Bionca Ellis is a killer from Ohio who was convicted of the murder of three year old Julian Wood
According to court documents Bionca Ellis would follow Julian Wood and his mother Margot Wood out of a North Olmsted Giant Eagle in 2024. Ellis would attack the pair stabbing both of them with Julian dying from his injuries
According to North Olmsted police Bionca Ellis picked the pair at random.
Bionca Ellis would be arrested and charged with murder. Initially Ellis would be declared incompetent however after months of treatment she was declared competent. Ellis would stand trial and would be convicted of murder and other charges
Bionca Ellis was sentenced to life without parole
Bionca Ellis Case
A Cuyahoga County jury found Bionca Ellis guilty of all nine charges in the murder of 3-year-old Julian Wood.
Ellis will be sentenced on Oct. 27 on charges of one count of aggravated murder, two counts of murder, two counts of attempted murder, one count of endangering children and count of misdemeanor theft.
The trial began Oct. 6 in the courtroom of Cuyahoga County Court of Common Pleas Judge John Russo.
Ellis was previously found incompetent to stand trial, and it took about five months for her competency to be restored.
The Cleveland resident was facing numerous charges after being accused of stabbing Julian and his mother, Margot Wood, in the parking lot of a North Olmsted Giant Eagle on June 3, 2024.
Julian died from his injuries, with his mother surviving the attack.
North Olmsted police arrested Ellis minutes after the reported stabbing. She was still carrying the kitchen knife used.
Police called the stabbing a “random” attack, with Ellis and the Wood family not knowing each other.
Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley said Ellis stole two knives from the Volunteers of America Thrift Store, next door to Giant Eagle, that day.
She then walked into Giant Eagle, where prosecutors said she spotted the victims walking out and followed them.
There was no altercation inside the store before police say Ellis stabbed Julian while he sat in the shopping cart.
O’Malley said Margot Wood was stabbed while she was trying to pull her son from the cart.
In October 2024, Julian’s parents, Jared and Margot Wood, filed a lawsuit against Giant Eagle, alleging the company had put profits over safety.
Loved ones said Julian is remembered for his cheesy smile and rambunctious attitude. He loved dinosaurs and school
Woman found guilty of murder in stabbing death of 3-year-old in supermarket parking lot
Bionca Ellis Sentencing
A judge in northeast Ohio sentenced a woman to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday for the fatal stabbing of a 3-year-old boy as he sat in a grocery cart outside a Giant Eagle supermarket.
Bionca Ellis, 34, of Cleveland, sat expressionless as Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Russo imposed the sentence for the June 2024 attack that killed 3-year-old Julian Wood and injured his mother, Margot Wood.
A jury found Ellis guilty earlier in October of aggravated murder, felonious assault, child endangering and aggravated theft. She has been held in jail on a $5 million bond since being indicted by a grand jury last year.
“In my years as Prosecutor, I have seen unimaginable acts of violence — but this is among the most heartbreaking,” prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said in a statement. “Bionca Ellis’ horrific actions warrant nothing less than life without parole. My thoughts and prayers remain with Julian Wood’s family as they continue to grieve this unimaginable loss.”
Ellis’ attorneys, Fernando Mack and Carlos Johnson, said the judge’s ruling is “the wrong outcome” and that Ellis will appeal the conviction and the sentence. They had entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity.
“At the time that she’s arrested and all the way through, she’s deemed incompetent, really, so it’s hard for us to swallow,” Mack said. “To think that she was only OK just for that moment, just for that day, but all the other days we’ll concede that she had some severe mental disease kicking in.”
Authorities said Ellis entered the Giant Eagle grocery store in North Olmsted armed with two knives that she had stolen from the Volunteers of America Thrift Store next door. They said she spotted Julian and his mother near the front and followed them into the parking lot.
The mother was about to load her groceries into her vehicle when Ellis ran at them with a knife, stabbing the toddler twice before walking away. The boy died at a hospital while Margot Wood was treated for a shoulder stab wound. Prosecutors said she tried to pull her son out of the cart during the attack.
