CLEVELAND — For the first time, eyewitnesses publicly recounted the stabbing of a 3-year-old boy and his mother at a North Olmsted grocery store in June 2024.
On Tuesday, prosecutors called their first witnesses in the trial of the woman accused of the stabbing that killed Julian Wood and injured his mother, Margot Wood. The state spent the first day of witness testimony sharing videos, images, and 911 calls to establish a timeline and details about how the incident unfolded.
Bionca Ellis, 34, has been charged with two counts each of murder, attempted murder and felonious assault, and one count each of aggravated murder, endangering children, tampering with evidence and aggravated theft.
The first witness, North Olmsted Police Officer Danielle Shook, detailed an encounter with Bionca Ellis the day of the stabbing. She said Ellis had been released from custody earlier and was at police headquarters inquiring about cash she believed had not been returned to her. Shook said Ellis was upset when she informed her that the jail had no other property in her name.
Prosecutors displayed surveillance from the police station lobby of Ellis rolling a wheelchair that contained a suitcase.
“At this moment, I feel like she’s irritated. She’s putting her stuff away. She goes to walk out and then she looks back at me and then flips the light off,” Shook said of the video.
Minutes later, on June 3, 2024, surveillance video from Volunteers of America in a nearby shopping plaza showed Ellis entering the thrift store. She can be seen rummaging through a bin and pulling out two knives.
A separate camera showed Ellis then enter a back room at the store where volunteers were sorting incoming donations. A store manager testified that she thought Ellis was a volunteer. She said the defendant asked where the bathroom was located, and the manager saw Ellis walk away with a knife marked with a price tag sticker.
Footage from the front of the store showed Ellis leaving. Cameras at a neighboring bin store then showed her briefly entering with knives in hand, exiting and then tapping the knives on a pillar outside.
A North Olmsted detective testified that timestamps on all the surveillance videos showed less than 10 minutes had elapsed between the time when Ellis walked into the thrift store and when she followed Margot Wood and Julian Wood into the parking lot of Giant Eagle.
“It was important because we were trying to establish a timeline, as to what had occurred prior to the incident,” North Olmsted Police Detective Manuel Roman testified.
A series of witnesses described a violent encounter, the suspect’s demeanor and lifesaving efforts after the attack.
“I saw a woman stabbing a mother and child. I saw the knife covered in blood. I saw violent motions towards a mother and child,” said Matthew Stroud, who was shopping at Giant Eagle with his wife when they witnessed the attack.
He explained his wife called 911 while he warned others in the parking lot. He said he followed Ellis at a distance until police arrived and took her into custody.
Giant Eagle employee Griffin Schopf testified that he was taking a break with his girlfriend in her car when the couple heard screaming. He said he was the first person to approach Margot and Julian Wood after the attack.
“I saw a woman on the ground, holding a child, covered in blood,” Schopf recalled.
Registered nurse Sheryl Milasky testified about hearing the screams as she was pulling into the grocery store parking lot to shop. She said she ran to help.
“I immediately took the child that I saw in her arms, and laid him down on the ground, assessed him, yelled for help, for EMS - someone to call - and I started CPR,” Milasky said.
Rachel Craven, a pediatric ICU nurse, said she offered to take over chest compressions for Milasky when she realized what was happening. Craven was 36 weeks pregnant at the time.
“At some point, someone from the store came out with an AED, an external defibrillator. We put pads on. It did not identify a shockable rhythm and I continued CPR until the police came,” she said.
Other witnesses described Ellis walking away calmly after the violent encounter.
“It happened so fast. I was in my car and I saw her and I saw a knife,” said shopper Karin Kollar.
Schopf recalled, “She was smiling.”
When asked how Ellis appeared when he saw her leaving the scene, he described it as looking “like she was walking in the park.”
Several police officers testified about taking over the lifesaving measures, helping EMS transfer Julian Wood onto an ambulance cot and collecting evidence from the scene.
Body-worn camera footage showed EMS working to save the 3-year-old and providing care to his mother. The boy died from his injuries.
Prosecutors will continue calling witnesses to testify on Wednesday. During opening arguments, they told the jury several experts, including the medical examiner and a mental health professional, would be taking the stand.
Ellis’s defense attorneys have entered a plea of not guilty by reason of insanity. They previously said their client’s behavior, medical history and interactions during and after the incident will show she was insane during the attack.
