diff --git a/CHANGELOG.md b/CHANGELOG.md
index 1c2dbd1d..823f3c9e 100644
--- a/CHANGELOG.md
+++ b/CHANGELOG.md
@@ -5,6 +5,11 @@ All notable changes to this project will be documented in this file.
 The format is based on [Keep a Changelog](http://keepachangelog.com/en/1.0.0/)
 and this project adheres to [Semantic Versioning](http://semver.org/spec/v2.0.0.html).
 
+## [Unreleased]
+
+### Changed
+- Support escaped backslashes in CQL2 `LIKE` queries, and reject invalid (or incomplete) escape sequences. [#286](https://github.com/stac-utils/stac-fastapi-elasticsearch-opensearch/pull/286)
+
 ## [v3.0.0] - 2024-08-14
 
 ### Changed
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/extensions/filter.py b/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/extensions/filter.py
index 0be1ea8e..05613595 100644
--- a/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/extensions/filter.py
+++ b/stac_fastapi/core/stac_fastapi/core/extensions/filter.py
@@ -17,31 +17,41 @@
 from enum import Enum
 from typing import Any, Dict
 
+_cql2_like_patterns = re.compile(r"\\.|[%_]|\\$")
+_valid_like_substitutions = {
+    "\\\\": "\\",
+    "\\%": "%",
+    "\\_": "_",
+    "%": "*",
+    "_": "?",
+}
+
+
+def _replace_like_patterns(match: re.Match) -> str:
+    pattern = match.group()
+    try:
+        return _valid_like_substitutions[pattern]
+    except KeyError:
+        raise ValueError(f"'{pattern}' is not a valid escape sequence")
+
 
 def cql2_like_to_es(string: str) -> str:
     """
-    Convert CQL2 wildcard characters to Elasticsearch wildcard characters. Specifically, it converts '_' to '?' and '%' to '*', handling escape characters properly.
+    Convert CQL2 "LIKE" characters to Elasticsearch "wildcard" characters.
 
     Args:
         string (str): The string containing CQL2 wildcard characters.
 
     Returns:
         str: The converted string with Elasticsearch compatible wildcards.
+
+    Raises:
+        ValueError: If an invalid escape sequence is encountered.
     """
-    # Translate '%' and '_' only if they are not preceded by a backslash '\'
-    percent_pattern = r"(?<!\\)%"
-    underscore_pattern = r"(?<!\\)_"
-    # Remove the escape character before '%' or '_'
-    escape_pattern = r"\\(?=[_%])"
-
-    # Replace '%' with '*' for broad wildcard matching
-    string = re.sub(percent_pattern, "*", string)
-    # Replace '_' with '?' for single character wildcard matching
-    string = re.sub(underscore_pattern, "?", string)
-    # Remove the escape character used in the CQL2 format
-    string = re.sub(escape_pattern, "", string)
-
-    return string
+    return _cql2_like_patterns.sub(
+        repl=_replace_like_patterns,
+        string=string,
+    )
 
 
 class LogicalOp(str, Enum):
diff --git a/stac_fastapi/tests/extensions/test_cql2_like_to_es.py b/stac_fastapi/tests/extensions/test_cql2_like_to_es.py
new file mode 100644
index 00000000..96d51272
--- /dev/null
+++ b/stac_fastapi/tests/extensions/test_cql2_like_to_es.py
@@ -0,0 +1,46 @@
+import pytest
+
+from stac_fastapi.core.extensions.filter import cql2_like_to_es
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "cql2_value, expected_es_value",
+    (
+        # no-op
+        ("", ""),
+        # backslash
+        ("\\\\", "\\"),
+        # percent
+        ("%", "*"),
+        (r"\%", "%"),
+        (r"\\%", r"\*"),
+        (r"\\\%", r"\%"),
+        # underscore
+        ("_", "?"),
+        (r"\_", "_"),
+        (r"\\_", r"\?"),
+        (r"\\\_", r"\_"),
+    ),
+)
+def test_cql2_like_to_es_success(cql2_value: str, expected_es_value: str) -> None:
+    """Verify CQL2 LIKE query strings are converted correctly."""
+
+    assert cql2_like_to_es(cql2_value) == expected_es_value
+
+
+@pytest.mark.parametrize(
+    "cql2_value",
+    (
+        pytest.param("\\", id="trailing backslash escape"),
+        pytest.param("\\1", id="invalid escape sequence"),
+    ),
+)
+def test_cql2_like_to_es_invalid(cql2_value: str) -> None:
+    """Verify that incomplete or invalid escape sequences are rejected.
+
+    CQL2 currently doesn't appear to define how to handle invalid escape sequences.
+    This test assumes that undefined behavior is caught.
+    """
+
+    with pytest.raises(ValueError):
+        cql2_like_to_es(cql2_value)