Who Killed Maria Marta? Episode 2 recap: 'Five Bullets and a Thingy'

Episode 2 of Who Killed Maria Marta? explores potential theories. Why was Maria Marta killed? Did her family have ties to the Mexican cartel?

The second episode of Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta? picks up shortly after the astonishing reveals from the end of the first episode, and the case takes even more strange turns from there. During the autopsy of Maria Marta, five bullets were discovered in her head, and a sixth bullet that is believed to have bounced against her skull. The examiner also discovered evidence of a struggle, revealing marks consistent with a fight on her face, legs and arms.

The violent nature of the attack, likely fueled by rage, “precipitated the public’s morbid fascination.” It was a big reason the case became so famous. Another was because of where it occurred. Carmel Country Club was supposed to be a bunker of safety during a period of great socioeconomic disparity and political unrest. Not to use the cliche, “it was a small town where nothing ever happens,” but that’s literally what life was like within the gated community.

Who Killed Maria Marta Episode 2 recap: The dueling doctors

Who Killed Maria Marta Episode 2 recap: The fake death certificate and the “thingy”

The Taylor family, close friends of the Garcia Belsunce family, were willing to help them find a mortuary on October 27, the Sunday when Maria died. They wanted someone who could sign her death certificate. First, they tried to arrange the burial in PIlar, but the local mortuary did not want to sign the death certificate without examining the body.

Next, they went to the capital, Buenos Aires, to the famous Casa Sierra Mortuary. But the death certificate they had signed there was riddled with false information, asserting that Maria had died in a Buenos Aires apartment of a heart attack.

As if that’s not weird enough, we learn that the Garcia Belsunce did other strange things the day of Maria’s death, such as instructing the Carmel guards not to let the police enter the gates under any circumstance. They allegedly were even willing to bribe the police not to come in, if need be.

Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta? Episode 1 recap: ‘A Rainy Sunday’. light. More

Then there is the strange case of the “thingy” that Horacio and John flushed down the toilet. John remains adamant that he had no idea the “thingy” would be important until they discovered Maria’s death was not accidental. After that, Maria’s brothers joined a team of investigators to dig through the septic tank (there was no sewage in Carmel) to find the missing lead piece.

After nine hours of digging through the tank and using a metal detector, they recovered the small piece. A ballistics expert confirmed it was a deformed bullet that hit against something. While the murder weapon was never discovered, the expert is confident the gun used was a .32 caliber long. The deformed bullet matched the five other projectiles found in Maria’s skull.

The next phase in the investigation included using luminol spray to discover biological traces. Prosecutor Molina Pico and his team were able to run DNA tests on the samples they found on the walls to complete a profile. The genetic patterns at the crime scene matched one woman and two men, one of whom was determined to be a relative of Maria’s.

Pico’s theory hinged upon the Garcia Belsunce family participating in a cover-up. “When I believed I had enough elements of proof, I call them for questioning under suspicion of a cover-up.”

Who Killed Maria Marta Episode 2 recap: Carlos becomes a prime suspect

The spouse will always become a main person of interest, so it wasn’t too surprising to learn Carlos was eventually arrested and taken to trial. His original alibi claimed he was at Guillermo Bartoli’s house watching the soccer game between Boca and River during the time of the crime. Bartoli said they watched the next game, Independiente vs. R. Central until Independiente scored, then Carlos left.

However, employees later testified that once the Boca vs. River game was over, and before the time he said he found Maria, Carlos had been elsewhere — which he never confessed to. His alibi fell apart. One theory suggested that when Carlos arrived home, a man and a woman were already inside, waiting for him.

Pico issued an arrest warrant for Carlos on charges of aggravated murder. Carlos turned himself in.

Who Killed Maria Marta Episode 2 recap: The other suspect

When Carlos became the case’s prime suspect, the Garcia Belsunce family did their best to turn attention to another Carmel resident named Nicolas Pachelo. Residents did not welcome him to the Carmel community as he had a previous track record with the law. It was believed he was responsible for stealing golf clubs, patio furniture and a computer.

Before her death, Maria and Carlos’s dog Tom was taken and held for ransom. They never paid the ransom for Tom because they feared that the kidnapper would escalate. Maria believed that Nicolas was the one who had taken Tom.

Also adding fuel to the Nicolas theory was the mysterious woman in pink seen on the property. Multiple neighbors said they had seen a woman dressed in a pink maid uniform that day, but there was no service personnel at the property. Biasi, along with other neighbors, attested to this, and a composite sketch was made. The family tried giving the sketch to Pico, but he refused to add it to the case file.

Well, Horacio used his own connections to go on the Mirtha Legrand television show, where he let the audience see the sketch. Nicolas’s wife happened to be the spitting image. This further ignited the media and uproar around the case and Nicolas’s contested innocence. As he started becoming a serious suspect, his mother, Silvia Ryan, committed suicide. She left letters to the prosecution behind, claiming her son is innocent and blaming the Garcia Belsunce family for her suicide.

This added to a very high profile case, creating more bloodshed, more shock value.

The Garcia Belsunce family tried to claim she killed herself because she couldn’t hide her son’s secret. Still, the prosecutor remained focused on them rather than diverting his focus to Nicolas. One of the main reasons for this is because Nicolas had an alibi. He was in Capital City at the time of the murder. Beyond that, he was willing to get a DNA test and clear his name — Maria Marta’s family refused DNA testing.

Who Killed Maria Marta Episode 2 recap: The Missing Children theory

A theory Carlos and the Garcia Belsunce family tried to push was that the charity Maria worked for, Missing Children could have been a potential lead, or at least one worth investigating. Carlos worried that Maria’s work was putting her in danger. She would go on camera, stage protests at the Obelisk with pics of missing kids and give her phone number out. The group frequently dealt with prosecutors, border police, and the military.

He didn’t think it was a job for a woman, and when he first heard about bullets in her head, he thought someone had come for her.

Well, despite all of the theories Maria’s family was putting forth, the prosecutor kept his focus on the family. They repeatedly petitioned to get him taken off of the case because they felt that he wasn’t following all potential lines of the investigation.

Pico’s leading theory was that the family had her killed for reasons including money laundering from the Mexican Juarez cartel. He believed that Nora “Pichi” Taylor, a close family friend, was a front for the cartel’s business in Argentina. He even thought someone in the family might have been using Maria’s charity work to launder money. Perhaps she found out and threatened to go to the police and was killed to keep her silent. Pico even asserts that Carlos was there when the crime occurred and then staged the scene afterward.

Pico points out that while several family members were charged with the cover-up, only Carlos was charged with both the murder and the cover-up.

As the episode winds down, it sets up what the next two episodes will explore. Despite Pico’s assertions, Carlos was adamant that he was innocent. As such, he was perfectly willing to go to trial. He wanted to prove his innocence. The rest of the family wanted to avoid court at all costs. Part 3 of Who Killed Maria Marta? will follow Carlos’s time in court.

Who Killed Maria Marta? Episode 2: Final thoughts

Based on the first two episodes alone, I’m convinced Maria’s family had something to do with her death. I’m not sure that I buy Pico’s theory of cartel involvement, but the money laundering possibility doesn’t seem as outlandish. I find it weird that John and Horacio would flush that piece of lead down the toilet, and I think it’s bizarre they all cleaned the crime scene up so fast.

Nicolas Pachelo feels like a pawn used by the family to try and deflect the blame off of themselves. However, the whole dog ransom thing is also odd. I wonder if it was her family or a different burglar (who might have ultimately killed her) that did it? But we’ll see what more is revealed within the next two episodes.

Who Killed Maria Marta? Episode 2 Grade: B+

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Carmel: Who Killed Maria Marta? Episode 2 recap: ‘Five Bullets and a Thingy’

By Mads Lennon | Nov 8, 2020