Deranged suspect who stabbed toddler to death outside supermarket was freed from jail just days earlier as judge defends decision
A suspected deranged killer charged with stabbing a three-year-old boy to death outside an Ohio supermarket had only just been cut loose by a judge three days before the frenzied attack — despite being referred for a mental health evaluation.
Bionca Ellis, 32, was arrested after she allegedly butchered the toddler, Julian Wood, with a kitchen knife at a Giant Eagle grocery store in North Olmsted on June 3 in what cops described as a “random act of violence.”
But it has since emerged that Ellis had another run in for cops just days earlier after she taken into custody on May 29 for a probation violation tied to a petty theft arrest, records obtained by Fox 8 show.
During her arraignment for the probation violation arrest, a Rocky River Municipal Court magistrate ordered Ellis — who had been accused of stealing $69 worth of merch from Walmart — to undergo a psych check after it became unclear if she was paying attention or falling asleep during the proceedings.
Ellis then ended up back on the streets on May 31 after a different magistrate, Judge Brian Hagan, ordered she be released from custody.
“There wasn’t any red flags shooting up that pole,” Hagan said as he defended his decision to cut her loose. “There wasn’t any indications here. No sign of mental distress. No sign of previous, violent acts.”
The judge added that the mental health team that carries out evaluations for the court didn’t have anyone available, which meant Ellis — who has no known violent criminal history — would’ve been kept locked up for days on a minor case.
She is now being held on a $5 million bond in the wake of last week’s bloodied violence outside the grocery store.
Ellis allegedly stabbed the child to death while he sat in a shopping cart and also wounded his 38-year-old mother, Margot Wood, after following them into the parking lot, cops said.
The mother was about to load her groceries into her car when Ellis allegedly charged at them with a knife, stabbing the boy twice, in an attack that lasted less than five seconds.
His mom was knifed in the shoulder after trying to pull Julian from the cart during the stabbing frenzy, authorities said.
The little boy was pronounced dead at a hospital.
Ellis, who was charged with murder and attempted murder, later smirked her way through her arraignment as the counts were read out against her.
She giggled and replied “Si” when the judge asked if she was going to plead not guilty.
Despite the bloodshed, Judge Hagan said he wouldn’t do anything differently in releasing Ellis on the initial arrest.
“I’m confident in the way this court handled the matter,” Hagan said. “We did it by the letter of the law. There was nothing there to send up the alarms.”
