
One account discussed in the programme comes from the lawyers who defended Carcaño. They reveal what happened only minutes before his trial began, when he stood alongside other accused people who were later acquitted of a concealment offence. The source material does not detail what they disclosed.
Diario de Sevilla journalist Fernando Pérez Ávila, who covers crime, moderates the discussion. It forms part of a review of what went wrong in the investigation under case file 746/2009. The passage of time has also made it possible to reassess the proceedings.
The unresolved search has remained a focus of more recent proceedings. ABC reported that the separate investigation into the location of Marta’s remains was provisionally archived until her body is found. It also reported that the parents’ request to extend examination of Carcaño’s phone records to phones used by other people connected with the case was rejected. The decisions concern the search for the remains and the scope of phone analysis; Carcaño’s murder conviction remains in place.
ABC also reported that Marta’s mother, Eva Casanueva, left flowers and a note at the home of Francisco Javier Delgado, known as “El Cuco,” and his mother after learning their new address. In the note, she asked him to take the bouquet to Marta, since she could not do so herself. The gesture was described in the Mediaset Infinity interview project Madres: voces del alma.
The podcast accompanies the publication of Marta del Castillo: las grietas de un crimen sin cuerpo, written by Diario de Sevilla editor Jorge Muñoz with contributions from Mónica Gallardo and Paloma Pérez. Inmaculada Torres also contributed. Published by El Paseo, the book revisits the case and the unresolved absence of Marta’s body.
Diario de Sevilla says the episodes are available on its website and major podcast platforms, in audio and video. RUSSPAIN has also covered a film’s portrayal of a historical death in a separate report.
