Woman accused of Zachary Wood's murder in group beating seeks lower bail
A judge denied a request Friday to reduce the bail for a woman accused of joining with three other people to beat Zachary Ryan Wood to death last year in a Wichita Falls home.
Ashley Marie Esselborn, 21, was being held Friday in the Wichita County Law Enforcement Center on a $100,000 bond for a murder charge in connection with Wood's killing on May 20, 2022, according to online jail records.
Esselborn went before 30th District Judge Jeff McKnight Friday for a short hearing on her request for a reduced bond.
McKnight received documents to review from the prosecution, including an arrest affidavit and jail requests to be moved. The defense provided Esselborn's personal financial statement, as well as an arrest affidavit.
The judge signed an order denying her request for a lower bond Friday, court records show. On July 5, 2022, McKnight lowered her bail from $1 million to $100,000 with bond conditions requiring her to wear a GPS ankle monitor.
On Dec. 9, 2022, McKnight ruled against another request from Esselborn to reduce her bond.
Police suspect Wood, 23, was punched and struck with a baseball bat and a handgun over missing money and drugs, according to allegations in court records.
Police arrived at a home in the 2100 block of Brown Street at about 12:28 p.m. May 21, 2022, to do a welfare check, according to allegations in court records.
They found Wood dead in a house that looked ransacked and was riddled with evidence of "a massive bloodletting event" in multiple rooms, according to allegations in court records.
A few days after the murder, a witness came forward to the police and told them she overheard Esselborne bragging on the phone that she put hands on Wood but didn't go to jail, according to allegations in court documents.
Esselborn and three other people were charged with murder in connection with Wood's death.
One of the men accused, William Andrew Bell, intends to plead guilty May 26 in 30th District Court in return for a 30-year prison sentence, according to a notice of a plea bargain.
Bell, 29, was free Friday from the Law Enforcement Center on a $200,000 bond for a murder charge, according to online jail and court records. He is required to wear a GPS ankle monitor.
At the time of the attack on Wood, Bell was dating Esselborn, according to allegations in court documents.
Another man has been sentenced for his part in the murder.
Ronnie Preston Lang Jr. pleaded guilty Sept. 22, 2022, to murder and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as part of a plea bargain in 30th District Court, according to court records.
McKnight handed down concurrent sentences of 50 years for Wood's murder and 20 years for an unrelated May 16, 2022, assault of another man, court records show. Both crimes took place at the Brown Street home.
Lang, 19, has been transferred to prison, according to the Texas Department of Criminal Justice.
The case is still pending against the fourth person accused in Wood's killing, Payton Mackenzie Collier, 28.
Collier was one of Wood's roommates at the home on Brown Street, and she was dating Lang at the time of the murder, according to court documents.
Collier was being held Friday in the Law Enforcement Center on a $1 million bond for a murder charge, according to jail records.
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Trish Choate, enterprise watchdog reporter for the Times Record News, covers education, courts, breaking news and more. Contact Trish with news tips at tchoate@gannett.com. Read her recent work here. Her Twitter handle is @Trishapedia.
This article originally appeared on Wichita Falls Times Record News: Woman accused of Zachary Wood's murder group beating seeks lower bail
