Sword and Scale - Episode 212

Episode Date: May 30, 2022

It wasn’t an easy life for Ashley Biggs, a young woman from Ohio. Raised by her single mother and her grandmother, she suffered abuse in school for her sexual orientation. The ridicule only escalated when she became pregnant. Ashley quit school, had the baby girl, and enlisted in the army. When she returned, she would find that one of her haters was closer to home than she had imagined, and this hater was out to destroy her life. How far would they go? And would they get away with it?See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Sword and Scale contains adult themes and violence and is not intended for all audiences Listener discretion is advised I started telling my head against the pavement and I'm like no no my life is gone. She just it's gone My life is over. Welcome to season 9 episode 212 of Sword and Scale. A show that reveals that the worst monsters are real. The first monster is a real monster. The first monster is a real monster. Before we begin, I'd like to remind you that we have a membership plan called Plus. If you want to get extra content, extra episodes, all kinds of stories you won't hear on the regular feed. You can find it at swordenscale.com slash plus or in the iOS or Android app. Be sure to sign up and right now it's only five bucks,

but soon it will be double that to get all the digital content. But if you sign up now before we change pricing you will be grandfathered in forever. So make sure to do that as soon as you can. Thank you very much and we hope you enjoy the show. The fairy tales and fables we tell our children are often filled with cliches and stereotypes. Their storylines are an attempt to warn us about the dangers of the world. They paint a black and white picture, one of good versus evil. A define our disdain. They promise a happily ever after. The stories we tell our children are full of lies. In rural Wayne County, Ohio, the landscape is stunning, wide open fields and sunny skies,

pristine, homage farms, hills and forests, precisely spaced dollar general stores, booster college and of course corn fields, lots and lots of cornfields. On the morning of June 21st, Patricia was about to embark on her usual daily routine. First she let her dog out and then it was time for chores. Happy that it was a warm and sunny day, she proceeded to the barn to feed her horses. But on the way, something caught her eye. The glint of a metallic object way off in the distance, sitting in the far corner of the cornfield. Patricia thought this was odd because this was a cornfield, one that had just been planted. There shouldn't be anything there. Patricia went about her business, but kept her eye on that object, and was looking for signs of movement. What was this thing?

Why was it in the cornfield? After she finished her chores, she went back inside, but found herself repeatedly checking to see if it was still there. Because the field is planted, access to that would be hard. I waited for my husband to get up. I talked to him. He said, oh, it's probably somebody cutting wood or hunting or whatever. I went about my day, did my chores, came back. Notice that it was still there. Said something again. And it wasn't till later, till I called the sheriff's office and realized that there's nobody moving around back there, there's

no sound coming from back there, it shouldn't be there. At around noon that day, Patricia made a call to the sheriff's office to alert him, although she did not investigate the scene herself. The deputy sheriff responded that he would check it out. Just to the north of Patricia's residence, was a lane that gave access to the field. He made his way down that lane, parked his vehicle, and saw car tracks leading through the cornfield. He also saw boot prints leading from the suspicious car. Just as he approached the metallic grace of Dan, he received a dispatch call.

A female was missing from the New Franklin area. Was she in the car? Was she injured? Or worse? Begin to approach the car from the front. As I got closer, the driver's side window was down. Looking through the window between the front and back seat, I could see what appeared to be skin between those two seats.

I then re-approached coming up from the side of the window. The passenger side, rear window, upon looking in, I observed an individual in there. The individual's face was very dark purple. I can still picture that. There were taser wires coming off of the individual. There were zip ties around her hands, or wrists, and what appeared to be zip tie around her neck. There was also blood around her, I want to say on the floor, but I don't remember exactly where the blood was. And then at that point, I contacted my captain to make him aware of what I had found. What the deputy found, or whom he found,

was 25-year-old Ashley Biggs, a military veteran and a mom of a six-year-old girl. At 5'7 and 145 pounds, her body was not easily stuffed into the back of the car, and it was apparent she had been lying on the seat face up, but had fallen into the space between the front seats and the back seat while being transported. A zip tie was tight around her neck and also bound her feet together. Her short hair once styled and gelled spikes was now flattened down by a clotted blood. Red and black dried blood was smeared and spattered on the seat where Ashley's head originally lay, as well as on the inside of the right rear door.

Taser wire dangled from the body, and Ashley's shorts were somewhat pulled down while her top had slid up, revealing breasts that were bound flat. We found Ashley's mother, Kimberly Biggs, and in an exclusive interview, we discovered a lot more about her, Ashley, and the role Ashley played in her life. My school I never really fit in. I kind of like was like in the middle and never really had very many friends. I was very academic, not very athletic, but very academic.

I graduated with honors, I graduated early, I worked for the state of Ohio for the Division of Wildlife and I became in a situation where I lost my jaw. I tried a drug. I'm going to say Cracklecane, which that's what it was. I'm not ashamed of it. I moved into the project and became a product of my environment. Okay.

I wanted to fit in and I tried it and I was addicted. And I went to prison, I came out of prison and I became pregnant. And she saved my life, not gonna say anything more, she saved my life. That was the most important thing in my world, my daughter. Kimberly was a single mother with a difficult past and what was to be a difficult future. My father is in Florida, doesn't want to recognize her as his child, that's fine. I have a struggle, of course I moved in the projects again and I relapsed. Okay, my mom had Ashley for a little bit, but I did relapse and I did come back, I worked really hard to get her back. I got her back within eight months and everything seems to be going fine

As she's growing up. I finally got my own place my own job my own car and I got asked you back about roughly age of nine and ten and around nine and she went through schools Different schools of course. I could say I fell in and out of love a lot. I moved around a lot and I could say I fell in and out of love a lot. I moved around a lot and she seemed to be pretty stable. She did have a little comprehension problem, but she, as I, did not really fit in. Didn't have very many friends. She was a tomboy, of course. She loves her hunting or fishing, everything else like that.

She made it. She made it. She was making it. Ashley was keeping a secret from the world though. She wasn't just a tomboy. She was 16 years old when she told me she was gay. I really wanted to not have anything to do with my child. Like, God, why did you send me a child like this?

But you know what? You love him unconditionally. It's your child. You love them, no matter what. And she's the best thing that ever happened to me as I said before. And she and I were in Barbara, she know how, and she was attending high school.

And we were gonna be moving out of an apartment. Ashley was just trying to fit in. And her mother was just trying to provide the best life she could. Even though she'd come out as gay, Ashley still wanted to please her mom. So she gave a relationship with a young man a chance. Her girlfriend was being chatted at the time, and a chat asked if he could help us move.

He was a very, very well-spoken gentleman. He said, man, may I help you move? I said, sure. So after that, Ashley said, mom, can I go out with a chat for a while? I said, sure. So from then on, they started dating. Kind of like breasted to the fact that I said, Ashley, that'd be nice if you had a child, a grandchild from mom.

And she says, yeah, I know mom. I know you want me to be like that. But I'm just testing the waters right now, she said. She goes, I really like to know, I said, okay, well then, you do what you have to do, you know? And it went on from there, and they went on vacation up to Niagara Falls and Ashley says, mom, I might be pregnant.

I'm like, boy. Oh boy. I really pushed this one, didn't I? In Barbara's tonight's school, it seemed like every girl was pregnant. So Ashley quit school. We were disappointed in that, but she just couldn't go on like that. Made fun of being gay and being pregnant. How do you do that? They always asked her.

Despite how it looked to her friends, Ashley was going to keep the baby. She was going to try and make it work with Chad, even though she wasn't sure it was the right thing for her personally. She wanted what was best for the baby. At first Chad seemed to be a gentleman, but after he moved in with Kimberly, she began to notice some off-putting behaviors. He would lock Ashley into the room, add lock her into the room, and I didn't know about it. Days I worked and it's different characters, and she never said one word about it.

And when he finally did get her out of my apartment and got their own apartment, I see Ashley change to where she couldn't even call me. She couldn't even see me. He would use my past against me. And that's all right in everything, but I needed to see my daughter. And there was one time that I was at Vingo. And she'd call me, she's mommy, he'd beat me up. And I rushed right over there and he told me he'd let me see

and he didn't let me see her. So I said, okay, Chandler, have a chair wife who I called the cops. And he did spend a weekend in jail. And he was assigned to anger management class as he never went. So to my knowledge, Ashley told me that he'd been here up 17 times and threw her down the stairs when she was seven months pregnant. Isn't it always Guy's name, Chad?

Kimberly recalled that there were at least several times Ashley moved back in temporarily to hide from Chad and his behaviors, like hitting her if she left even one dirty dish in the sink. On another occasion, Ashley found shelter in a battered woman's center. When they failed to provide everything grace needed, she moved back with Kimberly for six months. According to her mom Ashley tried very hard to make it work with him. She also put herself on the path of success for her and baby grace by getting not one, but two jobs. When the turmoil became too much and Ashley realized the relationship with Chad was not going to work, and Ashley realized the relationship with Chad was not going to work, they finally separated and shared custody of Grace.

And Ashley worked in, Chad worked, and I took care of the baby and picked her up from daycare, and baby sitter and rocked her at night, and Ashley worked a lot. She worked a couple jobs, so she tried her best. She didn't think that she was getting very far ahead, so she says, Mom, I said, I think I'm going to join the army. I said, sure, she goes, I want to better myself from my daughter and me. I said, that'd be great. So she signed right over to Chad. While Ashley was in the military, she tried to keep in touch with her daughter Grace,

but clearly Chad had moved on. By the time basic training had ended, Ashley was having problems with her knees and was unable to continue. When Ashley came home, Chad and Grace were nowhere to be found. With no money to pursue an attorney for custody, Kimberly scraped up what she could to help her daughter find her granddaughter. They did find her. They found her at a private school in Doyle, Cento Highell, private Catholic school, and the sheriff's handker to my daughter. And she gave me the biggest kiss and held her hand.

And she said, Mommy, love you, Mommy. So that was the start of a new life. The start of a new life. It start of a new life is her and her girlfriend, and Grace. Ashley's girlfriend, Brittany, and Ashley were becoming comfortable enough to talk about her past, and Chad. That he was just very controlling and abusive towards her that she didn't get to do a lot, I guess, that she was afraid of him. Now that Ashley and Brittany had temporary but full custody of Grace, Chad was getting

angrier. Not only was he disapproving of her relationship with Brittany, he began finding fault with anything he could. Over having temporary tattoos on her, over her giving her mom a hug, goodbye, all kinds of things that just irritated him about the situation. There was multiple calls for well checks and walkthroughs of our home just to make sure that she was well taken care of, check our cupboards, things like that. check our cupboards, things like that. There were reports made that she was healthy and happy, and the home was clean and had food and water. To add to Chad's discontented demeanor,

there was now a new girlfriend in his life. Then, the girlfriend became his wife, Grace's stepmother, Erica. During the time Ashley had been away, she and Brittany learned even more disturbing information about Erica. They were alienated from the other kids. I had found out that she had gotten a new parachute for Easter. She went to school and she got some dirty and Erica had hit her in the head with a hairsprspray can. I heard that she had gotten hit by a fire log.

Later on, I did find out that Erica was feeding her feet, feet dog feet, feet in her yogurt. After Ashley's body was found in her car, disposed of in a cornfield, Grace, who was 15 years old at the time, would recall the treatment she received from her stepmother, Erica, while in her care. And unlike the Disney tropes of the evil stepmother, this story wasn't rated G. Some good memories we are remembered going to a dance where we had like the matching dress and I remember having good times but then I also remember having bad ones. She was mentally abusive and physically.

She would tell me that if I told my dad what she was doing to me then she would do worse. I kind of figured that's like mentally. I remember she would hold me on the ground and she would hit me and then she also before made me eat dog feces. I remember I was crying and I didn't want to. On the night of June 20th, 2012, 25-year-old Ashley Biggs, mom, daughter, partner, army vet, and dominoes pizza driver, was out on call. The last call of the night. As she drove into the parking lot of the building,

there were no lights on, but she was told to go to the back door. As she exited the car, she saw a familiar but unwelcome face. It was the face of her ex and the father of her child, Chad Cob. She knew this wasn't gonna be good, but expected only an argument. Not the end of her child, Chad Cobb. She knew this wasn't going to be good, but expected only an argument, not the end of her life. Her mother Kimberly says she always had sort of a sixth sense, and she tried to warn Ashley. Beware, I should just watch your back. I said, looking at your car, look at behind you, never leave away that you can't get out. I always wander. It's a mother's feeling, it's a gut feeling that you get.

It was either him or Grace. He was going to hurt her or Grace that he was going to hurt in my gut feeling. I told Asher two days prior, excuse me, I was ahead of a roughing job and she was supposed to work with me. I had a roofing job and she was supposed to help. Play not. And two days prior to that, I said, actually, I said, he's going to hurt you or her grace. I said, I have a feeling. She goes, oh, mom, he's not going to do anything like that. And I said, well, I don't like what I feel. Actually, I said, just please, please be careful.

Coincidentally, on the night she died, her manager had offered to accompany her on her last trip at approximately 11.45pm. Ashley declined. Ashley was one of my best drivers I had. She stopped me. She wanted to go home so she told me to stay and get things cleaned up so we can get on rather quickly.

Ashley, especially when they go on right down the road, Ashley would have been back real quick. And I would say about 20 minutes and went by, and I stopped cleaning them, and I was like, well, what's going on? At that time, I started making phone calls. I started calling her first. I started blowing her up, calling her after another after another.

I also changed phones. I called her from the landline at Domino's and I've also used my personal cell phone to try calling Brickney. I also, before I called Brickney, I called the local summer out of share. Of course, Brittany did call Ashley's mother. We tried to reassure Brittany, it was okay. But her nagging feeling told her something different. The Brittany says, well, the place just called, I'll call you back. So the place had ended up calling me back. And so she never returned returned from pizza delivery call. At the police, North Lawrence, police department had went to the site.

It was blood all over. It was corn and fell over. Her car was gone. Her phone was smashed. They knew something's not wrong. And Brittany, right away, told them it was Chad. So they went on the search for Chad and they found him. Not even a mile away, and his grandma was as hiding behind the barn. In the woods, my daughter, she put up a fight, though. She really put up a fight. She beat him up.

I mean, she did her best. You could tell him the mug shot said she saw her battle. At the time of the phone call, Kimberly did not know her daughter was dead, despite knowing something was hardly wrong. She would need to see for herself. Me and my boss had went to the site where she was the place that had found the blood and the coins and such.

And I was just looking there to see if we'd found anything. And um, Detective Hitching said called me. And he asked, if she had any markings on her body, and he had shoes or any pair of things. And I told him, and he said, let me call you back in about 10 minutes or so. And he said, can my son to car? And he says, she's deceased. And I lost it.

I started pounding my head against the pavement. And I'm like, no, no. My life is gone. She just, it's gone. My life is over. I didn't care. I wanted to be with her. I went into the hospital for a while and came out and it seemed like my family just

picked me up like a little burden to care me until my head was right. But that's how I was told that she had passed. back at the desolate crime scene in the early hours of June 21st, what led police to chat only a mile away, wasn't the coin strewn in the parking lot. It wasn't Ashley's broken phone. It wasn't Ashley's blood or the blood smears on the pavement from dragging her body, it was something small, but revealing on her person. It was the zip-tie found around Ashley's neck, because Chad owned his own cable company. He regularly used a certain type and size of zip-tie. The Taser Wire also screamed, Chad did this. He always carried a Taser with him, in addition to

this piece of evidence, Brittany was sure it was Chad. And so was Kimberly. After being given a tip about the potential location of Chad's vehicle, a black Lincoln navigator, police went to the property of Chad's grandparents' home, where just 200 feet behind the home was a patch of trees. Upon arrival, they immediately spotted the navigator, but Chad wasn't in it. He was hiding, like a coward among the trees. The first clue was the rustling of footsteps, and they were pretty sure it wasn't bigfoot. After they flushed him out, they permitted him to sit in an officer's car with the door opened and his feet on the ground.

When told that Ashley was missing, Chad claimed that he didn't know how he could help, but he wouldn't speak to them without an attorney. And if that alone didn't raise suspicions, the holes and rips in his plaid shirt, blood on his shorts, and hands, and numerous scratches on his body, sure did. Police later discovered duct tape camo pants, belt, zip ties, multiple gloves, and many of these things had blood on them. The camo pants were an exact match to the camo jacket that was left in the victim's vehicle. Chad's DNA was all over the items, and matched the DNA at the crime scene.

Interestingly, while examining the property where Chad was found, along with the Lincoln Navigator, officers noticed stickers on the back window of the vehicle. You know those stickers that are like the soccer mom kind of stickers they're like a happy family cartoon-like family with the parents and the kids and the soccer ball or the football or whatever. Well among the family the man and woman were missing. These stickers were found adhered to offense on the property and were placed in such a way where the man appeared to be beating the woman. Interesting.

The interrogation did not last long, and Chad quickly took a plea bargain to avoid the death penalty. Here is Chad giving an account of what happened that night, in somewhat of a vague fashion. I was 19, worked up with everything that was going on looking back. She wasn't happy to see me that's for certain. I know I had my work days are on me and I know I had my diving nights on me. When I had to leave, I picked her up and put her in the car. I remember I struggled. She was heavy to get in the car, but I had to leave. There were some things that happened and I just, it's hard to explain, but the only thing in my mind at that time was I had to leave and I couldn't leave actually then.

So cryptic. Chad explains that he had to get away from dead Ashley to find someplace safe. Some place safe. Safe from what? The hell does that mean? Listen Chad, it's not like there's a killer on the loose and pursuit of you, because you are the killer, aren't you? The last call, they ordered one pizza. Who are they? Who are they?

Male or female? Oh, it was a female collar. Okay. Were you familiar with the female or the number that called? No. It popped up as a new customer and our database. That was Ashley's manager. And he clearly recalled that the last pizza delivery of the night went to a female.

This female was, in fact, Erika, Chad's wife. Maybe there was a reason Chad was being vague. Was it possible that he was protecting someone? With the information of the female pizza caller on the night of Ashley's death, it was a parent to detectives right away that someone else played a part in this awful crime. Not only did this woman make the call, but someone must have followed Chad, who was driving Ashley's car with her dead body in it to the cornfield, and then taken him back home. None of this could be proven though, and no other DNA was found

at either crime scene. Chad was now in jail. And like the good wife that she was, Erika would visit Chad in jail, who was her third husband, by the way. However, she only did this once. She was as glib and good-natured as ever, of course. Well, I mean, why wouldn't she be? She was on the outside of the prison bars. What Chad didn't know, though, was that as soon as he was put away, Erica had started hooking up with Chad's best friend,

Michael Stofenko. Within no time, she was pregnant with his child, and he had moved into Chad Cobb's home with Erica. They had even changed the name of Chad's business to make it their own. While all this was happening in her life, she tried to reassure Chad. I'm so glad that you came to see me. Thank you. They moved me back over here yesterday. That's good. Well, they moved me back over there because all this damn paperwork. This is a move to me over here.

I guess the entire jail is on lockdown because somebody decided to shit and piss all over one of the cells inside here. All the other guy was at court. So it seems like no matter where you're at, jailed, they're all obsessed with feces in urine. I wonder if Chad knew that his wife was also obsessed with feces in your own. As evidenced by her feeding Chad's daughter, dog poop, and her yogurt.

You know, part of me wants to say that if this is too hard on you, you can let me go, but... No, sweetie, I know this whole situation is bad, but I got to get a hand on myself. I really do. I'm not going anywhere though. Miss one baby. I'm not. You want to see your babies? You want to see your babies?

It's a dire situation. I hope so. I promise you you're going to see your babies. I love you though. I know I do. Committed to you and our family and our babies. We'll be together again. We will.

What? In heaven? No. What? Chad was the only one committed to the marriage, though. Erica was well on her way to building her new life. One of the last things she said to Chad while on her visit to see him in jail was this. I need to sit myself and talk. You need to sit yourself.

Oops. Wow. Well, for the detectors that are listening, it's no car right now. Lord. Yes, I really want to a phone call right now. Lord. Yes, I really want to fuck with me in the community. So I'm back on the door. I'll walk you out of here.

I went very least to least we can make each other laugh just a little bit. Yeah, laughing. You see, I told you she had a proclivity for poop. As Chad was carrying out a sentence of life without parole, cunning stepmother Erica was carrying on as if nothing ever happened. Chad's parents were in charge of his and Ashley's daughter Grace, and even though Ashley's mom Kimberly wanted that role, a recovering drug addict and single mother can't compete with the home of a stable

middle-class family in the eyes of the court. Erica and Chad had children of their own, and also had one child they shared together. All of them were living in the now former home of convicted murderer Chad Cobb. But things weren't quite as clear-cut as they seemed. Evidence was now starting to surface that maybe there was more to the story. Perhaps Erica had a role in Ashley's mysterious death. As intelligent and conniving as she was, she would soon incriminate herself. She was becoming tired of keeping her mouth shut. She wanted to let it loose, she wanted to brag a little.

And Chad was getting pretty fed up of covering for her. Once he discovered, his life had been taken over by his best friend, Mike Stofenko. His life had been taken over by his best friend, Mike Stefanko. Her games of keeping Chad's mother from seeing her grandchildren every time they disagreed, were going to backfire. A neighbor came forth at the time with the following interesting information. My husband and I had invited Erica over to our house for dinner after the incident with Chad Cobb. During the course of dinner, we began talking about the events of the murder. invited Erica over to our house for dinner after the incident with Chad Cobb. During the course of dinner, we began talking about the events of the murder. Erica would not admit to making the phone call to order the pizza, however she alluded to

the possibility of it. She almost consistently had a smirk on her face, almost as if she was bragging and enjoyed what had happened. She definitely knew who was responsible, but said a lot that she didn't want to drag us into it by telling us some things. She told us that the investigators definitely missed evidence and laughed at that fact. I'm not sure the events following. However, she told us that they went to Chad's grandma's house to hide out.

In previous conversation, Erica admitted that she had somehow they went to Chad's grandma's house to hide out. In previous conversation, Erica admitted that she had somehow gained access to Ashley's email and social media accounts, almost as a way of like stalking her, leading up to the murder. It was as if Erica was bragging that she did this and thought of it as a fun game. She has told me that she visits Ashley's grave and has left her feces on top of the grave. She has done this for all the shit she has put her through. What a strange topic for dinner conversation.

Also, seriously, what's up with the succession with feces? Erica seemed to be proud of desecrating Ashley's grave. She even had the nerve to go number twoecrating Ashley's grave. She even had the nerve. She was going number two on my daughter's grave. And she said that Chad was going to use my daughter's head as a trophy. That's sick. She filled a name plate off of a grave.

Who would do that? In 2017, it was Chad himself who wrote detectives a letter implicating Erica. But they still needed more evidence. Five years had passed, and this woman was still living large at the expense of a lot of people. Ashley and her child, with no mother, all of Ashley's friends and family, and even Chad. The Chad was tired of carrying her guilt around with him. And you can say revenge because she had married his childhood friend and had a child with him. You can say revenge or else he just got

tired of carrying around that guilt of hers too. But the shit hit the fan, see what I did there? When Erica's mother-in-law decided to record a conversation with Erica after she'd had a drink or two, this may be a little hard to hear, but that's the nature of most secret recordings. And in case you had trouble making that out, this was Erica telling Chad's mom that she was just following Chad's directives. And what was she supposed to do? And you know, the humans in the house about what happened are kind of going to respond to it, but I feel that they'll have to compile a pickup with her.

But I tell you that, do they have a capacitor? No, they really don't. Yeah, that's it. I know, I know, I know, about her in Grace, and we'll have her person as she was, and where her life is going. This is where Erica musters up all the sympathy she can for Ashley. Did Erica feel bad about what happened? No. Not even for what Ashley went through before her life ended. Instead, she felt bad for everyone else. She also seems to justify

what happened by implying that Grace was going to turn out like her mother Ashley, and Erica didn't want to see that happen. In case you didn't hear that, that was Erica playing the role of God in a little girl's life. She says, now Grace will have a chance at life. You know, now that you think you can do, then I'll be with you and then I agree with it. I know when you're a suicide biologist, I'm like this, this is the only way the situation is going to go away, and I feel like you're really dull. And the time that you really don't try to find me, you need to do something about it. Because I know that you're the only person that can potentially do something about it. And he didn't tell me I can't do it.

He said, I can't do it, then he never would have proceeded. He said, I can't do it. And this is something that I can't do. There's no way hell would have been able to do it. So, that would have, like, I will admit, my family in the house is like, yeah, I should either have that one said. This is, this is too risky. That point, whatever this is too risky, that would not point what you're present

just too much. I just see it in a way of so much crazy shit that I got in here with it. You're like really functioned and ready, like if you're looking over your shoulder every second. Every time I hear a sign, right, I think they're coming first. And I hope that that's something that I've been with

but I know me to to contribute to it. And his role is really to do what he's doing for himself without sacrificing it well, because whether he, wow, looks at how he feels about me, and I'm not hyping his image, and I'm thinking, if he looks at how he's a bad guy, that's a bad guy. He's not your hard part. I was extremely good at justifying. She admitted that, at the very least, she was complicit in this crime. But she was just following orders.

Knowing that if she told him to stop, he would. One of the most telling things she said, though, was, quote, I, you know, we would fight about it. Like, I'm like, this is the only way the situation is going to go away. Well, that's pretty clear, Erica. That doesn't sound like someone just throwing the ball into the other's court. It sounds like Erica is clearly the mastermind. It's also obvious that she and Chad had discussed who would do the time for this crime. And Erica came out on the winning side. You might think she played the lesser role in the

killing of Ashley Biggs, as she only made the phone call, and she only drove the vehicle for Chad to escape. But listen to what Chad had to say when he was already in prison for life. Did you strangle her? I'm not the one who strangle her, sir. Would you please repeat that? I am not the one who strangle her, sir.

I see. So now you play guilty, and now you're saying that you didn't kill her, is that right? Yes, sir. A Ritman mother arrested for murder. Our cameras on the scene as 36 year old Erica Stofenko was taken into custody for the death of a pizza delivery worker and army veteran. My grandparents passed without knowing justice had happened. The brutal crime happened seven years ago,

but New Franklin police say they received new information link is the Fanko to the killing. Ohio native Ashley Biggs, a 25-year-old mother, was brutally beaten and strangled with a zip tie after a phony pizza call was made to dominoes, where she worked. As the only driver that night, she was confronted in a darkly lit parking lot by her ex-boyfriend and the father of her child who wanted her dead because of an ongoing custody battle.

But he wasn't the only one in the parking lot with Ashley that night. His wife, Erica, was also there. And she hated Ashley and everything Ashley stood for. As time passed, her obvious involvement with the murder was becoming clear. Chad, her husband, was already serving out his life sentence without parole after making a plea bargain. At the time, he omitted Erica from the bloody picture.

But within weeks of his incarceration, she was already having an affair with Chad's best friend. Just as quickly as she became pregnant, Michael Stofenko moved into Chad's home, and they both took over Chad's business. Was Chad protecting his children? Or Erika when he made that plea bargain? And when you stood before Judge Coral Jones, protecting his children or Erica when he made that plea bargain.

And when you stood before Judge Coral Jones and she asked you, did you have anything to say? Why didn't you mention Erica? Fear of what? Something happening with my children. And how would something happen to your children if you talked about Erica? Direct so many years have been made clear

if anything were to be said. Mr. O'Brien is indicated or I guess alluded to the fact in his questions that you are just now, for the first time, bringing up Erica into this as being involved in Ashley's death. You call that? Yes, sir. And is that true? It's the first time you brought it up? No sir. Did you have discussions with your attorneys back in 2012 regarding Eric's involvement? One of them yes sir. And

that when you discussed it with your attorney, what was it that kept you then from talking about it to the judge or anybody else? I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed.

I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed.

I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. I'm juxtaposed. that is, if you told your attorney, then why didn't you tell anybody else like the judge or the state or go to trial? It was very specifically explained to me that I did not result in my case within the year anniversary of those kids in J.R.6 that I would lose them. All right. And were you protecting anybody in 2012 when you took that plea? My children. And what about Erica? Not I wasn't trying to.

My main focus was I could not lose my kids. For reasons that are still unknown, Chad refused to completely reveal the details of the plan for Ashley's death. But under oath, he did testify against her and gave away one extremely pertinent piece of evidence. The phone call to order the pizza and the admission that he was not the one who strangled her to death. Erika had driven Chad to the scene that night, and they had an important conversation under a tree that stood at the edge of the parking lot. As their children, including Ashley's daughter

Grace, waited and the Lincoln navigator. So either way you were under a tree, is that you recall that? Yes, sir. Were you alone or was somebody else with you? Eric, what was the thing? And did you have a conversation under that tree? Yes, I did. After that conversation, did you stay there at the tree

with Erico or the one of you leave the tree? Erico left and walked back over to the Lincoln. All right. So when she walked over to the Lincoln, what did she do? She made a phone call. And could you hear that phone call? I could hear bits and pieces, but not the entire thing.

Overrolled. Mr. Cobb, on this occasion, you're gonna be allowed to answer this following question. What did you hear, Eric is say, on that phone call. Overrolled. I remember her saying something else's name. I remember it was a Jennifer or a Katie and it was Nick something. Like, like, how you say any bottles, I just, I don't remember what she said the last name was.

And I remember she ordered a pizza. And I remember it struck me as a bizarre because she knew she would end Ashley Biggs. Someone she hated, more than she loved Chad or his daughter Grace. For seven years she smiled with smug contempt as she discussed Ashley's death with her neighbor, Chad's mother, and others who would be instrumental in giving her what she deserved. In November of 2020, she was found guilty of aggravated murder and murder with purpose. She was sentenced to life in prison with eligibility for parole in 30 years. Those that tell you that women serve the same amount of time for the same crime are lying to you, by the way.

Kimberly, her mother and spokesperson stay strong because Ashley would want her to. Four years ago I was involved with a band. My boyfriend was a rote and I was involved with a band called the Cats. And this girl had called me two months ago and she was a singer in that band. She says, Kim, she goes, Ashley wants you to be happy. And I'm like, I haven't talked to you in 40 years. Like, how do you know this? And she goes, God gave me a gift. And I'm saying, what?

And she said, I've been speaking to the dead. And she said, that followed your story. And Ashley is speaking and she wants you to be happy. She wants you to go on. And she wants you to quit blaming yourself. But what has happened? And I'm like, wow. As uplifting as it was to get this message, Kimberly has her own message for us all. There are monsters out there, please beware.

There are monsters in there, closer than you believe. I want the domestic violence to end. I want it to be spoke up before. I want it to be learned that there is a lot going on that people don't realize. Just stick with them. Dig as hard as you can. Ask questions. Just keep and be there for them.

That's all you can do. And I just want her goodness to be spread all over this world. I think I did not know my daughter was known all over the world. I mean, I had people from the United Kingdom calling me. My daughter was loved and I just can understand why the monster would do this. It was also really important for her daughter's character to be known and her memory to survive. I want her to live on. I want the goodness, the kindness, to live on. There are a lot of people.

Through the story, I wanted it this way. Speak up for everything and everything that she stood for. What about Kimberly's granddaughter Grace, the daughter of Ashley? Her mother is gone, and her father is in prison. She's now 16 and living with her paternal grandparents. Of course, Kimberly's not happy with this decision, but she plans to hire an attorney and gain access to her daughter's legacy. You didn't like the attention. You didn't like the fact that my father put his children

before you. You didn't like the fact that I loved my father. You sought vengeance. You forced me to eat dog feces, and then the next thing I know, you turn around and post happy birthday Gracie on your Facebook page. You're twisted in your own mind and it's clear to see. Unfortunately, that is just one of the many examples of the cruel things Erica did to me

when I was little. Erica would hurt me in the scream, at me saying, if you tell your dad what I do to you, I will do worse. She studied years of psychology so she knows how to and has messed with people's brains and feelings. She can turn your intentions around with just a sentence. Erica is unpredictable and it's scary still to this day. I can't imagine what she would do to me or my family if she ever got out of prison. Knowing that we are the ones that put her in the cage that she belongs in.

My view on the world has changed because I now know that I can't trust monsters like you. The fairy tales and fables we tell our children are often filled with cliches and stereotypes, such as that of the evil stepmother. Their storylines are an attempt to warn us of the dangers of the world, such as jealousy, hatred and greed. They paint a picture of good versus evil, which, as black and white as it is, is in fact the world we live in. They define our disdain for choosing the wrong path and reinforce our collective morality. They promise a happily ever after if we make the right choices in a bleak future if we don't. The stories we tell our children are full

of lies for people like Erica Stefanko who never learned their valuable lessons and will never understand that they are nothing more than a trope, a cliché, in a child's Well, that's going to do it for yet another episode of Sword and Scale. We hope you had a good time here with us and you'll be back. Until next time, stay at your stepmom and stay safe. Hey Mike, it's C.C. from Miami Beach. As long as you know, I love everything you're doing. Keep doing what you're doing. The world that needs you. I'm calling from sunny Miami Beach, and I just enjoy everything that you're doing.

So, I'm a flesh member. I'm actually about to upgrade my status right now, but I love you. The boyfriend is jealous of you. So keep doing what you're doing. I'm gonna say I told you, so I'd die. What do you like? Ciao. 1. Draw the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line the line of the line of the line the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line of the line the line of the NETWORK