An Ohio woman has been sentenced to 22 years in prison after prosecutors said she ordered the violent assault of one of her boyfriends.
Martina Esqueda, 29, of Toledo, was sentenced Thursday in Lucas County court for her role in the attack on Austyn McClellan. Authorities described Esqueda as the ringleader behind the assault, which allegedly involved her husband and several of her boyfriends.
According to police, Esqueda lived in a Toledo home with her husband, Michael Esqueda, and five men with whom she had romantic relationships: McClellan, Aaron Bradshaw, Austin Bradshaw, Chance Johnston, and David Cessna.
Investigators said Esqueda ordered the men to take McClellan to a Red Roof Inn in Maumee, where he was beaten with fists and baseball bats over 10 days. McClellan suffered multiple broken bones and was deprived of sleep and food, the Toledo Blade reported.
Esqueda was sentenced to eight years for first-degree kidnapping and seven years each for two felony counts of second-degree assault. The sentences will be served consecutively.
Her husband, Michael Esqueda, received a 16-year sentence on the same charges. The other defendants received varying sentences, while Cessna’s trial is expected to begin next week.
McClellan told police the ordeal began after a dog fight broke out at Esqueda’s home. He said he and Esqueda tried to break up the fight, during which she suffered a broken arm. Authorities said Esqueda later falsely accused McClellan of causing the injury, which allegedly led to the attack.
McClellan was rescued after his captors allowed him to go briefly to a nearby Speedway convenience store on March 21, 2025, FOX 8 reported. While there, he contacted someone who alerted his mother.
His mother rushed to the Red Roof Inn, and police were called. Officers obtained warrants, placed the hotel under surveillance, and later arrested the suspects before they could leave the area.
McClellan was taken to the hospital with injuries across his body. In a letter read in court, he said he still suffers from nightmares. “None of this would have happened had you not been the ringleader or mastermind behind every bad thing that happened to me,” he wrote, according to The Blade.
He also said he was forced to stay in the home and “never did anything to any of them or the animals living in the house.” Esqueda’s attorney, Morgan Isenberg, said her client had been sexually abused as a child and spent her late teens in foster care.
“She does not understand love, because she has never felt it,” Isenberg said. “The people who were supposed to love her, supposed to support her, supposed to help her grow, they broke her.”
Addressing McClellan in court, Esqueda said she “should have been a friend when you needed me.” “Instead of knocking you down when you were already down,” she said, according to The Blade.