Casepin
Back to cases

Case file

Murder of Marta del Castillo

SOLVED2009Seville, Andalusia, Spain3 SOURCESUPDATED JUL 2026
Illustrative

On January 24, 2009, 17-year-old Marta del Castillo Casanueva, a high school student in Seville, Spain, went missing after leaving her family's home on Argantonio Street around 5 p.m. She had told a friend in an online chat that she was leaving to meet Miguel Carcaño Delgado, 19, whom she had been seeing casually for about a month. When she did not return, her family tried to reach her by phone and then contacted her friends, including Carcaño, who said he had walked her partway home and left her near her apartment building around 9:30 p.m. Her family grew suspicious of Carcaño in the days that followed, particularly after he moved out of Seville to live with a new girlfriend in the nearby town of Camas instead of joining the search.

Police investigated the disappearance through the National Police's Underage People Task Force and, later, its Homicide Task Force. Carcaño denied any involvement through repeated interrogations, but his new girlfriend told investigators she had seen blood on his clothing, and forensic testing matched blood found in the lining of his jacket to Del Castillo; a luminol test of his former apartment also revealed a large bloodstain on the bedroom floor. Confronted with this evidence on February 14, 2009, Carcaño confessed to killing Del Castillo during an argument and said he had disposed of her body in the Guadalquivir River with the help of a friend, Samuel Benítez Pérez. Carcaño, Benítez, Carcaño's half-brother Francisco Javier Delgado Moreno, and a 15-year-old friend, Francisco Javier García Marín, were arrested within days.

Over the following weeks, Carcaño repeatedly changed his account of the killing and the location of the body, at different points implicating García Marín, describing an alleged sexual assault before the killing, and naming a dumpster and a regional landfill as possible disposal sites. Each new account triggered a large-scale search — of the Guadalquivir River using sonar, scent dogs, and specialized retrieval equipment, and later of tens of thousands of tons of processed trash at a landfill outside Seville — but no trace of Del Castillo was ever found.

Carcaño's trial began in April 2010 on charges that included murder, rape, and desecration of a corpse; Delgado, his girlfriend María García Mendaro, and Benítez faced charges of concealing a crime and related offenses, while García Marín, a minor, was tried separately in juvenile court. On January 16, 2012, Carcaño was convicted of Del Castillo's murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison; he was acquitted of the other charges against him, and Delgado, García Mendaro, and Benítez were acquitted of all charges for lack of evidence. García Marín was convicted in juvenile court of concealing the crime and sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention center, and acquitted of rape and murder allegations. Spain's Supreme Court later upheld Carcaño's conviction and lengthened his sentence by about fifteen months, finding that his repeated, contradictory statements had caused additional harm to Del Castillo's family.

Del Castillo's remains have never been recovered, despite further searches in the years after the conviction, including renewed digs in 2013 and 2014 and a 2017 search of the Guadalquivir River based on a new forensic analysis. Carcaño has continued to offer additional, sometimes conflicting, accounts implicating Delgado, which investigators have treated with skepticism. A three-part Netflix documentary series about the case, ¿Dónde está Marta? (Where Is Marta?), was released in 2021.

Key facts

Victims
Marta del Castillo Casanueva
Date
2009
Location
Seville, Andalusia, Spain
Case status
solved

Case timeline

  1. 2009-01-24

    Marta del Castillo, 17, was last seen leaving her home in Seville, Spain, to meet her ex-boyfriend, Miguel Carcaño Delgado, and was reported missing.

  2. 2009-02-14

    Confronted with forensic evidence, Miguel Carcaño Delgado confessed to killing Del Castillo and said he had disposed of her body in the Guadalquivir River.

  3. 2009-02-16

    Carcaño and Samuel Benítez Pérez were arrested on charges of homicide and illegal detention; Carcaño's half-brother Francisco Javier Delgado Moreno and 15-year-old Francisco Javier García Marín were also arrested.

  4. 2009-03-18

    During a crime-scene reconstruction, Carcaño recanted his confession and gave a second account blaming García Marín for the killing.

  5. 2009-03-19

    Carcaño recanted again before an examining magistrate, giving a third account that described a sexual assault before the killing.

  6. 2009-05-21

    Delgado was released from custody under court-ordered conditions.

  7. 2009-12-10

    Benítez was released from custody.

  8. 2010-03-13

    A pretrial hearing was held in the case.

  9. 2010-04-12

    Carcaño's trial began before Judge Francisco de Asís Molina.

  10. 2011-01-24

    García Marín's separate trial began in juvenile court.

  11. 2011-03-24

    García Marín was convicted in juvenile court of concealing the crime and sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention center; he was acquitted of rape and murder.

  12. 2012-01-16

    Carcaño was convicted of Del Castillo's murder and sentenced to 20 years in prison; Delgado, María García Mendaro, and Benítez were acquitted of all charges for lack of evidence.

  13. 2013

    Carcaño told police that Delgado alone had killed Del Castillo, an account investigators found unconvincing.

  14. 2014

    A search of an illegal dumpsite near Seville recovered human bone fragments unrelated to the case.

  15. 2017-02-07

    A Seville judge ordered a new search of the Guadalquivir River based on a privately commissioned geophysical survey.

  16. 2017-02-24

    The search ended without finding Del Castillo's remains.

  17. 2021-11-05

    Netflix released a three-part documentary series on the case, ¿Dónde está Marta? (Where Is Marta?).

Best coverage

No approved coverage links are attached yet.

People

  • María García Mendaro

    ACQUITTED

    Delgado's girlfriend; charged with concealing a crime, desecration of a corpse, and crimes against moral integrity. Acquitted of all charges at trial on January 16, 2012, for lack of evidence.

  • Marta del Castillo Casanueva

    VICTIM

    17-year-old high school student who disappeared from Seville, Spain, on January 24, 2009; her body has never been found.

  • Miguel Carcaño Delgado

    CONVICTED

    Del Castillo's ex-boyfriend; convicted of her murder on January 16, 2012, and sentenced to 20 years in prison, later increased by about fifteen months on appeal. He was acquitted of rape and other charges, and gave numerous, contradictory accounts of the killing and body disposal.

  • Francisco Javier Delgado Moreno

    ACQUITTED

    Carcaño's older half-brother; arrested February 16, 2009, and charged with concealing a crime, desecration of a corpse, and making threats. Acquitted of all charges at trial on January 16, 2012, for lack of evidence.

  • Francisco Javier García Marín

    CONVICTED

    Friend of Carcaño's, known as "El Cuco"; a minor at the time, tried separately in juvenile court and convicted on March 24, 2011, of concealing the crime, for which he was sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention center. He was acquitted of rape and murder charges.

  • Samuel Benítez Pérez

    ACQUITTED

    Friend of Carcaño's; arrested February 16, 2009, on charges of homicide and illegal detention, later tried on charges including concealing a crime and desecration of a corpse. Acquitted of all charges at trial on January 16, 2012, for lack of evidence.

Roles reflect public records and court outcomes at the time of writing — supporting citations are on file under Sources.

Places

Seville, Andalusia, Spain

37.3891, -5.9845

View on the map

Common questions

What happened to the victim?
In January 2009, 17-year-old Marta del Castillo disappeared from Seville, Spain, after leaving home to meet her ex-boyfriend, Miguel Carcaño Delgado. Carcaño was convicted of her murder in 2012, but despite years of searches and his own shifting accounts, her body has never been found.
Where did the murder happen?
Seville, Andalusia, Spain.
Who was convicted?
Miguel Carcaño Delgado (Del Castillo's ex-boyfriend; convicted of her murder on January 16, 2012, and sentenced to 20 years in prison, later increased by about fifteen months on appeal. He was acquitted of rape and other charges, and gave numerous, contradictory accounts of the killing and body disposal.) and Francisco Javier García Marín (Friend of Carcaño's, known as "El Cuco"; a minor at the time, tried separately in juvenile court and convicted on March 24, 2011, of concealing the crime, for which he was sentenced to three years in a juvenile detention center. He was acquitted of rape and murder charges.).
What is the current status of the case?
Status: solved.
More cases in Spain

Sources

  1. ENCYCLOPEDICMurder of Marta del CastilloWikipedia · 2026-07-12
  2. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — elpais.comelpais.com · 2026-07-12
  3. PRESSContemporaneous coverage — elmundo.eselmundo.es · 2026-07-12

Record history

First published
JUL 13, 2026