The Insane True Story Behind ‘A Widow's Game'—Where Is The Real Maje Now?

Forbes

2 days ago

LA VIUDA NEGRA. Ivana Baquero as Maje in LA VIUDA NEGRA.
Netflix's latest crime thriller A Widow's Game has climbed to the No. 1 spot on the platform after its May 30 release. Viewers may be surprised to learn that the movie is inspired by one of the most shocking true crimes in Spain's history. Read on to learn more about the real-life case involving manipulation, infidelity and murder.
From director Carlos Sedes (The Asunta Case), the film takes place in August 2017, when a dead body is discovered in a parking lot in Valencia, Spain, with several stab wounds. The victim is Arturo Ferrer Puig, a newlywed who had been married to a young woman named Maje for less than a year. Skilled homicide detective Eva is assigned to the case and soon realizes that Maje's story has holes – and all signs point to a crime of passion.
'Why does a person consider that it is better to commit a murder than to get divorced? This was the question that assailed me when I first read the news about Maje and Salvador's crime," executive producer Ramón Campos said in a statement to Netflix.
'Over the years we have been trying to unravel the answer and we think we have understood, but not understood, why Maje decided to manipulate Salvador to murder a person who was undoubtedly a good person. Because this film is not about the victim. It is about the murderers. Because sometimes the answer to our actions lies not in who we are, but where we come from,' he continued.
"A Widow's Game" on Netflix
Yes, Netflix's film A Widow's Game is based on a real-life true crime case from Valencia, Spain, known as La Viuda Negra de Patraix, which translates to 'The Black Widow of Patraix' in English. The character of Maje is based on María Jesús Moreno, while her late husband, Arturo, was inspired by 35-year-old Antonio Navarro. The man who carried out the crime was Maje's boyfriend, Salvador Rodrigo.
LA VIUDA NEGRA. Ivana Baquero as Maje, Tristán Ulloa as Salva in LA VIUDA NEGRA.
María Jesús Moreno was 27 years old at the time of her late husband's murder. According to the Spanish magazine La Razón, Maje was raised in a religious family and was one of five siblings. She met Antonio while she was studying nursing. He was attending the same university as her brother and often visited the house. They officially started dating in 2011, when she was 21 and he was 30.
The couple moved into an apartment in Valencia, located in the Patraix neighborhood. She was employed at Casa de la Salud Hospital, while he worked at the El Rebollar Road Maintenance Center. The magazine reported that even before they tied the knot on Sept. 3, 2016, Maje was 'unfaithful' to her husband. Allegedly, her relationship with a physiotherapist got back to Antonio. He was about to call off the wedding, but she managed to convince him that he was the love of her life.
LA VIUDA NEGRA. Tristán Ulloa as Salva, Ivana Baquero as Maje in LA VIUDA NEGRA.
Salvador Rodrigo, who also worked at Maje's hospital, became involved in a romantic relationship with her. He was 20 years her senior, married, and the father of a daughter in her late twenties. La Razón reported that Salvador and Maje met in secret, exchanged letters, and that he attempted to leave his family to be with her. She allegedly continued seeing Salvador after her wedding to Antonio and was involved in several other extramarital affairs.
LA VIUDA NEGRA. Tristán Ulloa as Salva in LA VIUDA NEGRA.
According to La Razón, after a lunch date at Salvador's country home in Ribarroja, Maje told Salvador that her husband was psychologically abusing her. She reportedly told her boyfriend that she wanted to see her husband dead. They crafted a meticulous plan and determined that the best way to kill Antonio would be in the garage on a day that was convenient for both of their jobs.
Salvador later confessed that before the killing, he started to become nervous. He allegedly expressed his hesitations to Maje, like not wanting to kill a man he didn't even know, but she allegedly pressured him to carry out the crime, the magazine reported.
LA VIUDA NEGRA. Tristán Ulloa as Salva in LA VIUDA NEGRA.
At 7:30 a.m. on the morning of Aug. 16, 2017, as Antonio was leaving for work, Salvador hid in the couple's building garage, according to TIME. He was armed with a 15 cm kitchen knife. When Antonio came down, Salvador attacked him and stabbed him to death, piercing his lungs and heart. He discarded the murder weapon in a cesspit on his property and disposed of his bloody clothes. He then met with Maje, who had not been at the apartment during the crime. That's when Maje began playing the role of the grieving widow—including reading a farewell letter at Antonio's funeral, per La Razón.
LA VIUDA NEGRA. Pablo Molinero as Turrientes, Carmen Machi as Eva, Pepe Ocio as Bernardo in LA VIUDA ... More NEGRA.
After police weren't convinced that robbery was the motive for the killing, investigators began to focus on Maje. They tapped her phone and discovered a message to a friend in which she admitted feeling liberated after Antonio's death and said she was now collecting his €1,100 pension, La Razón reported.
Now under surveillance, Maje called Salvador for the first time since the murder on Nov. 8, 2017, and they had one of many incriminating conversations. On Jan. 2, they met in person to discuss what she would say if the police questioned her again. Ten days later, Maje and Salvador were arrested in January 2018.
While Salvador tried to take full responsibility for the murder, he changed his story after learning that Maje was romantically seeing another inmate while in custody. 'In my previous statement, I said it was all my idea. But it was both of us,' Salvador said in a recording played end of A Widow's Game.
Salvador's defense claimed that he was the victim of the obsessive love he felt for Maje. He also alleged that Maje portrayed herself as a victim of psychological and physical abuse. According to TIME, she also said that if her husband died, she wouldn't have to go through a divorce, which meant she could still receive a widow's pension and inheritance.
Meanwhile, Maje denied any involvement in her husband's death. Despite the growing evidence against her – including phone calls, incriminating text messages, and witness testimonies – Maje said she believed Salvador was only fantasizing about what he was going to do to Antonio.
In October 2020, a jury found both Maje and Salvador guilty. Maje was sentenced to 22 years in prison for murder with the aggravating circumstance of kinship. Salvador was sentenced to 17 years in prison, and both were ordered to pay €250,000 (approximately $280,000) in damages to Antonio's family.
Maje is currently serving a 22-year prison sentence at Fontcalent Prison in Alicante, Spain. She became pregnant by another inmate, and in July 2023, gave birth in police custody. She is now residing in the prison's mother-child unit, where she can stay with her baby until the child turns three, per TIME. As for the identity of the baby's father – his name is David, a prisoner convicted of a 2008 murder. They reportedly met while she was serving time at Picassent Prison.
A Widow's Game is now streaming on Netflix. Watch the official trailer below.