Police in Maumee, Ohio, are investigating a case of alleged torture and kidnapping after a 26-year-old man managed to contact his mother from a gas station, claiming that his girlfriend and five men held him captive for a week straight in a motel.

According to body camera footage, officers arrived at the gas station to find the man visibly shaken, standing with his mother, who he had reached with the help of a stranger. When officers asked the mother why she hadn’t filed a missing person’s report, she told them she believed her son had wanted to stay with the suspects—particularly his girlfriend, Martina Jones.

But when officers turned to the man and asked if that was true, he quietly said no, then lifted his shirt to show the injuries. The footage captured officers responding with alarm as they took in what appeared to be clear evidence of sustained physical abuse. The man told police he had been beaten with a baseball bat, forced to stand for hours at a time, denied food and sleep, and left with fractured bones from repeated assaults.

“He was being essentially tortured,” said Maumee Police Chief Josh Sprow. “Struck with fists, elbows, stomped on while he was on the ground. Multiple broken bones over the course of a week.”

The man said he was held in a room at the Red Roof Inn, where Jones and five other men allegedly took turns abusing him. Police believe Jones orchestrated the assaults and that the others followed her lead.

The list of suspects includes Aaron Bradshaw, 49, Austin Bradshaw, 23, David Cessna, 26, Chance Johnston, 27, and Michael Esqueda, 28. Jones, 28, is alleged to be the central figure in the group. Each member of the troubling dynamic were indicted on multiple felony charges, including kidnapping, felonious assault, and tampering with evidence. A judge set bond at $200,000 each.

“It’s clearly a strange situation,” Sprow said, “when you have multiple adult men involved in a relationship with one woman and then this type of coordinated assault taking place. Definitely not something that normally happens here.”

Police believe the group was planning to flee town before the victim escaped. It was on March 21 that he was briefly allowed outside—just long enough to ask a stranger to help him contact his mother.

The motive for the abuse remains unclear. Investigators say the case is still unfolding, but they’ve expressed concern about how easily the situation could have ended in tragedy.

As for the victim, his injuries were severe enough to require ongoing medical treatment. But authorities say he’s now safe and in the care of family.

“It’s a miracle he was able to get help when he did,” Sprow said.

The case has sent shockwaves through Maumee, a small Ohio city not used to seeing this level of coordinated violence.