Man Indicted for Murder of Garfield Heights Woman Inside Car on Interstate 77

CLEVELAND – Cuyahoga County Prosecutor Michael C. O’Malley announced that a grand jury has returned an indictment charging Ellis Wilson, 34, for the murder of a Garfield Heights woman, 33, near the Harvard Avenue exit ramp of I-77. 

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

On December 19, 2020, Wilson and the victim argued inside her vehicle as she was driving along I-77 with her two children, 12 years old and 8 months old, in the backseat. Wilson shot the victim multiple times before the vehicle came to a stop near the Harvard Avenue exit ramp and he ran out of the car. Officers with the Newburgh Heights Police Department (NHPD) and the Cleveland Division of Police (CPD), along with Emergency Medical Services, responded to the scene. The victim was transported to a nearby hospital and was pronounced deceased shortly thereafter. The victim’s children were not injured but were transported to the hospital for further evaluation. Wilson was found hiding nearby in the brush alongside the freeway and was arrested.

CPD’s Homicide Unit and Fourth District Bureau, along with NHPD, conducted an investigation that connected Wilson to the crime.

He has been indicted on the following charges:

• One count of Aggravated Murder
• One count of Murder
• One count of Felonious Assault
• Two counts of Improperly Handling Firearms In A Motor Vehicle
• One count of Having Weapons Under Disability

Wilson is currently being held at the Cuyahoga County Jail on $1,000,000 bond. He will be arraigned at a later date. If convicted, he faces a maximum term of life in prison.