Raquel Calderin, Jesus Maqueira: Missing Miami Wife’s Corpse Found In Florida Everglades On ‘Perfect Murder’

Raquel Calderin’s corpse and car were found in the Florida Everglades. Her husband, Jesus Maqueira, killed her. Investigation Discovery’s the The Perfect Murder will dramatize their story of mystery and intrigue tonight. Raquel Calderin went missing from Miami, Florida, five years ago. Miami detectives were finally led to the canal, where her body was eventually found. The jealous husband killed the dedicated school custodian after she left him and moved in with another man. The Perfect Murder uses re-creations and employs several theory scenarios to round out the stories. Tonight’s The Perfect Murder episode is “Body In the Glades.”

A Life of Domestic Violence

Married for 20 years, Raquel Calderin, 42, had suffered years of domestic abuse with her violent and jealous husband, Jesus Maqueira, 56. Friends say Jesus wouldn’t allow his wife to have fun with her friends or associate with neighbors.

At times, Jesus Maqueira even watched Raquel as he sat inside his vehicle. And when he became enraged, he often beat her, Raquel Calderin told friends and family. When she disappeared, everyone feared the worst.

Raquel Calderin was last seen at her job at Kendall’s Gloria Floyd Elementary school, where she worked as a custodian. Police learned that Raquel had left her husband to be with her new boyfriend, Dagoberto Vasquez. With domestic violence in Raquel’s background, they pressed husband Jesus Maqueira for more information.

Maqueria told detectives he had no idea where his wife was and that she was known to disappear as she had at times in the past. Jesus Maqueira claimed he was at a friend’s home on the night of her disappearance.

To retrace Raquel Calderin’s steps, detectives looked at bank records and found no activity. Cell phone records eventually placed Jesus Maqueira with his wife on the same night she disappeared, and toll records put him on the Florida Turnpike.

However, without the victim’s car and a body, police had nothing for which to arrest Jesus Maqueira. The other obstacle that faced detectives was Raquel Calderin’s previous disappearances. On one occasion, she left her husband and escaped to a shelter for domestic violence, according to the Daily Mail.

Psycho For Love: Jesus Maqueira killed his estranged wife, Raquel Calderin and left her in… https://t.co/jogwSTNVrr pic.twitter.com/I8vv3J4p8X

— mylifeofcrime (@mylifeofcrime) July 12, 2017

Missing Woman’s Body Found In Submerged SUV In Everglades Canal

Had she disappeared again on her own? That question was finally answered when a prison inmate told police Jesus had confessed to hiding in his wife’s car and beating her to death before discarding her body. When questioned, Jesus Maqueira mocked police, stating that his wife was dead in a canal and that she’d most likely never be found.

What blew the entire investigation out of the water was a witness who told police where Raquel’s body was located. The mysterious witness was Felix Maqueira, an 81-year-old man who happened to be Jesus Maqueira’s father.

According to Felix, on the night of Raquel Calderin’s disappearance, his son called him because he ran out of gas. He also told detectives that Raquel’s corpse was inside her SUV. When investigators asked Felix where they could find the car, he told them it was in the Everglades at the bottom of a canal. Sadly, Felix Maqueira was correct. Miami investigators located the missing mother’s remains. She left behind three children.

Today, Jesus Maqueira is serving life in prison for the murder of his wife. The story airs at 9 p.m. on Investigation Discovery. Last season, Investigation Discovery viewers learned about the case of Henry Diaz, a missing grocer who was found in an alligator-infested swamp in the Everglades in 2004.

Raquel Calderin’s story is also a grim reminder of the Shafia murders. In that case, Mohammad Shafia killed his wife and his daughters before sinking their bodies and their car in a canal. Video footage shows the dead victims inside the SUV.

[Feautured Image by Kaufman Films/Facebook/Used With Permission]