34-Year-Old Man Indicted In Killing Of Garfield Heights Woman

CLEVELAND — A 34-year-old man has been indicted on murder charges in the killing of a Garfield Heights woman, whom prosecutors said was killed in an argument on the highway while her children were in the backseat of the vehicle.

Ellis Willis faces up to life in prison after he was indicted by a grand jury Wednesday in the killing of a 33-year-old woman on Dec. 19. Willis was indicted on one count of aggravated murder, one count of murder, one count of felonious assault, two counts of improperly handling a firearm in a motor vehicle and one count of having a firearm under disability, Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael O’Malley announced.

O’Malley maintains that Willis and the victim were traveling on I-71 and began to argue while the victim’s 12-year-old and 8 month-old children were in the backseat of the vehicle. According to the prosecutor, Willis then shot the victim multiple times before the vehicle came to a stop near the Harvard Road exit before Willis got out of the vehicle and fled.

The victim was taken to a nearby hospital where she was pronounced dead shortly after arriving. The two children were not injured but were taken to the hospital for medical evaluation, O’Malley said. Wilson was arrested after being found by police hiding in brush along the freeway.

“This barbaric individual executed the victim in front of her children,” O’Malley said in a news release. “Our hearts go out to her family as they grieve this tragic loss.”

Wilson is being held in the Cuyahoga County Jail on $100,000 bond and will be arraigned at a later date.