'That would be the defendant:' Chad Cobb points finger at ex for pizza delivery murder
Chad Cobb, who is serving a life sentence for her murder, admitted Tuesday that he used a taser on Ashley Biggs in June 2012.
He admitted to getting into a fight with Biggs that he described as “a train wreck.”
He didn’t admit, though, to putting a zip tie around Biggs’ neck.
“How did one end up around her neck?” attorney Jeff Laybourne asked Cobb Tuesday during his testimony in his former wife Erica Stefanko's murder trial of Biggs.
“That would be the defendant,” Cobb said, referring to Stefanko.
Cobb, who took a plea deal to avoid death penalty but is now trying to vacate his plea, again attempted during hours of testimony in Stefanko’s second trial in Summit County Common Pleas Court to emphasize the blame Stefanko has in Biggs’ slaying.
“Is it your testimony that you are not responsible for the death of Ashley Biggs?” Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Felicia Easter asked Cobb.
“I never said that because I was there,” Cobb said.
“Do you believe someone else was responsible?” Easter asked.
“The death resides on both Erica and myself,” he said.
Biggs, 25, of Jackson Township, died from being beaten and strangled after she was lured to the back of a New Franklin business by a bogus pizza delivery call that prosecutors say Stefanko made.
Stefanko's retrial for the so-called "pizza delivery murder" finally got underway Monday after delays caused by the first jury pool being dismissed and prosecutors who were ill.
Stefanko, 41, of Rittman, was convicted of aggravated murder in November 2020 but won a new trial when an appellate court ruled that Cobb, Stefanko's now-ex-husband, shouldn’t have been permitted to testify via video.
Her first trial in Summit County Common Pleas Court happened at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, when few trials were proceeding and safety protocols were in place.
Stefanko, who is being held at the Summit County Jail, will be retried only on the charges she was convicted of – aggravated murder and murder.
About the case: Rittman woman to be retried in pizza delivery murder case in Summit County court
Stefanko’s trial, which is again being livestreamed on Court TV, is expected to last until early next week.
Erica Stefanko is arrested years after Ashley Biggs’ slaying
Stefanko was arrested in 2019 for the June 2012 slaying of Biggs, the ex-girlfriend of Cobb, who Stefanko was married to at the time of the murder.
At the time of the slaying, Cobb and Biggs, the mother of Cobb’s then-7-year-old daughter, were in a heated custody dispute.
Cobb, now 41, pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and several other charges in February 2013 in an agreement that prevented him from facing the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.
Years later, detectives said new information had come to light about Stefanko’s involvement, including placing the fake pizza order that drew Biggs, 25, a Domino’s delivery driver, to where she was killed.
Stefanko appealed based on several errors she claimed were made during her trial, including allegations that the COVID-19 procedures used by the trial court violated her right to a fair trial and due process and to confront witnesses as guaranteed by the U.S. Constitution.
The 9th District Court of Appeals overturned Stefanko’s conviction in July 2022, zeroing in on Chad Cobb’s remote testimony.
Prosecutor highlights secret recording in which Stefanko discussed slaying
Easter said in her opening statement that both Stefanko and Cobb were responsible for Biggs' slaying.
"They were together through this whole thing," Easter said. "The planning. The execution. The coverup."
Easter reminded jurors during her opening statement about the concept of complicity, which means those acting together are equally guilty. She used the example of a getaway driver who waits while someone robs a bank.
Easter said Stefanko discussed Biggs' slaying in a secret recording that was made by Cindee Cobb, Chad's mother, that will be played for the jury. She highlighted a few of Stefanko's statements.
"I did exactly what he told me to do," Stefanko said, referring to Chad Cobb.
"If everything was told exactly as it happened, then we'd both be in prison right now," Stefanko said at another point.
Easter said there is no DNA that ties Stefanko to the scene where Biggs was killed. Still, she said, Stefanko helped Cobb every step of the way before, during and after the slaying.
"She was in it for a penny, in it for a pound," Easter said.
Defense attorney says Cobb is appealing, hopes to get out of prison
Laybourne, one of Stefanko's attorneys, though, told jurors they will hear only "a penny's worth of evidence" against Stefanko.
Laybourne said there is overwhelming evidence about Cobb's guilt in Biggs' murder.
"He had intent and purpose," Laybourne said. "He set it up. He had a volatile relationship with Ashley Biggs that included protection orders. He had the motive to do this — not Erica."
Laybourne, who is representing Stefanko with attorney Angie Kille, said Cobb asked to withdraw his plea, with this request denied. He said Cobb appealed this ruling and Cobb and his family believe he will get out of prison.
"The Cobbs have not stopped fighting for Chad," he said.
To prove complicity, Laybourne said prosecutors must prove that Stefanko had the same criminal intent as Cobb and they "shared the same purpose."
Victim's girlfriend details tension over custody dispute
Brittany Dunson, who was dating Biggs when she was killed, was the first to testify and detailed the heated custody dispute that was happening before the slaying.
Dunson said Biggs, who hadn't seen her daughter in at least two years, was awarded temporary custody of the 6-year-old girl in October 2011. She said this was a shock to her and Biggs, as well as to Cobb and Stefanko.
Dunson said a bitter custody battle followed this that included Cobb calling the police multiple times to go to Dunson and Biggs' apartment for welfare checks on the girl — none, she said, that resulted in any action — and Stefanko following them home after they picked up the girl from school.
At the time of Biggs' slaying, Dunson said Cobb and Stefanko had visitation rights with the girl. She was with Cobb and Stefanko on the night when Biggs was killed.
Dunson said she got a call from the manager at Domino's that night, asking if she'd heard from Biggs. She said she was automatically worried because of the tension over the custody dispute.
Dunson, who cried during her testimony, said Biggs' mother called her hours after the slaying and said, "He got her," referring to Cobb.
Chad Cobb says he took plea deal because of concern for his children
Cobb, dressed in an orange jail jumpsuit and shackled, was the second person to take the stand. He was more clean shaven than when he testified in Stefanko's first trial and asked not to be photographed or videotaped.
“I’ve been on TV enough,” he said. “I’m not a fan of it.”
Cobb said he is appealing his case but that he hasn't been offered anything in exchange for his testimony. He said he pleaded guilty — and didn't originally talk to police about the role Stefanko played in Biggs' death —because he was concerned about what would happen to his kids if he didn't.
“My children have been the only basis for me taking the plea,” he said.
Cobb said he had a child with Biggs, who was the subject of the custody dispute, and two children with Stefanko. He said Stefanko also had a son who was about the same age as he and Biggs’ daughter.
Cobb said he learned after he had pleaded guilty and was sentenced to life without parole that Stefanko had been having an affair with Mike Stefanko, who was his best friend and had worked for his cable company. He also found out that she was pregnant with Mike’s child.
Cobb said he and Erica divorced in 2014, and she then married Mike Stefanko.
Cobb, with the help of his family members, said he has been trying to vacate his guilty plea and get a trial.
Laybourne asked Cobb if he thinks he would be acquitted if his case went to trial.
“Not acquitted of everything,” Cobb said. “I have responsibility in this also.”
Cobb said Stefanko made the phone call that lured Biggs to the parking lot of a closed New Franklin business where he was waiting. He said Biggs threw her phone at him and he used his taser on her. He said the taser didn’t work and the two of them got into a fight that he described as a “train wreck.”
Cobb said Biggs was bloody and bruised and in “very bad shape” after their fight. He said he wasn’t the one, though, who put zip ties around Biggs’ neck, hands and feet. He said he put Biggs’ body in the back of her car and drove her car – with Stefanko following him – to a Wayne County cornfield where he left it.
“Did you have a plan to kill Ashley?” Laybourne asked Cobb.
“The only plan I had was to go to Disney World,” Cobb said, referring to a family trip that was planned for the weekend after Biggs’ slaying.
Stephanie Warsmith can be reached at swarsmith@thebeaconjournal.com, 330-996-3705 and on Twitter: @swarsmithabj.
This article originally appeared on Akron Beacon Journal: Erica Stefanko's retrial begins in pizza delivery murder case
