Kriti Mehrotra
As a Jamie Crawford-directed documentary series living up to its title, Netflix’s ‘The Many Deaths of Nora Dalmasso’ really shines a light upon the life, death, and aftermath of the titular socialite’s 2006 murder. It incorporates not only archival footage but also exclusive interviews with Nora’s loved ones, local journalists, and lawyers to really underscore how the case is still unsolved after nearly 20 years. Amongst the former are actually her children, including her son Facundo Macarrón, who himself was accused, charged, and later acquitted of the horrific crime that turned his life upside down.
Facundo Macarrón Was in College When His Mother Was Killed
Born in 1986 to Nora Dalmasso and Marcelo Macarrón as the eldest of their two children, as well as their only son, Facundo Macarrón had quite a few expectations of him from early on. Since they hail from high society, where social status and prestige were everything, both he and his sister Valentina were expected to be perfect, but their mother was also their best friend. Instead of raising them to just follow the rules and be something they are not, she taught them care, kindness, and love.
However, Facundo still remembers that his relationship with his father was much different – with Marcelo being a traditional, alpha male, he wanted his son to play sports and be a jock too. This wasn’t like the former, but he still did his best to please his parents, albeit he maintains that his home life was actually very comfortable and loving, That’s how, by the time he had graduated high school and realized what he wanted to do next, he was able to relocate to Córdoba City to attend college with the unwavering blessing and support of his parents.
According to Facundo, Córdoba City is where he was on the fateful last weekend of November 2006, 215 km away from home, and he even went dancing with friends on both Friday and Saturday evenings. It was on Sunday morning when he was in his city apartment alongside a friend, and his aunt called, asking him if he was alone or with someone. His aunt then asked to speak to his friend, who told him they needed to pack their bags and go home for a while because his mother was ill. Only after Facundo had arrived at his grandmother’s home was he told the truth about Nora’s murder, shattering his heart, following which all he remembers is the media frenzy.
Facundo Macarrón Was Outed in the Months After
As per Facundo’s own accounts, books and studies have always been something that has kept him grounded, so after his mother passed away, he turned to them again for solace. He only missed one exam to ensure he was at home and there for Nora’s funeral, following which he returned to attend classes at the Catholic University of Cordoba (UCC) to continue pursuing his law degree. He was admittedly also getting away from the media since the family had been hounded day and night, even though they had made it clear they were not making any statements. Yet, instead of respecting his need for privacy, the media found the silence suspicious and decided to follow him themselves.
Facundo was there when his 16-year-old sister Valentina, who was studying in the US as an exchange student, was finally called back under the guise of Nora having been in an accident. He was also the one to break the news of the murder to her, after which he stood by his father when he finally gave a press conference to show that the family was still united. However, nothing he did seemed enough because the officials had already announced by this point that Macarrón-DNA had been recovered from the scene, so reporters allegedly started following the family to find any hidden secrets.
Eventually, they uncovered the truth about Facundo’s sexuality – he is gay and hadn’t come out of the closet in 2006, only to be forced to do so when a report about it was made public by the media. Initially, Marcelo had trouble accepting this since he couldn’t get the idea of his family name coming to an end with his son, but they had more pressing matters to deal with as the youngster was arrested. It was in late 2007 when Facundo was charged with murder and sexual abuse, with the prosecutor claiming he had killed his mother over her not being able to accept him. They accused him of driving to and fro from Córdoba on Saturday night to speak to his mother, just to kill her after an argument arose. Since Nora’s autopsy confirmed she’d had intercourse just prior to being strangled with her robe’s belt, this alluded to violent incest too.
Facundo Macarrón is Still Fighting to Bring Nora Dalmasso Justice
Thankfully, the charges against Facundo were dropped not long after, once the DNA evidence was forwarded to the FBI for consultation, and they reported that the Macarrón-DNA belonging to the son had no bearing on the crime. In other words, his DNA was there at the scene because it was his home, and he had been there not long before the fateful night to spend time with loved ones. What followed, though, was Marcelo’s arrest for his wife’s murder a few years later because the FBI was able to identify his DNA from the evidence recovered. The prosecutor then claimed the hypothesis was that this trauma doctor, who was supposed to be at a golf tournament in Uruguay, had chartered a private jet to commit the crime.
Later on, the theory changed to Marcelo having hired a hitman to kill Nora, allegedly owing to her reported affairs or her supposedly having asked him for a divorce – the latter was never proved. In the end, in 2022, after a lengthy court trial during which an expert also testified that Marcelo’s DNA could have been old since he had been intimate with his wife in the days preceding, he was acquitted for good. Since then, the family has been doing their best to finally be open about their feelings towards their mother’s murder, and Facunda has even indicated that despite everything, they remain a strong unit to this day.
In December 2024, a local floor shiner who had worked on the Macarrón home in the days before the murder, named Roberto Marcos Bárzola, was charged as a suspect for Nora’s murder. His DNA was reportedly at the scene, and even one of his hair pieces had been recovered from the victim’s groin area, so all the family and Facundo want now is true, real justice. We should mention that Facundo currently resides in Brussels, Belgium, where he serves as a Second Secretary in the Economic and Commercial Department at the Argentine Republic’s embassy to the European Union. He prefers to keep his personal life away from the limelight, yet we do know he is dedicated to fighting for justice for his mother and ensuring that he brings awareness to sexual abuse and femicide so that no one else has to go through what his mother and family did.
Read More: Roberto Barzola: Where is the Nora Dalmasso Murder Suspect Now?
