‘This case is tragic:’ Abused Caldwell woman sentenced for murder of stepgrandfather

A Caldwell woman who shot and killed her 81-year-old step-grandfather after he sexually assaulted her throughout her childhood could spend up to 22 years in prison.

Third District Judge Thomas Whitney sentenced Esmeralda Ahumada, who pleaded guilty to second-degree murder, to at least 12 years in prison, with an additional 10 years that the 35-year-old woman could spend in prison, on probation or both, according to a news release from the Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office.

In August 2022, Ahumada was arrested by the Caldwell Police Department after she fatally shot Filiberto Juarez-Reyes in the chest at a Caldwell home, according to an affidavit of probable cause obtained by the Idaho Statesman.

Ahumada admitted to shooting Juarez-Reyes, indicating that it was “to end the sexual abuse she had been enduring since childhood,” according to the release.

Ahumada texted a family member admitting that she killed him because he had recently tried to sexually assault her again. She later said that he’d hurt her from infancy to 12 years old, according to the affidavit.

“I hate him, I hate him, I hate him, he f----- me up so bad and nobody believed me,” Ahumada told police following her arrest, according to the affidavit.

Ahumada pleaded guilty to second-degree murder in February as part of a plea agreement, online court records showed. She was initially charged with first-degree murder.

The Canyon County Prosecutor’s Office requested a longer sentence, asking that Ahumada spend at least 20 years in prison, followed by an indeterminate life sentence, which would have meant that she would have spent the rest of her life on probation. Ahumada’s public defender asked for her to spend up to 23 years in prison, with the possibility of parole after seven years.

The sentence she received means that she could be eligible for parole after serving 12 years.

Whitney acknowledged in court the “difficult nature of the case” because of Ahumada’s upbringing, mental health issues and the “sexual abuse she sustained at the hands of” Juarez-Reyes, according to the release. Whitney also commended Ahumada on her willingness to accept responsibility “from start to finish.”

“We encourage anyone who is suffering or has suffered from sexual abuse to report it to law enforcement and allow the justice system to intervene,” Canyon County Prosecutor Bryan Taylor said in the release. “This case is tragic in more ways than one, and it did not need to end this way.”

The judge also ordered Ahumada to pay a $1,000 fine and court costs, and she will have to partially reimburse the Canyon County public defender’s office.