Harlan Coben’s Netflix series, Caught follows the life of a journalist who is known for her integrity, her work ethic, and her resilience. She is the kind of person who doesn’t stop looking for the truth, even if the odds aren’t in her favor. So, let’s find out what happened when she was trying to track down a predator who targeted young girls, abused them, and, in many cases, made them meet their fateful end.
Spoiler Alert
Was Ema able to find the abuser?
Ema Garay, an investigative journalist who worked for the magazine Lado Bariloche, was trying to find the man she believed had abused a lot of girls in the past. According to what Ema had been able to find out, the abuser was an adult who used to prey upon underage girls. Ema believed that he was the one who had abused Camila Costa, a girl from Bariloche, and because the perpetrator had not been found by the authorities, he was still out looking for more victims. The modus operandi that the abuser followed was that he started chatting with the girls in a game called City of Persons. He groomed them, made them feel special, influenced them until they were ready to meet him, and then took advantage of them. Ema, a couple of times, got very close to setting up a meeting with the man, but she was just not able to pin him down and find incriminating evidence against him. Ema wanted to talk to Camila too, but her godfather, a man named Leo, just wouldn’t let her. Leo ran a foundation in Bariloche to help youngsters dealing with mental health issues. Leo later figured out the motive behind Ema’s visit, and so he gave her a call and apologized to her for misbehaving. Ema met Leo, and she got to know him better. The man had dedicated his life to the rehabilitation of the kids. The property where he had opened his rehabilitation center was in the woods, as Leo believed that connecting with nature was an integral part of the healing process. Leo was a charming man, and Ema couldn’t help but get attracted to his aura. Ema and Leo ended up getting intimate during that visit, something which neither of them would have expected at the beginning. Ema was happy to have gotten in touch with Leo, as it was hard to find such an empathetic man who lived his life so selflessly. But then there came a twist in the tale. Ema was constantly trying to hunt down that abuser, and she finally got a tip that he was going to arrive at a specific location.
Ema reached that house together with her team, and she was shocked when, after a while, Leo arrived at the same place. Ema couldn’t believe that the man with whom she spent such a beautiful time could be a pedophile, but then the police recovered certain photographs and other evidence from his home that proved that Leo was, in fact, the abuser. Leo tried to get in touch with his friend Marcos; he even tried to chat with Camila’s parents, since he was quite close to them, but he realized that nobody would be able to help his cause. In fact, Camila’s father, Facu, decided to take it upon himself to track down the abuser of his daughter and kill him. Meanwhile, a girl named Martina also went missing, and it was quite convenient for people to believe that Leo was behind that, too. When Leo was on the run, he gave Ema a call and told her that he needed to talk to her since he was innocent. Ema went to meet Leo, but before they could get into it, Camila’s father, Facu, arrived there, and in a fit of rage, he ended up shooting Leo in the neck. Leo fell into the river behind him, and everybody presumed that he met his fateful end as his body was not recovered. There was a kind of earnestness in the way Leo spoke to Ema. Ema was the one who had assumed that Leo was the abuser, but now she doubted her own claims. She wanted to do in-depth research before starting anything else.
What did Briguel do with Martina in Buenos Aires?
Martina had gone to attend a party in which Ema’s son, Bruno, was also present. Bruno had stolen a boat to trespass on the premises of a mansion, and after Martina went missing, he felt guilty and somewhat responsible for what had happened. Ema’s boss was pressuring her to write a report, but she wanted to find solid evidence before tarnishing Leo’s image. The police were able to locate the campsite where Leo had been hiding for several days, and they found Martina’s phone in his backpack. Subsequently, they were also able to find Martina’s dead body lying in the forest, and since all the evidence pointed towards Leo, they concluded that he was the one who raped and killed her. Though Ema still didn’t want to believe that Leo was the killer, she couldn’t deny it any further since all the evidence pointed towards him. Ema got her report published and believed that it would be the end of the story. But it wasn’t so.
One day, Martina’s friend secretly went and left a pen drive in Ema’s car, as she wanted Ema to know the truth. So, Martina had an account on a website named ConX by the name of Anit Fiddler. It was the kind of website where young girls posted explicit content and earned money through subscriptions. One time, Martina was paid a huge amount by a man who later asked her to come to Buenos Aires and give him a live show. That man was none other than the business tycoon Fran Briguel, who owned 90 percent of the land in Bariloche. Ema first figured out that Martina had visited a hotel in Buenos Aires, and she booked the same room where the latter had stayed that night. To her surprise, Fran Briguel showed up and admitted that he had indeed paid Martina and called her to Buenos Aires. But Fran Briguel also very firmly stated that he had a strong alibi for the day when she was murdered and that he had told the police everything about it. Ema was shocked that even after knowing that he had called an underage girl with the intention of satiating his carnal desires, the police didn’t take any action against the man. Ema tried talking to the commissioner, but she realized that they were scared to take any action against such a powerful man who literally ran the entire city. Ema knew that she didn’t have any evidence to prove that Briguel had killed the girl. She was disappointed, and after meeting Briguel, she felt nauseated by the fact that a man could do something like that and still get away with it.
Who framed Leo? And why?
Ema talked to a receptionist at the hotel where Martina stayed, and she was able to get the CCTV footage from that night. To her surprise, after Fran Briguel left Martina’s room, Leo’s friend, Marcos, went to the same room and then came out together with Martina. Ema went to talk to Marcos, and he told her truthfully what had happened that night. He said that he was on the same private flight Martina had taken, which was where he met her for the first time. He said that he had gone there to make a deal with Fran, but even before the latter heard his business proposition, he asked him for a favor. Briguel told him to go to his room and calm Martina down. Briguel had tried to take advantage of the girl when she had clearly stated before that she was only there to give him a live performance. Marcos went and talked to the girl, and he told her that there was no point in going to the police since they wouldn’t do anything against Briguel.
Marcos dropped Martina at the bus stand and asked her to go back to Bariloche and forget whatever had happened. Just before getting onto her bus, Martina told Marcos that she knew that he was Leo’s friend and that she had seen him around. That’s when Marcos devised a strategy to use Martina to frame his friend. The reason why Marcos wanted to frame Leo was that he wanted to sell off the land where Leo’s foundation was located. Marcos had been fired from his job for embezzling funds, and he was in desperate need of money. Marcos stated that he was made a scapegoat by his office members, and he hadn’t committed any crime. Marcos came from a wealthy family, and once, just like the Briguels, his family owned most of the plots in Bariloche. When Marcos was young, he broke into the Briguel house together with Leo, as he believed that the family was hiding an SS insignia since it was a known fact that Fran’s mother had ties with the Nazis. Margarita, the house help, got woken up by the noise, but before she could do anything, Leo and Marcos broke a lamp, and Margarita got severely injured by the shard of glass that fell directly on her face. Fran’s mother, Edelina, coerced Marcos’ father to transfer all the properties to her if he wanted his son to stay out of prison. Marcos was sent to Buenos Aires after that, and his family almost lost every property they owned in Bariloche.
After Marcos was fired from his job, his last hope was that he would establish a trust fund, sell off the land that he had given to Leo to the Briguels, and make some money out of the deal. Marcos believed that Leo would say yes to the plan since, back in the day, the former hadn’t told anybody that he had not trespassed in the Briguel mansion alone. For years, Marcos had stayed quiet, and he believed that one day Leo would return the favor. However, Leo was absolutely against selling off his land as he cared for the children who stayed at the center, and he knew that he wouldn’t be able to get any other property like it. He wanted the children to be around nature and do all those activities that otherwise wouldn’t have been accessible to them. So, Marcos had no other option. He knew that if Leo was accused of a crime, then according to the bylaws, the property would be transferred to the original owner, which was his family. By that time, he had groomed Martina enough that she was ready to do anything for him. Martina didn’t know that she was going to implicate Leo, as Marcos had told her that it was just an intervention for his own good. So, at the end, Ema figured everything out, and she confronted Marcos. The man knew that there was no way out for him after trying to kill Ema, and when she stated in a live video that it was Marcos who framed his friend and tried to kill Ema, he took his own life by ramming his car into a truck.
Who killed Martina?
Everybody presumed that it was Marcos who was behind Martina’s murder as well, but once again, there came a twist in the narrative. Ema realized that though Marcos had used Martina for his purpose, he was not the one who had killed her. Actually, Ema saw a photograph of Martina from the party, where she was wearing a “bindi.” Ema remembered that she had seen a similar photo at Juliana’s house, who happened to be Leo’s ex-wife. Ema, together with Bruno, went to meet Juliana and found out that she was going to drop her son, Armando, at his father’s place. Ema went inside the house and found the spot where the photograph of Martina sporting a bindi on the night of the party was clicked. Now, till that point, Ema believed that Marcos had picked up Martina from the party and then killed her. But since Armando had a picture of her in the same attire and accessories, it meant that she had spent some time with him after the party. Ema asked Juliana and Armando what they were not telling her. Juliana still tried to hide the truth, but Armando decided that he didn’t want to lie anymore. He told Ema that after the party, he brought Martina to his place, and they shared an intimate moment together. Martina was at Armando’s house when she saw the video that Ema had posted online, where Leo was apprehended. Martina was shocked, and she immediately called Marcos to ask him what he had made her do.
In a state of paranoia, Martina told Armando about what she had done, and that’s when he accidentally ended up pushing her down the stairs. Juliana came back home, and she realized that, to save her son, she would have to dispose of Martina’s body. Once Juliana came back after disposing of the dead body, she realized that Martina’s mobile phone was lying in her house. By that point, she had figured out where Leo was camping, and she went there and put the mobile in his bag. Juliana didn’t feel that she had done anything wrong by hiding the truth. She knew that even if she tried telling someone what had happened, her son would be treated as a criminal in the eyes of the law. In Caught’s ending, Armando made the decision to confess what he had done. Armando surrendered himself to the authorities, and Martina’s parents got the closure they deserved.
Was Leo dead or alive?
I don’t know how it could have happened, but miraculously, Leo was alive. Facu had been arrested for murdering Leo, but his lawyer made sure that his charges were altered, and he was tried for attempted murder instead. So basically, after Leo was shot, he fell into the water, but he didn’t lose consciousness. He knew the area quite well, and so I believe he swam through the water body and somehow managed to survive.
During Caught’s ending, Leo, together with a bunch of kids, was riding on a horse through barren terrain. This meant that not only had the man been able to survive, but he had also opened another foundation wherever he had decided to settle. He never tried to come back to Bariloche, probably because he wanted to make a fresh start and also because, for the longest time, nobody knew who the real perpetrator was. It is possible that Leo will come back to Bariloche in the future once the case has been solved. One of the prime reasons behind his doing so could be that he would want to move forward with his relationship with Ema. He felt something really genuine for her, which he never got the time to explore. Ema transferred the responsibilities of her column in the newspaper to her co-worker, Vicky. Probably because she wanted to spend some downtime with her kid. Bruno always felt that Ema never gave him proper time after his father’s death. Ema’s husband had died after a woman named Ariana accidentally hit him with her vehicle. Ema was never able to forgive Ariana for what she did but maybe now things will change. Everything that had happened in Ema’s life has turned her into a workaholic but now I believe that she would seize the opportunity to spend some quality time with Bruno and give her all the love he craved for.
