'You are a killer,' daughter of slain woman tells Erica Stefanko during her sentencing

The mother of a Jackson Township woman who was slain in 2012 told Erica Stefanko during her sentencing Thursday that she took away what she loved most.

Kim Biggs said she hopes the things Stefanko holds most dear aren’t there when she needs them.

“I hope they’re out of your favorite things in the commissary,” Biggs, the mother of Ashley Biggs, said during Stefanko’s sentencing for her part in Ashley’s murder. “I hope when you call home, you get voicemail. I hope when you write home, your only pen has no ink and every pencil breaks.”

“I hope those around you got to see the real Erica for the second time — and will remove you from their life,” Biggs continued.

Stefanko, 41, of Rittman, was convicted Wednesday of aggravated murder and murder after a retrial for her part in the so-called “pizza delivery murder case.” She is accused of luring Biggs with a fake pizza order to where she was beaten and strangled.

Judge Jennifer Towell sentenced Stefanko Thursday to life in prison with parole after 30 years. This is the same sentence she received in her first trial. Stefanko faced either life in prison with parole eligibility after 25 or 30 years or with no parole.

The courtroom, packed with members of both Biggs' and Stefanko’s families, erupted with cheers when Towell announced her sentence and initially said “life without the possibility of parole.” Towell admonished the spectators for their outburst, then added “after 30 years.”

Stefanko, who had red eyes from crying when she entered the courtroom, plans to appeal.

Stefanko was convicted of the same charges in her first trial in November 2020 but won the right to a new trial when an appellate court ruled that Chad Cobb, Stefanko’s ex-husband who is serving a life sentence for Biggs’ slaying, shouldn’t have been permitted to testify via video. 

Stefanko is arrested years after Biggs’ slaying

Stefanko was arrested in November 2019 after New Franklin detectives said new information had come to light about her involvement in Biggs’ slaying in the parking lot of a closed New Franklin business in June 2012.

That included Stefanko making the fake call to Domino’s, where Biggs was a delivery driver, to draw Biggs to where she was killed.

Biggs, 25, of Jackson Township, was tased, beaten and strangled with a zip tie.

At the time of Biggs’ murder, she and Cobb were embroiled in a heated custody dispute concerning their then-7-year-old daughter.

Cobb accepted a plea agreement in 2013 in which he pleaded guilty to aggravated murder and numerous other charges in exchange for not facing the death penalty. He was sentenced to life in prison without the possibility of parole.

Stefanko was convicted of aggravated murder and murder after a trial in November 2020 that happened at a time when few trials were proceeding because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Her conviction was overturned in July 2022, with the appellate court focusing on Cobb’s remote testimony.

Cobb says Stefanko shares in the blame

Cobb, who appeared in person, said during Stefanko’s retrial that she deserves part of the blame for Biggs’ slaying.

Cobb said he used a taser on Biggs and severely beat her, but Stefanko put zip ties on Biggs’ neck, hands and feet.

Cobb, 42, is seeking to withdraw the plea in his case, with this request so far denied.

Stefanko, who didn’t testify in her first trial, took the stand in her second trial. She admitted to making the bogus pizza order but said she had no part in or knowledge of the murder.

Stefanko said she thought Cobb planned to plant meth in Biggs’ car to hurt her chances in the custody dispute but had no idea he planned to kill her.

Prosecutors, though, pointed out how often Stefanko had lied during the case and questioned why jurors should believe her now. They also highlighted a secret three-hour recording of Stefanko made by Cindee Cobb, Chad’s mother, in which she discussed Biggs’ slaying.

Prosecutor suggests a life-without-parole sentence

During Stefanko’s sentencing on Thursday, Assistant Summit County Prosecutor Brian LoPrinzi called her a “master manipulator.”

LoPrinzi said he was asking for the first time in his career for an accomplice in a murder case to be sentenced to life without parole.

“Twenty-four people have now all judged her and decided she is beyond a reasonable doubt guilty,” he said. “We ask you do the only thing that can give her no hope.”

LoPrinzi said the daughter of Biggs and Cobb will never see her mother again.

“Give her no hope of ever seeing free air,” LoPrinzi said.

Brittney Dunson, Biggs’ girlfriend at the time of her slaying, said Biggs was a kind, caring beautiful person “taken from this earth sooner than she deserved.”

Dunson read a passage written by Biggs in which she talked about how she had enrolled at Stark State College for physical therapy in 2011. Biggs said she was working as a janitor at Malone University while taking classes and wanted to make a good life for her daughter and save for the girl’s college.

Kim Biggs sobbed while she listened to this.

Cindee Cobb, Chad Cobb’s mother who raised Chad and Ashley’s daughter, said Stefanko’s “path of destruction” ruined several families.

“If there is justice, we pray the bars hold you for the rest of your lifetime,” Cindee Cobb said. “I don’t find joy today. I feel sorry for the children and grandchildren.”

Chad and Ashley's daughter, who is now 18, said Stefanko killed her mother and has shown no remorse. She said Stefanko is untrustworthy, sickening and a liar.

“You are a killer,” she said. “You had a plan and you followed through with it.”

Attorney urges judge to impose minimum sentence

Jeff Laybourne, one of Stefanko’s attorneys, though, urged Towell to consider imposing the minimum sentence of 25 years to life.

Laybourne, who represented Stefanko with attorneys Angie Kille and Mike Kranek, noted Stefanko’s family support and her lack of a serious prior record. He also said the odds of Stefanko being released — regardless of the sentence — are low, with this decision left to the parole board.

Laybourne noted that Stefanko has had no infractions since 2019 when she was arrested and incarcerated.

“She’s shown she can make productive use of her time as an inmate,” Laybourne said.

Stefanko, who spoke during her first sentencing, chose not to say anything during her second, besides asking that she be appointed an appellate attorney.

Towell said Stefanko took the life of a “young working woman trying to support her only child” who had served in the Army. She said Stefanko lured Biggs to a dark parking lot where she was killed, with Stefanko’s four young children in the family’s SUV.

Towell also noted the “secondary trauma” Stefanko caused the community, jurors, court staff and everyone else involved in her two trials.

As Stefanko was led from the courtroom, she told her mother and husband, Mike Stefanko, that she loved them.

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 gets life sentence for role in pizza delivery murder