A Cleveland woman with a long criminal history was sentenced Monday to life in prison without parole for a brutal stabbing that left a mother wounded and her 3-year-old son dead in a grocery store parking lot.
The Attack
Prosecutors said Bionca Ellis, 32, grabbed a knife from a nearby thrift store before following Margot Wood and her toddler Julian around a Giant Eagle supermarket in North Olmsted in June 2024.
Bionca Ellis
Moments later, Ellis ambushed them in the parking lot, stabbing both victims in what police described as a “random” attack.
The 38-year-old mother survived, but her young son, Julian, died from his injuries.
Arrest and Charges
Police arrested Ellis shortly after the stabbing. She was charged with aggravated murder and held on a $1 million bond.
Just weeks before the attack, Ellis had been arrested on May 30, 2024, for a probation violation linked to a prior theft case but was released soon after.
According to WOIO-TV, she had been on probation for a 2023 Walmart theft conviction.
Life Sentence
On Monday, Cuyahoga County Judge John J. Russo handed down a life-without-parole sentence, calling the crime “barbaric and senseless.”
Judge John J. Russo
“Justice cannot undo tragedy,” Russo said. “Mental illness does not excuse what you did.”
Family members packed the courtroom, clutching photos of Julian as his parents tearfully addressed the court.
Heartbreaking Testimony
Julian’s father, Jared Wood, said his family would never recover from the loss.
“All of our hearts will forever be missing a piece,” he said.
Margot Wood, who survived the stabbing, described the horror of watching her child die in her arms.
“I watched him take his first breaths,” she said. “And I had to hold him, covered in blood, as he took his last.”
