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

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

Forbes02-06-2025
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.
Orange background

Try Our AI Features

Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:

Comments

No comments yet...

Related Articles

Man charged with murdering great-grandparents who died in arson attack
Man charged with murdering great-grandparents who died in arson attack

Yahoo

timea minute ago

  • Yahoo

Man charged with murdering great-grandparents who died in arson attack

A man has been charged with the murder of two great-grandparents who died after an arson attack on their home. Eric Greener, 77, and his partner Sheila Jackson, 83, died following the fire at their home in St Helens, Merseyside, in the early hours of July 15. Lee Owens, 46, of no fixed address, was charged with two counts of murder and arson with intent to endanger life on Friday, Merseyside Police said. He has been remanded in custody and will appear at Liverpool Magistrates' Court on Saturday. A 31-year-old man from St Helens who was arrested on suspicion of murder remains on conditional bail, the force said.

Teenager with ‘unhealthy interest' in knives guilty of 18-year-old's murder
Teenager with ‘unhealthy interest' in knives guilty of 18-year-old's murder

Yahoo

time31 minutes ago

  • Yahoo

Teenager with ‘unhealthy interest' in knives guilty of 18-year-old's murder

A balaclava-clad teenager who had an 'unhealthy interest' in knives, and grinned before fatally stabbing an 18-year-old man through the heart with a Rambo-style knife, has been found guilty of murder. Charles Hartle, who was 17 at the time, carried out the 'utterly pointless killing' when he attacked Noah Smedley on a dark street in Ilkeston, Derbyshire, on the evening of December 28 last year, with the knife he kept hidden in his tracksuit bottoms. Hartle, of Station Road, Stanley, was found guilty of murdering Mr Smedley on Friday, after a two-week trial at Derby Crown Court, Derbyshire Police said. Prosecution counsel Adrian Langdale KC said that as Hartle moved towards Mr Smedley, he 'grinned or smiled before deliberately aiming for and stabbing him in the chest'. The court was told that Hartle and his friends had arranged to meet Mr Smedley, who arrived at the scene on an electric scooter and sold them cannabis. Mr Langdale said the defendant regularly carried a Rambo-style knife for 'the kudos and bravado' and to show others he was a 'big man'. Derbyshire Police said Hartle, who liked to go by the nickname Lil Cee, went to meet his girlfriend at a house party after stabbing Mr Smedley in the heart. Witnesses at the party reportedly saw him confess to her what he had done and produce the knife, which has never been recovered. Hartle then travelled to Derby city centre to distance himself from the scene, where Mr Smedley had been found by members of the public at about 8.20pm. He was pronounced dead just before 9pm. In the hours after the murder, Hartle disposed of his clothing, the knife, and his phone, before eventually handing himself in at Ilkeston police station. In a prepared statement given to police, Hartle said he accepted inflicting the injury on Mr Smedley but felt he had acted in self-defence. He said: 'There is a history to this, and Noah and I did not get on. He has, in the past, made numerous threats to me and made disparaging comments. He has threatened me with violence. 'I was petrified that he was about to lunge at me. In that split second, I instinctively lashed out with the knife I had, in self-defence.' Detective Constable Emma Barnes-Marriott, of Derbyshire Police, said: 'Noah was an unarmed teenager, who was simply meeting with friends on the night Charles Hartle decided to end his life. 'Noah did not threaten Hartle and showed nothing but friendliness towards him that evening, and yet he was brutally murdered. 'Charles Hartle is a callous and calculating young man, who has shown no recognition or remorse for taking another teenager's life. 'He carried a knife with the intention to use it, over what appears to be a petty disagreement that only he was aware of, and a sense of bravado. 'I'd like to thank Noah's family for their support during our investigation and the trial. 'No family should have to go through the ordeal of losing a loved one, especially at such a young age, and to have to relive their last moments at trial is an additional blow that Hartle could have spared them from. 'Instead, despite overwhelming evidence, he remained silent and refused to take responsibility for Noah's murder. 'I know that nothing will bring Noah back but hope that today's verdict has provided his family with some comfort that justice has been done.' Hartle will be sentenced at Derby Crown Court on August 22.

Bryan Kohberger Grilled Tinder Match About the ‘Worst Way to Die' Weeks Before Idaho Murders
Bryan Kohberger Grilled Tinder Match About the ‘Worst Way to Die' Weeks Before Idaho Murders

Yahoo

timean hour ago

  • Yahoo

Bryan Kohberger Grilled Tinder Match About the ‘Worst Way to Die' Weeks Before Idaho Murders

Bryan Kohberger waved red flags to a former match on Tinder by questioning her about murder weapons and death in the weeks that led up to the gruesome slayings of four college students. A woman only referred to as 'KC' and 'C' in newly-released documents obtained by E! News told an investigator that she matched with Kohberger one or two months before the Idaho four – Ethan Chapin, 20, Xana Kernodle, 20, Madison Mogen, 21, and Kaylee Goncalves, 21 – were killed. Kohberger, 30, mentioned that he was a criminology student at Washington State University during their conversation, and at one point, the woman said she discussed her friend who had been murdered in her town 'a couple years prior,' Detective Brett Payne wrote in a March 2024 filing. 'The conversation turned to horror movies and which ones C liked the most. C told Kohberger she liked the Rob Zombie Halloween movies,' the report continued. 'To this, C said Kohberger asked what she thought would be the worst way to die.' C told Kohberger that she 'thought it would be a knife,' and he allegedly responded 'something to the effect of 'like a Ka-Bar?'' The woman wasn't sure what that was and had to Google it. Prosecutors confirmed they had evidence that Kohberger had bought a Ka-Bar knife, sheath and a sharpener on Amazon some time between November 1 and December 6 in 2022, per CBS. This would mean that the purchase happened either roughly two weeks before the Idaho Four murders on November 13, or about three weeks after the crime. 'C said she eventually stopped talking to Kohberger because his questions made her uncomfortable,' the report stated. The detective also noted at the time that there was 'nothing to corroborate C's tip' as she no longer had access to her Tinder account and they would need to 'compare the Tinder records located on Kohberger's phone.' More than two years after the murders, Kohberger accepted a plea agreement and pleaded guilty to four counts of first-degree murder and one count of felony burglary. On Wednesday, July 23, he was ordered to serve four life sentences without the possibility of parole, as well as an additional 10 years for the burglary charge. He declined the judge's offer to speak in court at his sentencing hearing. While the Goncalves family was left frustrated that the death penalty was no longer on the table, according to a statement shared to Facebook, Chapin's parents, Jim and Stacy, said they were satisfied with the agreement during a July 14 appearance on the Today show. 'I think our initial response was like, an eye for an eye,' Stacy explained. 'But we've spent a ton of time talking about it with prosecutors, and for us, we always felt like this was a better deal. I mean, [Kohberger] gets put away, and there's no appeal system to it.'

DOWNLOAD THE APP

Get Started Now: Download the App

Ready to dive into a world of global content with local flavor? Download Daily8 app today from your preferred app store and start exploring.
app-storeplay-store