Documentary searches for answers in Canadian man's 2018 mysterious disappearance in Mexico
A new documentary hopes to shed light on the 2018 disappearance of a Canadian man in the Mexican resort town of Puerto Vallarta.
Malcom Madsen, 68, was last seen having drinks with his girlfriend, Mexican national Marcela Acosta, on October 27, 2018, according to the film Malcom is Missing.
A surveillance camera at Andale's bar that was obtained by Madsen's daughter, Brooke Mullins, shows Madsen and Acosta having a conversation at a table. Acosta can be seen digging through her purse and then getting closer to Madsen before she dumped something into his glass.
Acosta, who was 43 years old at the time, then stirs the drink with a straw and allows Madsen to have a couple of sips before she pushed the glass away. The security camera shows Madsen slowly walking behind Acosta before they exited the bar.
Madsen, a real estate agent and jeweler from Sutton, Ontario, was never seen again after he left the bar.
Canadian national Malcom Madsen (right) disappeared October 27, 2018 after visiting a bar in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, with his girlfriend, Marcela Acosta (left)
A surveillance camera shows Marcela Acosta and Malcom Madsen at the Andale's bar in Puerto Vallarta, the night he disappeared
Brooke Mullins participated in the filming of Malcom is Missing, a documentary directed by Jari Osborne and Robert Osborne that sheds light on the 2018 disappearance of Mullins' father, Malcom Madsen
In the documentary, which was screened Sunday at the Hot Docs Ted Rogers Cinema in Toronto, Mullins said her father was dating Acosta, a mother of two teenage boys who lived with her parents. He ended up buying a house with five bedrooms for Acosta and her children to live in.
Acosta told authorities that the couple had taken a taxi and gone back to her home and went to sleep. She said Malcom had already left the home when she woke up in the morning. She reported him missing five days after their date at the bar.
'He was truly in love with this woman,' Mullins said. 'And he could not see that she was using him for money.'
Mullins kept her father's disappearance a secret for the better part of the first year.
As part of the investigation, authorities in Mexico arrested Ramos in July 2020 and apprehended her brother, Alejandro Acosta, in September 2020. Her son, Andres Romero, was taken into custody in September 2021.
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ShareThe creators of Malcom is Missing, Robert and Jari Osborne, first approached Mullins about the possibility of working on the film after they came across a story about Madsen's disappearance in the Vancouver Sun and her ongoing battles with the Mexican government.
Mullins became part of the project and traveled with a crew on multiple occasions to Mexico and recalled how they had to change the cities they flew into due to conflicts that arose with cops, officials and even people from Ramos' inner circle.
She was always accompanied by a bodyguard because she did not know who to trust.
'You don't know who to be afraid or concerned about,' she said in Malcom is Missing. 'You might think the people are arrested, their family, but there's also the police that might not be very happy with me or other people over there. It's definitely intimidating, for sure.'
As part of their own investigation into Madsen's disappearance, the filmmakers also hired a spotter and a fixer to help them get around Puerto Vallarta.
According the documentary Malcom is Missing, Malcom Madsen purchased a home for his girlfriend Marcela Acosta and her teenage children after they started dating. His daughter believes Acosta was only interested in his money
Martin Acosta (left) and his sister Marcela Acosta (right) were both arrested in connection to her Canadian boyfriend's disappearance
In the documentary, Mullins, with the assistance of a lawyer in Mexico, went as far as purchasing body parts that reportedly belonged to her father to detect if there was a possible DNA match.
'We wanted to capture that element because it was something that either could have turned out to be the definitive piece of evidence, or it could have turned out to be a scam,' Robert Osborne said.
Mullins hesitated on getting the Canadian government directly involved because officials there warned that pressing their Mexican government could well hinder the case.
"If they push the Mexican authorities for information or to make arrests, or to look into things, they can often have the opposite effect. They will draw back and stop giving information and resources, so it's a very delicate balance, according to my contacts," she said.
At least 110,000 people have been reported missing in Mexico since 1964, including an estimated 38,000 since December 2018, the start of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador's term.
Brooke Mullins reveals in the documentary, Malcom is Missing, that she had to pay for body parts that allegedly belonged to her missing father to see if there was a possible DNA match
Malcom Madsen (right) was last seen walking out of a bar in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, on October 27, 2018 with his girlfriend Marcela Acosta (second to the right)
Earlier this month, the Canadian government issued a travel advisory warning residents against non-essential travel through several states in northern, central, and western Mexico.
Mullins, who has spent hundreds of thousands of dollars in attempting to get to the bottom of her father's disappearance, developed a deep appreciation for Mexico and its people, including those who have played a role in the documentary.
But she still acknowledges the dangers that visiting Mexico, which she considers 'a beautiful country,' may represent.
'But I think it's important that they realize that if something does go wrong, there in Mexico, you are on your own, as are your family if they're the ones trying to find you,' she said. 'That's what needs to change at this point. This is what I'm trying to convey in this film from my perspective.'
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