CLEVELAND (WJW) — The mother of Bionca Ellis has spoken out to the FOX 8 I TEAM about her daughter, who police said killed 3-year-old Julian Wood outside of a grocery store.
Yolanda Eggleton, mother of Bionca Ellis, said she believes the court system and the mental health system failed her daughter and the family of Julian.
Eggleton said her daughter has had mental health issues for years and recently quit taking her medication. She said her daughter should have been held for a mental health evaluation when she was arrested on a probation violation and taken to Rocky River Municipal Court at the end of May .
On June 3, North Olmsted Police said Ellis attacked a mother and her toddler outside Giant Eagle and stabbed them, killing Julian.
“I think she was hallucinating,” Eggleton said. “Bionca has been on several medications that did not work out for her. The hallucinations and the voices just got the best of her.”
Records show a magistrate in Rocky River Municipal Court referred Ellis for a mental health evaluation on May 30, but it didn’t happen. On May 31, Rocky River Judge Brian Hagan released Ellis. The I-Team asked Judge Hagan why the woman didn’t get a psychiatric or mental health evaluation. Hagan said the organization handling mental health evaluations for the court had no one available. Also, Ellis would have had to sit in jail for days on a very minor case.
Three days later, police say, Ellis attacked Julian and his mother Margot.
Video released to the Fox 8 I-Team Tuesday shows Ellis taking a knife from a store just moments before the vicious attack.
“My condolences to this family,” Eggleton said. “When I found out I was devastated. I’m devastated. No child should ever have to lose their life. She was around my grandkids. It could’ve been one of my grandkids.”
Th I-Team also revealed Ellis kept getting back on the streets even though she had been picked up for violating probation.
In January, she was arrested in Bakersfield, California. She is facing three counts of “battery on person” for allegedly assaulting three people there.
In February, she told Cleveland police she wanted to confess to a murder. She told Cleveland officers that she killed a woman in California. Bakersfield police have told us they determined the confession was not credible, saying the information was not consistent with any unsolved cases being investigated.
Ellis also told police she wanted to kill again. Cleveland police took her to the hospital for an evaluation.
In March, Ellis was arrested in Florida for trespassing. A police report in Florida indicated she refused to leave a hotel and said she wanted to go to jail.
Her mother said she had no idea her daughter left the state or how she was able to travel.
Ellis in jail on a $5 million bond. She has been indicted on a list of charges including aggravated murder.
Ed Gallek
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