Disappeared (Podcast) (Desaparecidos)

Disappeared is a highly successful podcast that reconstructs some of the most gripping real-life cases of people who vanished without explanation in Spain. Through first-hand testimonies, visits to key locations and a clear objective—to break the silence and uncover the truth—it offers an immersive journey into unresolved disappearances.

Disappeared is a documentary podcast with a unique approach. Across its first season, it explores ten real-life cases of people who vanished without a trace in Spain. Through immersive first-person storytelling, writer and journalist Eduard Buil travels to the places where each disappearance occurred, giving voice to relatives, friends and investigators who continue searching for answers.

The first episode focuses on the case of María Teresa Fernández, an eighteen-year-old who disappeared in Motril in August 2000 after sending a final message to her boyfriend: “I might be late. Wait for me.” Through interviews with her family and the investigation led by Inspector Francisco Pérez Polo, the podcast reconstructs the case while exposing early investigative failures, including delays in accepting the missing persons report and the lack of institutional support from the Andalusian government, contrasted with the personal involvement of then Prime Minister José María Aznar. Over the years, false leads, psychics, rumours and direct threats against Mari Tere’s mother only deepened the family’s suffering. Although investigators attempted to link the disappearance to serial killer Tony King, the evidence was never conclusive. By the end of the episode, Inspector Polo reveals that he has one firm suspicion: someone close to the family was the last person to see Mari Tere alive.

Episode 2, The Boy from Córdoba, tells the story of Paco Molina, a sixteen-year-old who disappeared in July 2015 after telling his family he would spend the night away from home. He met someone whose identity has never been established—and was never seen again. The central mystery remains: who was the person he met that night, and what really happened?

Episode 3, Fifteen Minutes, Fifty Metres, explores the disappearance of Francisca Cadenas, a fifty-nine-year-old woman who vanished in Hornachos, Badajoz, after walking a young girl to her parents’ car. It was an ordinary fifteen-minute walk along a familiar street, yet Francisca disappeared without a trace. Today, suspicion centres on a nearby alleyway and an alleged witness who has never spoken.

Episode 4, A Good Samaritan, examines the disappearance of Ángeles Zurera, who vanished in 2008 in Aguilar de la Frontera. A phone call lasting less than three minutes became the turning point in the investigation. Years of judicial contradictions, unanswered questions and her family’s relentless search for justice have turned the case into a symbol of institutional failure.

Episode 5, The Man Without a Heart, follows the story of Miguel Ángel Martínez, a forty-four-year-old from Bilbao who disappeared while travelling across Europe. His body was eventually found in a Swedish fjord—missing his heart—after having been in police custody. The unexplained circumstances leave his sister Blanca convinced that something does not add up.

Episode 6, Without a Trace, centres on Adelina Pintos, an eighty-one-year-old woman who disappeared from the iconic Walden 7 apartment complex in Sant Just Desvern, Catalonia. After having dinner with a friend, she returned home, but by the following morning she had vanished. In a building full of surveillance cameras, the complete absence of evidence has baffled investigators.

Episode 7, Livin’ on a Prayer, recounts the disappearance of Cristina Bergua, a sixteen-year-old who vanished in 1997 in Cornellà de Llobregat after leaving home one Sunday afternoon. Despite the decades that have passed, her case remains a powerful symbol for thousands of families living with the uncertainty of not knowing what happened to their loved ones.

Episode 8, Voices in the Dark, tells the story of Luzdivina, a sixty-five-year-old woman who disappeared while taking a walk through her neighbourhood in Barcelona. Her case has been surrounded by rumours, alleged sightings and misleading clues that have led nowhere, leaving her family trapped between hope and despair.

Episode 9, The Girl with the Green Scooter, reconstructs the final hours of Malén Ortiz, a teenager who disappeared in Mallorca in 2013 after leaving school. Security cameras captured her last known movements, but from that moment on, the trail went cold. Her mother and grandmother continue to wait for answers while investigators pursue multiple theories without reaching any certainty.

Episode 10, The Hospital of Silence, investigates the disappearance of siblings Isidre and Dolors Orrit, aged five and seventeen, who vanished from Sant Joan de Déu Hospital in Manresa in 1988. Nearly four decades later, their family is still searching for the truth, confronted with institutional silence and unanswered questions.

RELEVANT INFORMATION: More than a true crime podcast, Disappeared is a moving and deeply human portrait that combines rigorous investigative journalism, emotional storytelling and narrative tension, appealing to audiences drawn to real-life mysteries with emotional depth.

Disappeared has outstanding audiovisual adaptation potential, both as a documentary series and as a scripted drama inspired by true events. Its episodic structure—one case per episode—lends itself naturally to a television format, blending investigative journalism, first-hand testimonies and on-location reporting. Each episode contains compelling ingredients: unsolved disappearances, emotional tension, institutional failures, suspicious figures, ambiguous clues and families whose relentless search for answers becomes the heart of the story.

AUDIOVISUAL POTENTIAL: TV Series, Miniseries, Feature Film, TV Movie.

AVAILABLE LANGUAGES: Spanish.