Clockwise from upper left: Aaron Bradshaw, Martina Esqueda, Austin Bradshaw, Michael Esqueda, Chance Johnston, and David Cessna (Lucas County Corrections Center).
Six Ohioans have been charged by prosecutors with keeping a man captive for a week and beating him with a metal bat and other “extremely disturbing” offenses.
Aaron Bradshaw, 49, Austin Bradshaw, 23, Chance Johnston, 27, David Cessna, 26, Martina Esqueda (also known as Martina Jones), 28, and Michael Esqueda, 28, are charged with felonies of kidnapping to terrorize or to cause serious physical harm and are being detained at the Lucas County Corrections Center on $200,000. In an Aaron Bradshaw arrest warrant, police reported that the unidentified victim was allegedly kidnapped on March 14 and kept against his will for a week. Throughout that period, the six defendants allegedly held the man back, beat the victim with “his hands and a metal bat,” and forced him “to stand for long periods of time.”
Local Toledo news The Blade reported from the courtroom March 24 that prosecutors informed a judge the victim suffered severe injuries as a consequence of the abuse he suffered while being held captive, such as broken bones, but “the totality of those injuries has not been determined.” The case is “extremely disturbing,” said Assistant city prosecutor Andy Lastra.
Though it was not explained how the purported victim escaped captivity, arrest warrants indicated the claims of abuse were made by him. Included in the accusations listed in the warrant, the purported victim said he was fed and hydrated “once a day” and only slept for 10 hours total over the entire seven-day stretch. The six defendants also reportedly made him “stand for periods of time.
Their relationship to the purported victim, however, was not indicated in the warrants or at their initial hearing on March 24 in Toledo Municipal Court. Three other defendants — Cessna, Michael Esqueda, and Martina Esqueda, who is listed as Martina Jones — also are charged in Maumee Municipal Court: Cessna is charged with second-degree domestic violence, Michael Esqueda is charged with second-degree felonious assault, and Martina Esqueda is charged with second-degree felonious assault and domestic violence to a household member in the same case.
All six defendants were each set free on $200,000 bail and are being held in custody at Lucas County Corrections Center. They are due to appear again in court on April 1.