Naman Shrestha
Netflix’s ‘A Widow’s Game‘ is a Spanish crime drama movie based on the true crime case of the Black Widow of Patraix, involving Antonio Navarro and his manipulative wife, Maria Jesus Moreno Canto. The 2017 case is brought to the screen through the characters of Arturo Ferrer Puig, who portrays Antonio, and Maje, who represents María. The narrative follows Arturo and Maje, a seemingly loving couple. Their lives are turned upside down when the former is murdered, and his wife becomes the primary suspect in the eyes of the investigators. Interestingly, the real-life counterparts also face the same fate.
Antonio Navarro Cerdán Was Ambushed in His Building’s Garage
Born in the early 1980s, Antonio Navarro Cerdán tied the knot with her longtime girlfriend, Maria Jesús “Maje” Moreno Canto, and led a seemingly picture-perfect life. However, the truth was that there had been a few rough patches and turbulence along the way. As per reports, a month before they got married, Antonio learned about her affair with a physiotherapist but decided to forgive her and exchange vows with her anyway. Long before their marriage, Antonio and Maje lived together in a Valencia, Spain, apartment, for which the former paid and invested most of his savings. The 36-year-old industrial engineer from Novelda, Spain, was happily married to Maje, who seemed to be a devoted wife.
Unfortunately, the truth was something far more disturbing. On the fateful morning of August 16, 2017, Antonio left his house in the Patraix neighborhood and was on his way to work. However, before he could even start his car, he was ambushed by a man in the building’s garage and fatally stabbed multiple times in the chest with a butcher’s knife. A few hours later, one of the neighbors discovered his remains in the garage and informed the authorities. When the police arrived at the scene of the crime, they noticed that none of his belongings were taken. Thus, they ruled out robbery as the motive for the killing and launched a homicide investigation immediately.
Maje Orchestrated the Murder of Antonio Navarro Cerdán
As the detectives dug deeper into the life of Antonio Navarro Cerdán, they couldn’t help but notice several marital issues between him and his wife, Maria Jesús “Maje” Moreno Canto, who became a person of interest in the case. Initially, she portrayed herself as a grieving widow who was devastated by the passing of her husband. However, when she gave inconsistent statements about the murder to the investigators, they noticed that her grief didn’t appear to be genuine. Upon investigating her life, they learned about her extramarital affairs with multiple men. One of her affairs was with a nursing assistant named Salvador Rodrigo Lapiedra AKA Salva.
The investigators tapped both the suspects’ phones and found a string of suspicious conversations between them, indicating that they were involved in the murder of the industrial engineer. Salvador was the man who ambushed Antonio in the garage and stabbed him to death. However, the one pulling the strings was Maje, who had given him the garage keys and informed him about the time her husband usually left for work. With enough evidence against the two lovers, Salvador and Maje were taken into custody in January 2018. In order to protect the latter, Salvador claimed that he acted alone in the murder. However, when he learned that she had sparked a romantic connection with another inmate while in custody, he changed his statements.
Salvador Ratted Out Maje as His Accomplice in the Murder
Salvador told the detectives, “In my previous statement, I said it was all my idea. But it was both of us.” He claimed that Maje pretended to be a victim of physical and psychological abuse. According to him, she planted the idea of her husband’s murder in his head and manipulated him to carry out the deed for her by gaining his love and sympathy. After his confession, Salvador also led the investigators to a cesspit on his property, where he disposed of the murder weapon after the killing. On the other hand, Maje denied the allegations against her and claimed that she was not responsible for Antonio’s murder. Regardless, both the accomplices were tried in the court of law.
During the trials, the jury was presented with several pieces of evidence against Salvador and Maje, including phone calls, incriminating text messages, and witness testimonies. While Maje received a 22-year imprisonment sentence for murder with the aggravating circumstance of kinship, Salvador was sentenced to 17 years in prison. On top of that, both were ordered to pay €250,000 (approximately $280,000) as a fine for the damages caused to Antonio’s family. The investigators theorized multiple possible motives for Maje to get her husband, Antonio, killed. One of the motives could be her not wanting to divorce him and become a villain. Another reason for the murder could be the life and accidental insurance policies in his name, which made her the beneficiary of the money.
Read More: Maria Jesus Moreno AKA Maje in Real Life: Where is the Black Widow Now?
