Stephanie Warsmith|Akron Beacon Journal
The mother of a slain Jackson Township woman holds the woman who made the bogus pizza delivery call that lured her daughter to her death as responsible as the man who killed her.
Kimberly Biggs said during Erica Stefanko’s sentencing that Stefanko is just as much to blame as Chad Cobb, Stefanko’s former husband who is serving a life sentence for her daughter’s 2012 slaying.
“Ashley’s blood is on your hands — and you can never wash that off,” Biggs said via video.
Biggs urged Summit County Common Pleas Judge Amy Corrigall Jones to impose the maximum possible penalty for her part in the murder of Ashley Biggs.
Joelle Hendrick, Stefanko’s mother, however, asked Jones to be lenient. She said her “beloved” daughter isn’t the monster others have made her out to be.
“She does not have a violent bone in her body,” said Hendrick, who spoke in the courtroom.
At the end of thelong and emotional sentencing, Jones went with a sentence in the middle of the potential penalties — life without parole for 30 years. Stefanko faced between 20 years to life and life without parole.
Stefanko, who plans to appeal, showed little reaction to the sentence. She made a heart sign to her family and lowered her mask to mouth, “I love you,” to her mother.
Stefanko, 38, of Rittman, was arrested in 2019 in the June 2012 slaying of Biggs, the ex-girlfriend of Chad Cobb, Stefanko's husband at the time. Police said new information had come to light about Stefanko's involvement, including making a fake pizza delivery call that lured Biggs, a delivery driver, to the New Franklin business where Cobb killed Biggs.
Cobb, Stefanko's now-ex-husband, is serving a life sentence for the murder of Biggs, 25, the mother of his then-6-year-old daughter. Cobb and Biggs were in a custody dispute.
Both Chad Cobb and his and Biggs' daughter testified in Stefanko's high-profile trial in November that was livestreamed on Court TV at a time when few trials were happening across the country because of the pandemic.
A jury found Stefanko guilty of aggravated murder and murder after several days of deliberations.
Her sentencing was delayed while Jones weighed a request by Kerry O’Brien, one of Stefanko’s attorneys, that she grant a mistrial, which would have started the process over. O’Brien claimed Stefanko’s trial was unfair because jurors were pressured to reach a verdict due to thelooming Thanksgiving holiday and COVID-19 concerns.
Jones denied O’Brien’s request in early June and scheduled an in-person sentencing. Just as the trial did in the fall, Stefanko’s sentencing again generated a great deal of interest, with Court TV covering it and numerous family members and friends speaking.
More: Rittman woman denied new trial in pizza-delivery murder case
Prosecution maps out series of choices assisting killer
Assistant Prosecutor Felicia Easter said it took two people to plan out and orchestrate the murder of Biggs. She said Stefanko’s part includedmaking the bogus delivery call, dropping Cobb off where he killed Biggs, and following Cobb to the Wayne County cornfield where he left Biggs’ body in her car.
“She’s not some innocent bystander,” Easter said. “Erica Stefanko controlled her actions and her wrongdoings. Those were her choices every step of the way.”
Easter noted that Stefanko drove Cobb around that night with their young children in the car.
“How sick is that?” Easter asked. “What type of individual does that? An individual with a total lack of regard for human life.”
Easter urged Jones to impose the maximum possible sentence.
GC, the daughter of Cobb and Biggs who has been referred to by her initials during the case, said Stefanko devastated lives and separated families. She said Stefanko forced her to eat dog feces one minute and then wished her a happy birthday on Facebook the next minute.
“I was so frightened, I never told him how you were harming me,” GC, who is now 16, said of her father. “I can’t imagine what you would do to us if you ever got out of prison.”
More: Rittman teen prevails despite loss of parents to murder and prison
Cindee Cobb, Chad Cobb’s mother who has custody of GC, told Stefanko, “Your reign of terror has come to an end.”
Relatives speak out in defense of Stefanko
Hendrick, though, said Stefanko was as much of a victim as anyone else in this case. She said she suffered physical and emotional abuse at the hands of Chad Cobb.
“The things they said about Erica, they are not true,” she said. “She is a loving mother.”
Michael Stefanko, a friend of Chad Cobb’s whom Stefanko married after divorcing Cobb, said his wife is a great mother and friend. He said the blame lies with Chad Cobb.
“She is deserving of a fair sentence and to be with her family at some point in life,” he said.
O’Brien said Chad Cobb got increasingly belligerent toward Stefanko during the heated custody dispute between him and Biggs. He said Cobb dominated Stefanko financially, emotionally and intellectually.
“That’s what happened the night this alleged aggravated murder took place,” O’Brien said. “He was in control. She was in fear for her own safety.”
O’Brien asked Jones to consider imposing the minimum sentence.
Erica Stefanko requests leniency during her sentencing for a pizza-delivery murder
Erica Stefanko requests leniency during her sentencing for a pizza-delivery murder. She was sentenced to life in prison with possible parole after 30 years.
Stephanie Warsmith, Akron Beacon Journal
Citing family's needs, Stefanko asks court for leniency
Stefanko said if Biggs and Cobb’s families want to paint her as as the monster, she can accept that.
“I was most certainly my worst self during my relationship with Chad,” she said. “I have never been a hateful person.”
Stefanko said she never would have wanted what happened to Biggs to occur, regardless of statements she made in a taped conversation that were played during her trial to the contrary. She said she prays for peace and comfort for Biggs’ family.
“For my own self, I would ask the court for leniency,” she said.
“I would like to be back with my family someday,” she continued, her voice catching. “My husband does not deserve to go through the rest of his life alone without a partner.”
After the sentencing, GC said she was pleased that Stefanko got more than the minimum sentence.
The teen took — and passed —her driver’s test Tuesday afternoon, a milestone she was pleased about.
She said, though, that she won’t forget about Stefanko as her life moves forward. She plans to oppose Stefanko's prisonrelease when she’s up for parole.
“Whatever it takes,” she said.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.
