Woman Charged After Allegedly Ordering Pizza to Help Husband Brutally Murder His Ex-Girlfriend
An Ohio mother of five has been charged in connection to the heartbreaking 2012 murder of Ashley Biggs, who was working as a Domino’s Pizza delivery driver when she was allegedly lured to her death by the father of her child and his new wife.
Officers with the New Franklin Police Department arrested Erica Stefanko on Monday, close to eight years after police say she allegedly placed a fake Domino’s Pizza order to coax Biggs, 25, towards a secluded New Franklin business, where she was killed, News 5 Cleveland reports.
Stefanko, 36, who went by Erica Lyon at the time of the crime, is now facing a number of charges, including aggravated murder and kidnapping, for her alleged connection to the homicide.
When Biggs, an army veteran, arrived at the location with the pizza delivery in June 2012, investigators say she was ambushed and strangled with a four-foot-long zip tie by Chad Cobb — Stefanko’s then-husband and the father of Biggs’ child.
Cobb later stuffed Biggs’ body in the backseat of her car and abandoned the vehicle in a cornfield in Chippewa Township, which is located in Wayne County, Ohio, police say.
Authorities eventually located her body on June 21, 2012, and arrested Cobb on that same day, WKYC reports.
In 2013, Cobb was convicted but avoided the death penalty in a plea deal. He is currently serving life in prison without parole, according to News 5 Cleveland.
Investigators believe at the time of the gruesome murder, Biggs and Cobb were having an ongoing custody battle over their then-six-year-old daughter. The former pair were never married.
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A Summit County Grand Jury recently indicted Stefanko for multiple charges after investigators obtained new information about the horrifying case.
Stefanko, a mother of five who has since remarried, was taken into custody on Monday morning after her children left for school during a routine traffic stop, according to WKYC.
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She is now facing 12 charges, including aggravated murder, murder, kidnapping, aggravated robbery, gross abuse of a corpse, felonious assault, retaliation, tampering with evidence, grand theft of a motor vehicle and possession of criminal tools, News 5 Cleveland reports.
At this time, it is not clear if Stefanko has obtained legal representation yet.
A spokesperson for the New Franklin Police Department did not immediately respond to PEOPLE’s request for comment.
