'Words do not exist': Babysitter charged in torture death of 6-year-old California boy

A Southern California barber accused of fatally beating a 6-year-old child whose mother he met at church has been charged with torture and murder in connection to the boy's brutal slaying, officials said.

Ernest Lamar Love was babysitting the boy when he attacked him with piece of lumber after the first-grade boy peed his pants at a local park, according to the the Orange County District Attorney’s Office.

The boy's mother was working the night shift as a nurse’s assistant at a hospital while prosecutors say Love drove the critically injured boy to Children’s Hospital of Orange County on Aug. 30.

The boy, 6-year-old Chance Crawford died Tuesday afternoon.

“While his new classmates were celebrating the end of the first week of first grade, Chance’s seat in his classroom was empty as he fought for his life in a hospital bed,” Orange County District Attorney Todd Spitzer, whose office is handling the murder case, said. “Words do not exist to describe the absolute terror this little boy was forced to endure – all at the hands of someone who was supposed to be protecting him, not torturing him to death."

Ernest Love pleads not guilty, faces life in prison if convicted

Love, 41, is charged with one count of murder, one count of torture, and one count of child abuse causing death.

Prosecutors said Love pleaded not guilty to all three felony charges. Under California law, if he is convicted of all three charges he faces up to life in prison.

He was jailed without bond Friday and an attorney of record for him was not listed in online.

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'The world was blessed to have experienced you'

"I lost a son yesterday," Chance's father, Vance Crawford posted on Facebook. "The anger I feel is unmatched … daddy loves you (RIP)."

"The epitome of beautiful," Chance's aunt Destiny Crawford, wrote on her Facebook page. "The world was blessed to have experienced you. Rest easy beloved nephew."

According to an online fundraiser created by Chance's mother, Charlyn Saffore, the 6-year-old was "a light to the world he lived in. He was intelligent, lively, sharp, witty ... If you knew him, you would have loved him like his entire community did."

"Any support you may be able to provide would be greatly appreciated. Please keep my family and me in your prayers," Saffore wrote. As of Friday, more than 200 people had donated and raised just over $18,000 of a $35,000 goal to help the family with funeral expenses.

USA TODAY has reached out to Saffore who, according to KTLA-TV met Love at church.

What happened to 6-year-old Chance Crawford?

At about 6:30 p.m. on Aug. 26, after Chance finished his third day of first grade, the boy was dropped off to be babysat at Love’s barbershop in the city of Placentia, just northeast of Anaheim, prosecutors said.

About 1:30 the next morning, Love reportedly carried Chance into the emergency room, "unconscious and struggling to breathe."

Doctors discovered most of the boy's flesh missing from his buttocks, leaving "raw, gaping wounds, along with subdural hematoma, extreme brain swelling, and other injuries consistent with violent shaking."

At the same time, Chance reportedly was healing from a fractured shoulder blade.

Less than three hours before visiting the hospital, prosecutors say, video surveillance captured Love walk into his barber shop "with a large piece of raw lumber with a reluctant Chance following behind him."

A preliminary investigation found Love allegedly the beat the boy with the piece of lumber, "poured hydrogen peroxide on the open wounds then forced the boy to doing push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks," prosecutors wrote.

When the boy collapsed, Love reportedly drove the boy to the emergency room instead of calling 911.

Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.