CLEVELAND (WJW) – A jury could start deciding Tuesday if Bionca Ellis should be convicted for killing a young child and attacking his mother in the parking lot of a grocery store.
The child’s mother testified last week during the murder trial. She cried on the stand as she described Ellis with a knife stabbing her son, 3-year-old Julian Wood, for no reason. The boy’s mother, Margot Wood, was also stabbed in the attack that happened in June of 2024 in the parking lot of the Giant Eagle in North Olmsted. Margot Wood said she did not know Ellis.
Mental health experts testified for the defense, described Ellis as mentally ill, and said she didn’t know right from wrong.
Ellis has entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity, so it will be up to the jurors to decide if she was sane at the time of the attack.
The I-Team has reported in the past on mental health concerns long before Bionca Ellis ended up on trial here. The Fox 8 I-Team found that Ellis was released from jail on another case days before the murder, despite a recommendation in court to have her get another mental health evaluation.
A prosecution expert has testified that he believes Ellis carried out the attack because she wanted to be arrested and was angry.
Prosecutors said during the trial that Ellis felt someone at the North Olmsted Police Department had taken her money after she was arrested on a probation violation a few days prior to the deadly attack. When Ellis did not get the money she felt she was owed from the department, security video shows she went to a nearby thrift store and took knives from a bin. A few minutes later, she went to the Giant Eagle, waving a knife in her hand.
Case Western Reserve University Professor Michael Benza notes that it is rare for a suspect to be found not guilty by reason of insanity.
“The not guilty by reason of insanity verdict ends the criminal case forever,” Benza told the I-Team. He said if the jury does find it not guilty by reason of insanity, a court hearing will be held to determine if she is a danger to herself and others and should be committed to a mental health facility.
“So she would not be guilty of the criminal charges but could be institutionalized,” Benza said.
The defense is expected to finish cross-examining an expert witness, and then the jury will hear closing arguments.
Julian’s family is still waiting for justice.
Ed Gallek
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