Free Republic

NATCHITOCHES, La. - A Louisiana woman is accused of asking her girlfriend to kidnap and kill her 7-month-old son in July, a crime carried out when the boy was doused with gasoline and burned to death. Levi Cole Ellerbe died hours after suffering second- and third-degree burns over 90 percent of his body, according to the Alexandria Town Talk. The boy’s mother, Hannah Nicole Barker, was in court Friday for a preliminary hearing, at which Lt. Jeremy Swisher, with the Louisiana State Fire Marshal’s Office, laid out the case against Barker. Barker, 23, is charged as a principal to first-degree...

A six-month old baby boy was kidnapped, set on fire and dumped near train tracks in Louisiana last week. Baby Levi Cole Ellerbe was kidnapped on July 17 after two people came to mother Hanna Barker's trailer door just after 9pm and sprayed her in the face with what she believed was mace. Instinctively, the Barker ran to get away, a statement from Natchitoches police said, and when she went back home, found her infant son was missing. Police said the search for baby Levi began immediately, with additional officers from surrounding precincts called in to help. Unfortunately, less than...