Is 'A Widow's Game' based on a true story? What to know about the real "black widow" Maria Jesus Moreno Canto (2025)

A Widow’s Game, a new Spanish movie based on the true story of a 2017 murder, is currently trending No. 1 on Netflix’s trending titles list, proving that it’s not just American who are obsessed with true crime.

Directed by Carlos Sedes, A Widow’s Game—aka La viuda negra in Spanish—was release by Netflix on May 30. Though some of the names and details were changed, the movie is based on the real-life murder of a Spanish man who was stabbed to death in 2017. The case captured the attention of the media across Spain, thanks to the lead suspect—the man’s young, beautiful wife who became known as “the black widow of Patraix.”

A Widow’s Game stars Ivana Baquero (Pan’s Labyrinth, High Seas) as María Jesús Moreno Cantó, better known as Maje; Carmen Machi (Celeste, Honeymoon with My Mother, Criminal) as Eva, the case inspector; and Tristán Ulloa (The Asunta Case, Berlin) as Salva, Maje’s lover.

Read on to learn more about A Widow’s Peak true story, including where María “Maje” Jesús Moreno Cantó is now in 2025.

Is A Widow’s Game on Netflix based on a true story?

Yes, A Widow’s Game is based on the true story of the murder of Spanish engineer Antonio Navarro Cerdán. Although of the murder victim in the movie’s name was changed to Arturo Ferrer Puig, the character’s story shares many similarities to the real story of Antonio Navarro Cerdán ,and his wife María “Maje” Jesús Moreno Cantó (played by Ivana Baquero in the movie), who became known as “the Black Widow of Spain,” for planning the murder of her husband.

A Widow’s Game true story: Who is Maria Jesus Moreno, the Black Widow of Patraix?

María “Maje” Jesús Moreno Canto is a former Spanish nurse who, with the help of accomplice Salvador Rodrigo Lapiedra, murdered her husband, Antonio Navarro Cerdán, on August 16, 2017. According to a 2019 EuroWeekly report, Maje, then 27, was having an affair with Salvador, a nursing assistant who worked with Maje, at the time of the murder. Salvador confessed to stabbing and killing Cerdán with a butcher’s knife, in a rented garage in the Valencian neighborhood of Patraix in Spain.

Though she did not initially confess, Maje was later convicted as the “author” of the murder, aka the one who planned it. She allegedly convinced Salvador that Cerdán was an abusive husband, and talked him into killing the engineer to protect Maje. In court, the jury was shown text exchanges between Maje and Salvador, in which Salvador described the murder to his lover, and then the two made plans to meet up for sex.

According to the A Widow’s Game movie end credits text, Salvador Rodrigo initially protected Maje in court by claiming he acted alone. However, after he found out that Maje was having an affair with another man while in custody, he asked to change his statement before the trial. In real footage from the trial included at the end of the film, we see Salvador read this statement.

“In my last statement, I said it was me who planned the murder,” Salvador said. “But it was both of us.”

Where is Maria Jesus Moreno Canto from A Widow’s Game now?

In 2019, Maria Jesus was sentenced to 22 years in prison for the murder of her husband, while Salvador Rodrigo was sentenced to 17 years.

According to a 2023 report from Diario de Sevilla, two years ago Maje was transferred to a “motherhood” unit at Fontcalent Alicante prison—in Alicante, Spain—after becoming pregnant by another inmate (not Rodrigo). She reportedly gave birth to a healthy baby in July 2023.