The Murder of Marta del Castillo

Seventeen-year-old Marta del Castillo disappeared in Seville in 2009. Miguel Carcaño was convicted of her murder, but her body has never been recovered.

A disappearance that became a homicide case

Marta del Castillo, 17, disappeared in Seville on 24 January 2009. The search quickly became national news as police focused on people in her social circle and reconstructed her final known movements.

Changing accounts

Miguel Carcaño, Marta’s former boyfriend, confessed to killing her but gave multiple versions of what happened afterward and where her body had been taken. The changing stories led to repeated searches in different locations and deepened the family’s frustration.

Conviction

Carcaño was convicted of Marta’s murder and received a prison sentence. Other defendants faced separate accusations connected to the aftermath, but the legal outcomes did not resolve the central practical question of where Marta’s remains were placed.

Why the case remains open in the public mind

Although there is a murder conviction, Marta has never been found. Searches and renewed investigative steps have continued over the years. For her family, recovery of her remains remains a central goal, which is why the case is often described as solved in court but incomplete in reality.