Who is Maria Angeles Molina aka Angi and how did she kill her colleague Ana Paez?

Scottish Sun

25-04-2025

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ANGI: Fake Life, True Crime follows the jaw-dropping true story of a woman who lived a lie and ended up at the centre of two major crimes.
The Spanish Netflix documentary is set to drop on May 1, 2025. Here's what we know about Maria Angeles Molina aka Angi and her crime.
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Maria 'Angi' Molina with her former husband Juan Antonio Alvarez Litben
Credit: Netflix
Who is Maria Angeles Molina aka Angi?
Maria Angeles Molina, known as Angi, was once a boss, a millionaire, and supposedly a close friend to Ana Paez.
But that all came crashing down when she ended up murdering her.
Ana, a 35-year-old fashion designer, was found dead in a holiday flat in Barcelona on February 19, 2008.
The case stunned the public and was quickly dubbed by the media as 'The Near-Perfect Crime.'
In 2012, Angi was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the killing.
It turned out she had been living a complete double life.
She even disguised herself to take out loans and insurance policies in Paez's name, totalling more than a million euros.
All of it was set to benefit a woman named Susana B., who, according to the courts, had no idea what was going on.
She had simply left her ID behind at a photocopy shop, and Angi used it as part of the con.
The court ultimately ruled that Ana's murder was premeditated.
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The series also explores Angi's past, including her marriage to Juan Antonio Alvarez Litben, a businessman who died under strange circumstances back in 1996.
That case had gone cold until Ana's murder brought it all back into the spotlight.
How did Maria Angeles Molina or Angi kill her colleague Ana Paez?
According to the court, Molina went to Paez's flat under the pretence of inviting her out to dinner.
But in reality, she had already come up with a plan and, as the ruling put it, had 'decided to kill' Paez.
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Angi created an elaborate plan to entrap her victim
Credit: Netflix
On 19 February 2008, she invited Paez to dinner at a flat she'd rented for just three days, using Paez's name.
That same morning, Molina had withdrawn 600 euros from an account in Paez's name.
CCTV from the bank showed her walking in wearing a wig.
'With the intent of forming an alibi,' the court noted, Molina drove to Zaragoza in a Porsche to collect her father's ashes.
He had died the year before.
That evening, she returned to Barcelona.
Once back in the rented flat, she drugged Paez with a 'product the nature of which has not been identified.'
She then placed a plastic bag over Paez's head and sealed it with several strips of insulating tape.
She had obtained it from a male brothel, where she paid two sex workers to provide semen samples in a jar in order to stage the crime.
When police searched Molina's home, they found an unopened bottle of chloroform and an insurance policy from Carrefour in Paez's name.
Without yoghurts or condensed milk I am nothing.
Maria 'Angi' Molina
Her then-boyfriend also handed over a stash of documents he had discovered hidden behind the bathroom cistern, including Paez's original passport and ID card.
The Barcelona High Court stated it was 'unquestionably proven' that Molina had taken out various policies and loans using Paez's identity, based on police reports and witness testimony from bank staff who identified Molina during the trial.
Molina denied all charges.
She claimed that at the time of the murder, she was out shopping.
First, she said she had gone to El Corte Inglés to buy a watch.
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The murder was dubbed a 'near-perfect crime'
Credit: Netflix
Then, she said she had stopped by a convenience shop.
'Without yoghurts or condensed milk I am nothing,' she told the magistrates and the stunned family of Paez.
In the end, the court concluded that 'the amount and the relevance of the evidence, amply accredited,' left no doubt as to the identity of the killer.
Molina was later sentenced to 18 years for the murder, and an additional four years for falsifying documents with the aim of committing fraud.
How to watch Angi: Fake Life, True Crime?
Through interviews, archive footage and expert insight, Angi: Fake Life, True Crime paints a layered portrait of Angi, the complex and mysterious woman at the heart of the case.
The investigation explores her personality, the power dynamics in her relationships, and how some crimes can initially slip through the cracks, escaping the understanding of both investigators and the public.
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The investigation was deemed 'challenging' but 'revealing'
Credit: Netflix
Director Carlos Agulló said it had been a 'challenge' getting the material together: 'The investigation surrounding Angi: Fake Life, True Crime has been laborious and also revealing.
'In addition to the proceedings, we have reviewed more than 2,000 pages of case files, crime reports, and family files.
'We have also conducted more than 60 conversations and interviews with retired police officers, private detectives and those close to both cases.
'We have faced a multifaceted investigation, as many as Angi's multiple identities.
'It has been a challenge, a real game of mirrors, and we hope that the viewer can experience the same challenge'.
Watch Angi: Fake Life, True Crime will be available on Netflix from May 1, 2025.