Man held woman captive at hotel for 2 years, CA officials say. He’s sentenced
A man held a 74-year-old woman captive at a California hotel for two years, repeatedly raping her, prosecutors said.
Now, Ian Edard Kroe, 57, was sentenced to 394 years to life in prison, the San Mateo County District Attorney’s Office said in a June 3 post on X, formerly known as Twitter.
An attorney for Kroe did not immediately respond to McClatchy News’ request for comment on June 3.
When Kroe’s mother died in 2016, the woman reached out to him to give her condolences, prosecutors said in a news release.
From there, the two “struck up a friendship,” prosecutors said.
Kroe, who the woman knew since he was a young age, lived in Minnesota while the woman resided in New Mexico, prosecutors told the Palo Alto Daily Post.
After Kroe flew to New Mexico, the two started on a road trip together along the West Coast, Belmont police Cpl. Brian Vogel told the newspaper.
For the next four years, the two, who were not romantically involved, traveled the coast, eventually staying at a Belmont hotel, officials told the newspaper.
From August 2020 to August 2022, Kroe is accused of virtually imprisoning the woman at the hotel, prosecutors said in the news release.
During that time, Kroe is also accused of raping the woman and forcing her to engage in sex acts “numerous times,” prosecutors said.
The woman repeatedly told Kroe she wanted to return to her home in New Mexico, prosecutors said.
However, Kroe threatened to torture the woman for weeks, then kill her if she tried to leave, prosecutors said.
At some point, Kroe took over her finances and “drained her accounts,” according to prosecutors.
In August 2022, the woman managed to secretly contact a friend in New Mexico, who then called police, prosecutors said.
Belmont police officers found the woman, who was unable to move without help, “naked in the hotel room with bruising on her body,” prosecutors said.
In February, Kroe was convicted of 33 felonies, including forcible rape, elder physical abuse and felony false imprisonment, prosecutors said.
During Kroe’s sentencing hearing, the woman said she “survived beyond all odds,” prosecutors said on X.
Belmont is about a 20-mile drive southeast from San Francisco.
This story was originally published June 3, 2025 at 3:48 PM with the headline "Man held woman captive at hotel for 2 years, CA officials say. He’s sentenced."
