Video Shows Missing Woman With Husband The Day She Vanished
MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Video exclusively obtained by CBS4 News shows the husband and wife at the center of a missing persons case on the day the woman was last seen alive.
The cell phone clip, captured by the younger daughter of Raquel Calderin and Jesus Maqueira, shows the couple talking in the parking lot of Gloria Floyd Elementary School on September 4, 2012, the days Calderin vanished.
Human remains found Monday in an SUV submerged in a canal near the Everglades are believed to be those of Calderin.
The Ford Expedition, which was pulled from the water along Krome Avenue north of Tamiami Trail, belonged to Calderin.
Police are awaiting an autopsy report to confirm the identity of the remains.
Calderin's husband, Jesus Maqueira, was charged February 8th, 2013 in his wife's death.
Witnesses told police the couple had been arguing in the school parking lot the day Calderin vanished, but Maqueira's attorney, Alex Michaels, said the two were behaving civilly based on the short video clips.
"It's a very civilized encounter," Michaels told CBS4's Lauren Pastrana. "I don't see anything other than the normal behavior of a father who cares about his wife and his children."
According to a deposition with the couple's older daughter, the cell phone video was taken so she could hear what her parents were saying to each other. The entire video is practically inaudible.
Michaels said Maqueira went to the school to talk to his wife because she hadn't been around much to care for her children. Calderin had been dating another man who told police he was talking to her on the phone the night she disappeared.
Maqueira and Calderin were married for more than 20 years and had a history of domestic abuse and stalking. Records show Calderin described her husband as "controlling and jealous."
Police said Maqueira even told them he placed a GPS tracking device on his wife's car.
Records show Calderin filed for divorce in July 2012 and also sought a stay away order against Maqueira.
When Maqueira was questioned several months following Calderin's disappearance, he reportedly told detectives, "Look, I killed her. Take me to jail already."
His defense attorney said that was not a confession.
"It's a statement of bravado basically saying, 'I didn't do it.' His statement at the time was very sarcastic, sardonic, whatever word you want. It was not by any means an admission of guilt," Michaels said.
The police narrative also said Maqueira told investigators, "without Raquel's body, there was very little (they) could do to him."
Police said there was other evidence, including cell phone records, which put him at the last place she was seen alive – the school.
Maqueria and Calderin's children also gave police statements which contradicted what Maqueria told investigators.
"Because of those, him contradicting himself on different stories, they were able to present those facts to the State Attorney's Office and the State Attorney's Office gave them the go-ahead to move forward with the charges without a body," said Zabaleta.
Maqueira is charged with first degree murder and aggravated stalking.
He's scheduled to go to trial for his wife's murder next month.
There's no word if the discovery of the body, if it turns out to be Calderin, will delay that.
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