Cleveland woman sentenced to life in prison for stabbing 3-year-old boy to death

a judge in the north east ohio A woman was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole Monday for the stabbing death of a 3-year-old boy sitting in a grocery cart outside a supermarket.

Bianca Ellis, 34, of clevelandHe remained expressionless as Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Judge John Russo was sentenced for the June 2024 attack that killed 3-year-old Julian Wood and injured his mother, Margot Wood.

A jury found Ellis guilty of aggravated murder, aggravated assault, child endangerment and aggravated burglary in early October. He remains jailed on $5 million bond after being indicted by a grand jury last year.

Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley said in a statement, “I have witnessed unimaginable acts of violence – but this is the most heartbreaking.” “Bianca Ellis’s horrific actions deserve nothing less than life without parole.”

Ellis’ lawyers, Fernando Mack and Carlos Johnson, said the judge’s decision was a “wrong result” and that Ellis would appeal the conviction and sentence. He had pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity.

“From the time he’s been arrested and all the way through he’s been arrested, he’s actually been considered incompetent, so it’s hard for us to accept that,” Mack said. “To think that she was fine only for that moment, only for that day, but all the rest of the days we would assume she had some serious mental illness.”

Authorities said Ellis entered the Giant Eagle grocery store in North Olmsted armed with two knives, which he stole from the adjacent Volunteers of America thrift store. He said he saw Julian and his mother ahead 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 child twice before walking away. The boy died in hospital while Margot Wood was treated for a knife wound to her shoulder. Prosecutors said she tried to pull her son out of the car during the attack.