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MAGNA — Three people were charged Thursday with beating a man to death in retaliation for a domestic violence incident.
Easton Esparsa, 19, of South Jordan; Xandre Skye Daniel Hill, 18, of Sandy; and Osyeanna Maria Martinez, 21, of Salt Lake City, were each charged Thursday in 3rd District Court with homicide by assault, a third-degree felony.
On June 14, Unified police were called to the area of 3600 South and 8000 West on a report of six people assaulting a man. Officers arrived to find Fred Valdamar Ortiz, 41, of Magna, on the ground unconscious and not breathing. He was pronounced dead a short time later.
As detectives pieced together what had happened, surveillance video from a nearby business was obtained that shows Martinez, Esparza and Hill chasing after Ortiz, according to charging documents. Martinez threw two wooden boards at Ortiz, then punched and kicked him after catching him, while Esparsa used a "long pole" to beat Ortiz, the charges state.
Esparsa told police that the day before, he believed that Ortiz had beaten his pregnant aunt, according to the charges. At least one person noted that the woman had a noticeable black eye, a police affidavit states, but the alleged domestic violence incident was not reported to police out of fear of retaliation.
On June 14, Ortiz returned to the aunt's home and yelled for her to come out of the house. Esparsa, Martinez and a third person — a teenager — then allegedly followed Ortiz.
When Ortiz stopped at a gas station, the others confronted him. Ortiz ran off and the others chased after him, according to the charges. Hill later told investigators he thought they were just going to detain Ortiz until police arrived.
Although there were other people present when officers arrived, investigators determined they were witnesses and that Hill, Martinez and Esparsa were the only ones actively involved in the beating, according to police.
A medical examiner determined that Ortiz died from a heart attack "following physical assault in the setting of acute methamphetamine intoxication and hypertensive cardiovascular disease," the charges state.
Domestic violence resources
Help for people in abusive relationships can be found by contacting:
Utah Domestic Violence Coalition: Utah's confidential statewide, 24-hour domestic violence hotline at 1-800-897-LINK (5465)
YWCA Women in Jeopardy program: 801-537-8600
Utah's statewide child abuse and neglect hotline: 1-855-323-DCFS (3237)
National Domestic Violence Hotline: 1-800-799-7233
