Bail was set at $5 million for a woman accused of fatally stabbing a 3-year-old boy as he sat in a grocery cart outside an Ohio grocery store parking lot in what authorities called a “random act of violence.”
Ms. Ellis appeared before Cuyahoga County Common Pleas Court Judge Nancy Margaret Russo on June 10 and pleaded not guilty to all charges related to the slaying of Julian Wood, outside a Giant Eagle supermarket in North Olmsted, Ohio, on June 3.
Judge Russo also said during the June 10 hearing that prosecutors could seek the death penalty if she’s convicted.
Speaking at the hearing as Ms. Ellis stood just a few feet away from him with her back turned, Julian’s father, Jared Wood, told prosecutors he didn’t want bail for Ms. Ellis.
“That day, one week ago, she took everything from us. There’s nothing that could ever replace my son or anything that my wife and I, even our other kids, are going through. It’s horrendous,” Mr. Wood said, struggling to keep his composure.
“I really wish no bail. Period. Or extend it to the maximum limit possible that you can, at the very least. Just do whatever you can to keep this monster behind bars,” he continued.
‘Heartbroken’
Authorities have said Ms. Ellis was inside the Giant Eagle grocery store on June 3 in the Cleveland suburb of North Olmsted when she saw Julian and his mother, Margot Wood, near the front and followed them into the parking lot.The mother was about to load her groceries into her vehicle when Ms. Ellis ran at them with a knife, stabbing the boy twice, in an attack that took less than five seconds before Ms. Ellis walked away. The boy died at a hospital while Ms. Wood was treated at a hospital for a stab wound to her shoulder—a wound prosecutors have said she suffered while trying to pull the boy out of the cart during the attack.
North Olmsted Detective Sgt. Matt Beck said last week that an investigation into the motive is still ongoing, adding that “everything learned thus far points that this was a random act of violence.”
Ms. Ellis and the victims had no prior interactions before the incident, he said.
“This will be an incredibly long journey to recovery, but truthfully we will never recover—but we will continue to share stories about our beautiful baby boy,” the fundraiser stated.
A Giant Eagle spokesperson told NTD via email that the supermarket chain will provide counseling services to store teams and is “ready to support our North Olmsted neighbors however we can.”
“We were heartbroken to learn of the passing of the young victim in this senseless act of violence,” the spokesperson said. “Our thoughts are with the child, his mother and their loved ones during this unimaginably difficult time.”
