The court however ruled children over 10 are presumed competent to testify even if they weren't of age at the time of the incident. taking the witness stand, arguing that she was too young at the time of the murder. was considered a key witness for the prosecution because her testimony would corroborate claims made by her father. The girl added that she then fell asleep in the car and awoke the following morning at her grandparents' house. She neither could recall where the car was at the time but said it was 'pitch black' outside, the Beacon Journal reported. She said Stefanko, who was in the passenger seat, 'did not use her name' during the call, but she could not remember the alias she used. 'Evidence and testimony show that she did take part from beginning, middle and end,' assistant prosecutor Felicia Easter said, according to Akron Beacon Journal.Īll of this because of a custody battle-retaliation-all of this because of the dislike for Ashley Biggs and her gaining custody of G.C.'Īt the time, Biggs was dating Brittney Dunson, who said Biggs got temporary custody of the child in 2011.Ĭobb has now denied murdering Biggs, despite his guilty plea, and said he only did so for a chance to get out of prison early.īut Stefanko's lawyers argued that Cobb had an entirely different reason to testify against her: revenge over Stefanko for marrying his childhood friend and raising their children with another man. Stefanko confessed that the murder was a ploy to stop Biggs from getting custody of the couple's young daughter, who testified against Stefanko during the most recent trial. She added that Cobb allegedly said he wanted to save Biggs' skull 'as a trophy.' I did exactly what he told me to do,' Stefanko also reportedly said. 'Every time I hear a siren, I think, "They’re coming for me,"' Stefanko told Cindee Cobb, per the Akron Beacon Journal. The Akron Beacon Journal reports that Stefanko admitted to ordering the pizza that night in an effort to cover up the murder. Pictured: Erica Stefanko sits during her trial while defense lawyer Kerry O'Brien, delivers his opening statement on November 16 Seven years passed by with little proof of Stefanko's involvement until Detective Michael Hitchings secretly recorded a call between Stefanko and Cobb's mother, Cindee. Stefanko, from Rittman, was arrested last fall after investigators received new information suggesting she had played a role in Biggs's killing.īy that time, she had divorced Cobb and married one of his childhood friends. She followed Cobb to the cornfield and gave him a ride home after they dumped Biggs' body.Ĭobb, who had a history of domestic violence, pleaded guilty to the murder in February 2013 and was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole, as part of a deal to avoid the death penalty. Prosecutors said that Stefanko was with Cobb when she made the fake pizza order, but left him alone in the parking lot to murder Biggs. When Biggs arrived to the isolated location with a large half-mushroom, half pepperoni pizza, Cobb shocked her with a Taser, brutally beat her and strangled her with a four-foot zip tie.Ĭobb threw Biggs' deceased body in the trunk of her vehicle and abandoned the car in a cornfield near his parents' home. Stefanko was accused of helping her ex-husband and Biggs's ex-boyfriend Chad Cobb (right) murder the army vet (left) who was working as a Domino's delivery driver, by placing a fake order to a closed business where she was later ambushed Stefanko, who was married to Cobb at the time, assisted in the murder by placing a fake Domino's Pizza order under an alias and luring Biggs to the parking lot of a closed business. 'Thank you to the jurors who, under these unusual and extreme circumstances, thoroughly reviewed the evidence and determined Erica Stefanko was responsible for Ashley’s death.'īiggs was strangled to death in New Franklin, Ohio in June 2012 amid a bitter custody battle with her ex-boyfriend, Chad Cobb, over their seven-year-old daughter. 'Today, more than eight years after she was brutally murdered, justice has come for Ashley Biggs,' said Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh, per 19 News. She will be sentenced in January and faces life in prison. Erica Stefanko (pictured in mugshot) was convicted of aggravated murder and murder in the death of Ashley BiggsĪn Ohio mother was convicted of murder for luring her former husband’s ex-girlfriend – who worked as a pizza delivery driver – to her brutal death by placing a fake order in 2012.Īfter 14 hours of deliberation, a jury on Wednesday found Erica Stefanko, 37, guilty of aggravated murder and murder in the death of 25-year-old army veteran Ashley Biggs.
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