Santiago Martínez was convicted on charges of attempted murder, repeated assault, and unlawful detention after Emily Ceco accused him of gender-based violence
Credit: Courtesy of Netflix; Emily Ceco/Instagram
NEED TO KNOW
- Santiago Martínez has been sentenced to 15 years on multiple charges, including attempted murder, following an incident with his former wife Emily Ceco
- Martínez and Ceco met and wed on Netflix’s Love Is Blind: Argentina, and she reported Santiago for gender-based violence in February 2025
- Martínez denied the allegations during his trial
Former Love Is Blind: Argentina star Santiago Martínez has been sentenced to 15 years of prison after he attempted to kill his former wife, Emily Ceco, whom he met and wed on the Netflix reality series.
Martínez was handed the sentence in March, Argentine news station A24 reported at the time. The two met in the pods on Love Is Blind: Argentina in 2024 and became engaged sight unseen before tying the knot in a civil ceremony, per Reality Shrine. They were planning to remarry in a ceremony when Ceco called things off in February 2025, alleging that Martínez had physically abused her and given her a black eye.
Martínez was charged and convicted of attempted murder, repeated assault, and unlawful detention, Cosmopolitan reported. Ceco was granted a restraining order against him, and he was pulled from the dating reality show, according to Reality Shrine.
Ceco reacted to the sentencing on Televisión Pública, an Argentine public broadcast station, in an interview published on March 26. She recalled Martínez choking her and smothering her with a pillow to prevent her from breathing. She told the hosts he refused to let her leave, so she ran away and filed a complaint.
"He tried to kill me,"she said multiple times during the broadcast.
Expressing relief after hearing the guilty verdict and his sentencing, Ceco said, "I instantly burst into tears," and added, "My body was shaking. I felt like I had taken a backpack off my shoulders and that I was going to have peace after a long time. I was going to be able to sleep and continue with my life … and be able to enjoy life like I fought for."
During his trial, Martínez took to Instagram to deny that he had tried to kill Ceco, Cosmopolitan reported.
"The first thing I want to say is that I do not justify violence in any way, and I was the first to acknowledge my mistake and to apologise privately, and today I take responsibility for what I did," he said in part in the since-deleted post, per Cosmopolitan. "But that does not mean I take responsibility for trying to kill the woman I loved."
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Ceco also reacted to Martínez's sentencing in an Instagram post on March 26, thanking her family and loved ones for their support.
"There were days of so much fear, of feeling lost, of not knowing how to go on. And there was also something in me that, even in the darkest moments, chose not to give up," she wrote in part. "But I wasn't alone. And that's what I feel the strongest today."
"This doesn't erase the experience," she continued. "But today I feel like a part of my story was heard. I… still healing, more aware, stronger, and deeply grateful. Today my life begins anew."
If you are experiencing domestic violence, call the National Domestic Violence Hotline at 1-800-799-7233, or go to thehotline.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.
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