CLEVELAND — CLEVELAND (AP) — A jury has found an Ohio woman guilty in a case A 3-year-old boy was fatally stabbed While sitting in a grocery cart outside a supermarket in suburban Cleveland.
Bionka Ellis, 34, of Cleveland, will be sentenced Oct. 27 by Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Russo, who can choose between life in prison with or without the chance for parole. She was detained in prison on Bonds worth $5 million Since his indictment by a grand jury last year.
Ellis was found guilty Wednesday — after a week-long trial — of nine felony counts, including aggravated murder, felonious assault, child endangerment and aggravated robbery, in the June 3, 2024, attack that killed Julian Wood and injured his mother, according to Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley’s office.
Authorities said Ellis entered the Giant Eagle grocery store in North Olmsted armed with two knives that she stole from the Volunteers of America Thrift Store next door. They said she spotted Julian and his mother, Margot Wood, near the front and followed them into the parking lot.
The mother was about to load her groceries into her car when Ellis attacked them with a knife, stabbing the little boy twice, in an attack that lasted less than five seconds, before driving away. The boy died in hospital while Margot Wood was being treated for a stab wound to her shoulder. Prosecutors said she sustained the injury while trying to pull the boy from the stroller during the attack.
Ellis’ defense attorneys have pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.
Margot Wood and Jared Wood, the child’s father, made a statement to reporters after the ruling, thanking the community for its support.
“Everyone who visited, commented, and sent love, we appreciate you guys so much,” Margot Wood said. “This was the day for him.”