Three family members get lengthy sentences for 2017 murder

Three Lake County residents were sentenced Thursday to lengthy prison terms for a love triangle killing in 2017, the Sonoma County District Attorney’s Office said.

Maria Guadalupe Torres, 42, her husband Rene Espinoza Martinez, 42, and their son Rene Espinoza Jr. 22, all of Clearlake, coordinated the slaying of Antonio Botello-Arreola around Sept. 1, 2017.

Arreola had developed a relationship with Torres while he stayed on the defendant’s property, and Martinez and Espinoza Jr. conspired with Torres to lure Arreola to a remote area of Sonoma County on Porter Creek Road.

Torres was with Arreola in a Toyota Previa that was being followed by Espinoza Jr. and Martinez, according to the Sonoma County Sheriff’s Office. When the Previa pulled over, Torres got out of the car and Arreola was shot. He ran and fell into a ravine and his body was found when the California Highway Patrol found the Previa on Sept. 1, 2017, according to the sheriff’s office.

Before their trial was scheduled to begin on June 28, 2019, the defendants pleaded no contest to the slaying.

Espinoza Jr. was sentenced to 50 years to life in prison for first-degree murder and personal use of a firearm. Torres was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison for first-degree murder and Martinez was sentenced to 15 years to life in prison for second-degree murder.