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Hi, Crime Junkies. I'm your host, Ashley Flowers. And I'm Britt. And this is part two of the case of Maria Marta Garcia Belsunce. When we left off, her husband was on trial for her murder and for covering up the crime. But his defense team had a pretty good case to make against his guilt. And in a dramatic twist, they pointed the finger at an alternate suspect. So let's dive back in.
Now, Maria Marta's family had had a couple of theories since they found out that she'd been murdered. So remember how I said she was involved in a lot of philanthropy? Mm-hmm. Well, that sometimes required her to visit neighborhoods with higher crime rates. Specifically, she did a lot of work with an anti-child trafficking organization.
And Orasio says that although he'd never worried about Maria Marta because of her philanthropy, Carlos had. I mean, it required her to appear on TV, either at demonstrations or in interviews trying to publicize cases of missing children. And by definition, she was bringing attention to bad, scary people. People who had no problem doing bad, scary things. People who kidnap and traffic kids. So what if she pissed off the wrong bad guy?
So that was a theory that they explored for a minute, but they quickly decided that maybe that wasn't the most likely. Maybe the most likely suspect was someone a whole lot closer to home, a neighborhood man named Nicholas Pacello.
Nicholas's father, a famous race car driver, had actually been one of the builders of their gated community, and Nicholas lived there with his wife and kids. But this dude was a known troublemaker, a thief even. He'd been accused of breaking into homes and stealing golf clubs in the past, but he was also suspected of worse. How much worse?
I mean, not like murder, but high up there in terms of crimes for crime junkies. I mean, Maria Marta was pretty sure that he'd abducted her dog, Tom. What kind of monster? Yeah, Tom was stolen and the thief actually contacted Maria Marta and demanded a ransom.
And I'm guessing she was convinced by the voice that she heard on the other end of the phone. And not in like a, it kind of sounded like him way. I mean, she was basically like, I'm 100% certain whose voice I heard. And they didn't pay the ransom. Carlos felt like it would just encourage him. And they never got poor Tom back. Now, just to put your, you know, puppet loving crime junkie brains at ease, the reporting suggests that maybe Tom made his way to another family somehow. So like, we're going to go with that.
But ever since that incident, Maria Marta had been afraid of Nicholas. I mean, lots of neighbors were. And she also made no secret of the fact that she wanted him kicked out of the neighborhood. So she kind of made an enemy of this guy. Yeah, and to Carlos and to the rest of the family, Nicholas was an obvious suspect.
Even more so when they realized that a lockbox and the money inside it and checkbooks had apparently gone missing when Maria Marta was killed. So to them, the whole thing screamed burglary gone wrong. And if the dog ransom stuff wasn't weird enough, the Nicholas angle got even stranger.
Because not long after Maria Marta's death, word had started trickling through the various friends and family members who had come to pay their respects the night Maria Marta was killed that there was an unfamiliar woman there, like, at the home with people, like, kind of lurking about. A new maid, supposedly. Except no maids were scheduled to be there that day. So this person became known as the Woman in Pink.
And Maria Marta's family and friends went so far as to have a composite sketch made of this woman. And it turns out this sketch ended up bearing an uncanny resemblance to Nicholas's wife Ines.
But if they were neighbors, wouldn't people have known who she was? Like, she wouldn't have been an unfamiliar woman. The family might have known who she was, but you got to imagine, like, they were probably all in shock that night. There were so many people coming and going in and out, people they had to greet and accept condolences from. So I'm sure they were, like, very distracted. And it's not like they were looking out for anyone suspicious at that point. I mean, it was an accident. Right. Right.
But here's where things get extra frustrating. So they tried to turn this sketch over to Diego in, like, early days, but he just wasn't interested. I mean, he refused to even put it into his investigative file. So Orasio did a little media blast to get the sketch out. I mean, I almost can't blame him. You know, like, this theory is super compelling. It's frustrating that the family doesn't go through the proper channels, I guess. Here's the thing about all of this. Like, I...
I get what's weird. I get all the things that are weird to Diego. But we've said it a zillion times in any good investigation. You have to close the other doors to make a good case on the one you leave open. Especially when the other doors look extra sus. And here's the thing. Even though he didn't do much with the sketch, Diego at least realized that much, I guess. So he knew he had to at least talk to Nicholas, which he did.
Now, when he did, Nicholas swore that he was like 40 or 50 minutes away in the capital that evening with his mom. So alibi. Great. Except it's not really one Diego was ever really able to verify. And this is where things get like they keep getting stranger and stranger. So the day before Diego was supposedly scheduled to talk to Nicholas's mom.
She took her own life. She jumped off the top floor of her high-rise apartment.
And I guess she left behind a letter to Diego and his team proclaiming her son's innocence and blaming her death on Maria Marta's family. She addressed this note to Diego? Yeah. That's weird, right? Yeah. Now, even with all this strange stuff swirling around Nicholas, again, and this is not after the trial or whatever, this is like early days, Diego basically wrote him off as a potential suspect. Yeah.
Because he says one way or another, he basically confirmed to his own satisfaction that Nicholas was in the Capitol that evening. Now, when Carlos and his defense team call Nicholas to testify at his trial, he really doesn't want to. His lawyers filed two separate requests to excuse him. The both of them are denied.
Now, in his testimony, he mostly sticks to the story he'd already told Diego. He denies knowing Maria Marta, doesn't even know which house is hers, he says. And most importantly, he's in the capital, Buenos Aires, right? With his mom when Maria Marta was killed. Except maybe he wasn't.
Because apparently three neighborhood kids swear they saw him jogging by Maria Marta's house at the same time that she was riding her bike home. Like they saw them both at the same time. They testified to that and everything. And they're sure it was him. Completely. And they know this because like just like Maria Marta was, these kids were afraid of Nicholas. They knew exactly who he was. They'd even given him a nickname.
They called him Voldemort. And there's no doubt in their minds that it was Voldemort they saw jogging past Maria Marta's house when she was arriving back home the night she died. And like, just a side note, because I kind of got curious about where he was when his alibi witness died. You know, his mom, who was supposedly going to talk with Diego the next day.
Now, the reporting doesn't tell me, but there is footage in the Netflix series of him making a run from it from his mom's building through crowds of onlookers and media crews posted up outside. So the impression I get is that the footage is from the day she died. Meaning it's possible he was there when she died. It's possible.
Killing your mom is cold, even for some bad, bad people. And listen, he's never even been remotely charged with anything related to that. Though, important to note maybe, she wasn't his first parent who died by suicide under mysterious circumstances.
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Your more colorful life starts at an Ashley store. Shop in-store or online at ashley.com. It turns out Nicholas's father died years earlier, and his death was also ruled a suicide. But no one really bought that theory.
The common sentiment even back then was that Nicholas had killed his dad and staged the scene to look like a suicide, presumably to get his hands on his inheritance. But I'm going down a rabbit hole because it's not Nicholas who's on trial here. It's still Carlos.
So when it comes time for closing arguments, there is a big gap in Diego's presentation that doesn't escape anyone. I mean, he says nothing, not a thing about why Carlos would have killed his wife. But he talks about the money laundering thing, right? Right, no, there's not a word of that. So no mention of drug cartels at all? No. No.
And so he doesn't bring it up at trial. And even all these years later, he's like defensive about it because, again, you would think if you had the proof to back it up, you'd bring it at trial. This is your whole motive. Why wasn't it included? And in the Netflix series, he basically insists like, listen, I'm under no obligation to provide a motive. I can just provide everything else. I don't have to do that. Okay. No obligation is one thing, but like... It's a big omission, right? If you have it, you should. Right.
Right? Yeah, especially considering how much he harped on it in those court documents. And is all this what he still believes, though? To this day. Like, to this day, he is still a true believer in his theory. On July 11th, 2007, the judges are ready to render their verdict. They find Carlos not guilty on the murder charge, but on the cover-up charge, guilty.
He's sentenced to five years and six months in prison. But what murder is he covering up if it's not the one he's accused of committing? Like, if there's a cover-up of a murder... Then there should... Then there's also a murder? I cannot wrap my head around it either. It feels like they just want to give the prosecution some sort of win. It's like a sympathy verdict. Even one that makes no sense. Okay. Yeah. Yeah.
Now, before long, both Carlos and Diego appeal the verdict, and Carlos is able to post bail while that all plays out. The prosecution can appeal a not guilty verdict? Depending on the circumstances, apparently. Now, it takes the appeals nearly two full years to play out, but on June 18th of 2009, the Buenos Aires Criminal Court of Cassation issues a stunning ruling.
They uphold the conviction for the cover-up, but they also say that the exact same evidence that, quote-unquote, proved the cover-up could also prove the murder charge. So they convict Carlos of murdering Maria Marta, and they sentence him to life. They also order that he be taken into custody immediately.
Now, to set the stage, this decision is completely unprecedented. It is literally the first time that the cassation court has ever directly convicted a defendant. And it is also the first time they've ordered that that defendant be immediately imprisoned. So once again, Maria Marta's family rallies behind Carlos. Horacio goes on television denouncing the decision and proclaiming his brother-in-law's innocence, even though public sentiment is still mostly against Carlos.
But that actually does start to change slowly.
You see, Carlos starts hosting a radio show from prison. I don't know how that works. Maybe it's like a podcast in his day. It reminds me of Ear Hustle. They're podcasting from prison. This is like a little before that time. Yeah. But here we are. He's basically podcasting from prison. And the more people that tune in, the more they like him. They start to empathize with him. They even start to question all the assumptions that they'd been making about him over the years. And I totally get it.
He's interviewed quite a bit in the Netflix series, and he's a likable guy. He also comes off as being honest and sincere.
LaPrensa reports in 2010 that Carlos files a complaint with the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights, or the IACHR. And in May of 2011, Guillermo, Horacio, John, Dr. Govry-Gordon, Beatriz, and Sergio. Sergio is the neighbor. They all go on trial for their roles in the alleged cover-up.
Diego isn't the prosecutor at this time in this trial. And in November, all of the defendants except Beatriz are convicted, receiving sentences of anywhere from three years to five years in prison. They're all taken into custody. But like Carlos, after his initial conviction, they're all able to bail out within a few weeks while their appeals are litigated.
Now, fast forward to 2012, a journalist and an associate start a blog on the case. They even digitize the entire court file so that people can read it firsthand. And they put forward the theory that Maria Marta's death was a bungled burglary, which is what the family has believed all along. They point out that at the time, a lot of Argentinians kept their money in cash in their homes. Again, they basically weren't trusting the banking system.
And apparently, there were rumors that Carlos and Maria Marta did the same, that they had a million dollars stashed away, even, according to the Netflix series.
And the theory also claims that the burglary had probably been carefully timed to overlap with the soccer game and Maria Marta's weekly tennis match, which would be a time where nobody would be home. So they're thinking someone, like, cased the house and was, like, watching their schedules and was planning this. Exactly. But then there was a problem because, remember, her tennis match got rained out. So she came home too soon and basically caught the burglars in action.
Now, people are starting to, like, see this theory, buy into this theory. The public opinion is shifting a little bit. But that doesn't actually help Carlos in the court of law because he and the rest of his family, neighbor, whatever, they're all still guilty as ever. So in November of 2014, unfortunately, Guillermo succumbs to terminal cancer, which is tragic for so many reasons, including that he didn't live to see his appeal resolved.
But November isn't all bad for the family, because that's when the Supreme Court of Justice orders the lower court to reconsider Carlos' conviction. And it takes another two years, but in December of 2016, Carlos' convictions are officially vacated. He's officially acquitted, and the court orders his immediate release.
And by this time, he has been serving his time on house arrest, which is apparently a common accommodation for prisoners in Argentina over the age of 70 or those who are diagnosed with a terminal illness. And it's interesting because, like, when they release him, they also give this written opinion, and it is mega critical of Diego. And it calls for a legit, serious investigation into Maria Marta's death. And thankfully, a new set of prosecutors announced their intent to do just that.
And not a minute too soon either. Because as of Carlos's release, they have roughly 10 months until the 15-year statute of limitations on her murder expires. Which this is really interesting because like Diego was brought in for a real legitimate investigation of the murder in the first place. And this is where we are now. I know. Oh my gosh. I know.
Well, those 10 months that they have, they start to tick by one by one. And I mean, they get down to the freaking wire. But on October 7th, with just 20 days to spare, prosecutors issue official summonses to both Nicholas and his now ex-wife Inez. And these require them to appear for interrogations over the coming weeks, which thankfully actually pauses the statute of limitations while they do this.
And I don't know exactly how it works, like if you can pause for a set amount of time for as long as you're doing X, Y, and Z, but I know that they're able to hold everything off until March of 2019. And that is when they announced that they're moving forward with charges against Nicholas and, surprise twist, two former neighborhood security guards.
One named Norberto Glennon and the other named Jose Ramon Alejandro Ortiz. Ring a bell?
Maybe. Jose Ortiz was literally the dude on the golf cart when Carlos rolled up that day. Like, he was the first person there at the scene. Oh, shit. I know. Was their DNA found? Or how did we get here? So that's what's wild to me. Their DNA wasn't the unknown DNA at the scene. It didn't belong to the guards, and it's not Nicholas's.
The courts even forced Nicholas's wife, Inez, well, again, now his ex-wife, they forced her to submit a sample to be compared with the unknown female profile, but she wasn't a match either, which to me is a little baffling. Like, I can't quite explain it. But DNA or no DNA, Nicholas is still looking pretty good for this crime. For one, it's determined that he most definitely was in the neighborhood at the time of the murder, which is thought to have occurred around 6.30 p.m.,
And they know this because he's recorded returning that evening at 5.30 p.m. and then leaving again at 6.59. And, by the way, one thing I haven't mentioned is that Nicholas up and moved within a few months of Maria Marta's death. Like,
literally right as her death was being investigated as a homicide? Because of course he did. According to reporting in La Prensa, prosecutors even determined that Nicholas had contacted five different real estate agencies about selling his house for less than fair market value. And when did he contact those real estate agencies? The day after Maria Marta's murder.
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Nicholas also asked people about the murder at a gas station bar or restaurant that same day. When everyone else thought it was an accident. Bingo. And I know I mentioned earlier that he was suspected of a few other burglaries in the neighborhood, even at the time of Maria Marta's death.
Well, it turns out that one of those other victims who had a set of golf clubs stolen found his stolen golf clubs for sale at what I'm assuming loosely translates to like a pawn shop. And when he asked who brought them in, the store owner gave the name Nicholas Ryan. Wait, I thought his last name was Pachello. It is. It is. Guess what his mom's last name is? Oh, clever. Yeah, he really went like out of the box there.
And according to reporting by Gustavo Carabajal for La Nacion, the neighborhood management even asked him to move out after this. And he refused, so they decided to have a guard monitor his comings and goings. So I know it's a little roundabout way there, but like that's how they know he was freaking there. Which is a great idea. Like someone should be monitoring this guy, right? Except the guard that they assigned that task to was legally blind and, quote, suffered from advanced degenerative myopia.
The testimony at his trial, which starts on July 13th, 2022, is damning. And just an FYI, this trial is about Maria Marta's murder, but he is also being tried for like eight to 10 other residential burglaries in and around Buenos Aires in the same proceeding. And there are two sets of guards being tried with him for specific burglaries. Jose and Noberto for the one at Carlos and Maria Marta's, and then two other neighborhood guards for some burglaries in that neighborhood.
A friend of his dad's testifies that Nicholas asked him just after the murder what would happen if the quote-unquote weapon that killed Maria Marta was never found. And again, he's asking when the closest thing to a weapon as far as anyone else was concerned were like low ceiling beams or maybe a bathtub faucet. And again, to go to like this guy's history, according to the police chief at the time, this dude apparently lit his brother on fire once. Wow.
Which is not totally on point here, I know, but like, I just think completely disturbing. Yeah. And apparently this guy, this retired chief, says that he thought Nicholas was their perp all along, but Diego was the one who called the shots. And...
If two's company, three's a crowd, and we're dealing with a crowd because he's not even the only former police chief to testify to this. There's another along with the head of the neighborhood security. And all three say that Nicholas was the obvious suspect, that all signs pointed toward him, and that Diego shut down any attempts to seriously investigate him. Okay, so what you're saying is,
Diego accused the family of blocking the cops from investigating, but he was actually doing exactly that. Yeah, I wasn't thinking it that way, but 100%. And the allegations against Diego aren't even limited to defensive moves either. According to a complaint filed by Carlos and one of Maria Marta's sisters, Diego shared secret wiretaps with Nicholas's attorney throughout Carlos's trial, wiretaps that no one else even knew existed.
And then remember Nicholas's dear old dad? Well, a LaPrensa article reports on the testimony of a car dealer who says that he'd confronted Nicholas about a bounced check one time, only to be met with the response, quote,
So he admitted to killing his dad? According to this guy at the car dealership. And he apparently also vandalized the guy's office. And according to more reporting in La Prensa, said to him, quote,
I didn't set your agency on fire because I know you are a good person. Which is just a barely veiled threat to set the place on fire. Kind of like a, wow, lovely place you got here. It'd be a shame if something happened to it. Exactly. And that's exactly how the guy took it, too. The prosecution also discloses that a cellmate of Nicholas's named Marcello had come forward and told them that Nicholas confessed to the murder. But unfortunately, by the time of the trial, Marcello had passed away.
Now, a woman who did housekeeping for friends of Carlos and Maria Marta testifies about going on a walk one evening soon after their dog Tom was taken. And she apparently ran into Nicholas's housekeeper who told her that Nicholas had Tom and expected a ransom for him.
And then a dog breeder named Florindo is called to testify, and he says that Nicholas randomly dropped a dog matching Tom's description off for him to take care of and then never came back to get him, claiming that the dog was his brother's or something. And not to sound too much like the king of early aughts infomercials, Billy Mays, but wait, there's more. Let me tell you the story of another Maria Marta. This one, Maria Marta Oreco.
And side note, I've seen some reporting that states her last name was Oge, so there's some conflicting info out there. But anyways, this Maria Marta was shot at in her apartment on September 13th, 2003, when she walked in on a burglary in progress.
The burglar demanded her personal safe at gunpoint. Like the lockbox that was taken from the other Maria Marta's house. Paying attention. Now, I don't know when or how this 2003 burglary got connected to Nicholas. I would guess it wasn't for many years because I can't imagine it not being brought up at like the other trials if the connection had already been made. But at some point, Nicholas pled guilty to this other Maria Marta case.
admitted it was him, the gun, the shooting, the safe. I mean, the victim's name? Right down to the victim's name. Yeah, Maria Marta. Although I'm guessing that was just a coincidence. And he goes on to confess to some, but not all of the burglaries that he was currently on trial for.
And he admits to conducting extensive surveillance ahead of time to ensure that no one was home when he and his alleged accomplices, those security guards that I mentioned earlier, entered. Which is exactly what he's thought to have done at Maria Marta and Carlos' house until his plan got derailed when Maria Marta came home early.
Now, when prosecutors close their case, they actually end up dropping charges against Noberto and Jose, which seems like the right decision, I think. I mean, there really wasn't anything tying them to the crime other than Jose being outside the house on a golf cart when Carlos got home. But we know Beatriz really was at the security gate waiting to be let in. So maybe his explanation was true all along. I don't know.
And for Nicholas, they're requesting a life sentence. But before the verdict is even announced, whispers start going around that the judges are going to acquit Nicholas, at least on the murder charge. Maria Marta's brother John is quoted in La Prensa as saying, "'Tomorrow I think they are going to kill Maria Marta again.'"
But that's actually not where Maria Marta's story ends. Because prosecutors appealed Nicholas's acquittal. And just this past Wednesday, literally last week on March 27, 2024, Buenos Aires Times reported that the criminal court of appeals there has decided to reverse the acquittal. What? What?
After reviewing the case, they have found Nicholas Pacello guilty of the murder of Maria Marta Garcia Belsunce, and they have sentenced him to life in prison. So this was super recent, but...
Finally. I know. We literally like had this episode out in the fan club and did an update. And we're recording this on Monday to get it out on Tuesday. We could not have planned this. I didn't even know that the appeal was happening. So this is very strange timing. But it is finally a huge win in the search for justice for Maria Marta and her family. But I can't help but think about how much time was lost in the last two decades. Not only did people in Maria Marta's life lose her, but they lost their freedom.
Her death set off a series of tragic events that took down the people she loved most one by one like this cruel game of dominoes. But at least now their fight is over. Maria Marta can rest in peace, and I hope her family can find some closure and peace as well, knowing that the true man responsible for killing her will be behind bars for the rest of his life.
You can find all the source material for this episode on our website, CrimeJunkiePodcast.com. And you can follow us on Instagram at Crime Junkie Podcast. We'll be back next week with a brand new episode. Crime Junkie is an AudioChuck production. So, what do you think, Chuck? Do you approve?
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