Overview

• ‘La viuda negra,’ released May 30 on Netflix, reconstructs the 2017 Patraix garage murder through perspectives of the investigating inspector, the hired killer and the mastermind nurse.
• María Jesús Moreno Cantó was sentenced to 22 years in 2020 for orchestrating her husband’s stabbing by her lover Salvador Rodrigo, who received 17 years, and both were ordered to pay €250,000 to the victim’s family.
• Moreno Cantó gave birth in July 2023 to a son fathered by inmate David and has lived with him in the Irene Villa Mother Unit at Fontcalent prison under rules allowing mothers to stay with children until age three.
• David, convicted of homicide, holds third-grade status and is nearing the end of his term but has shown minimal involvement with his child since the birth.
• The case highlights issues of intimate partner violence, complex prison relationships and the challenges of supporting inmate mothers within the Spanish penitentiary system.