An Ohio woman convicted of fatally stabbing a 3-year-old boy in the parking lot of a supermarket outside Cleveland last year has been sentenced to life in prison without the possibiliy of parole.
The shocking, random attack took place on June 3, 2024, around 3 p.m. in the parking lot of a Giant Eagle supermarket in North Olmsted, a western suburb of Cleveland.
Bionca Ellis, 34, followed Margot Wood and her son, Julian, into the store and waited for the two to leave. Once they walked out, she followed them into the parking lot and stabbed the boy with a knife she had just stolen from a thrift store, investigators said.
Ellis stabbed the boy multiple times as he sat in a shopping cart, prosecutors said. When his mother tried to intervene, she stabbed her too.
Ellis was arrested shortly after the incident while walking near the scene “with a knife in her hand,” prosecutors said.
She pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity, but earlier this month, a jury found her guilty of aggravated murder, murder, attempted murder and other offenses after a week-and-a-half-long trial.
On Monday, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said Ellis received the maximum sentence of life in prison without the possibility of parole.
“I have seen unimaginable acts of violence — but this is among the most heartbreaking,” O’Malley said in a statement. “Bionca Ellis’ horrific actions warrant nothing less than life without parole.”
