Friday, September 6, 2024 A California barber allegedly tortured and murdered a 6-year-old boy he was watching after meeting the boy's mother at church.
Ernest Lamar Love, 41, is accused of beating young Chance
Crawford to death with a piece of wood after the boy peed his pants at a local
park, according to the Orange County District Attorney's Office.
Chance's mother Charlyn Saffore dropped the boy off at Love's
barbershop in Placentia around 6:30pm so she could go work the night shift at
St. Joseph's Hospital.
She met Love through church and considered him a trusted
friend, according to a post she made on Instagram before
the child's death.
However, Love repeatedly hit Chance with the piece of lumber
and then poured hydrogen peroxide on his wounds before forcing the first-grader
to do "push-ups, sit-ups, and jumping jacks," according to
prosecutors.
Security cameras captured Love entering his own barber shop
around three hours before the assault holding the piece of lumber "with a
reluctant Chance following behind him," according to the district
attorney.
Chance eventually collapsed and prosecutors say Love drove the boy, who was "unconscious and struggling to breathe," to the emergency room at CHOC Hospital at around 1:30am.
That's when doctors witnessed Chance's severe injuries.
"Doctors at CHOC discovered that much of Chance’s flesh
was missing from his buttocks, leaving raw, gaping wounds, along with subdural
hematoma, extreme brain swelling, and other injuries consistent with violent
shaking.
"The little boy also had a healing fracture on his
shoulder blade," according to the charging document, which had some family
members on social media questioning if there had been prior abuse.
Chance fought for his life in the hospital but ultimately
died from his injuries on Tuesday afternoon, September 3.
He was just three days into first grade.
Vance Crawford, the child's father, posted a black-and-white
version of the image of his son wearing a crown.
"I lost a son yesterday the anger I feel is unmatched …
but I will get justice," he wrote. "Rip son Daddy loves you."
Crawford described to KTLA the horrifying ordeal he was put through watching Chance pass away.
"Seeing my son like that and in the condition he was
in, in critical condition from the time he was brought in, it’s just
devastating," Crawford said. "He didn’t even die peacefully. He died
a tragic death and it’s not fair."
Crawford considers Love "a monster."
"He deserves what’s coming. I’m going to let God handle
him."
Charlyn Saffore, Chance's mother, also remembered her son,
describing him as "a light to the world he lived in."
"It is with great sadness and a heavy heart that we
have to share the unexpected passing of my beloved son, Chance. He passed...at
the hands of someone who I thought was a trusted friend," she wrote on
Instagram.
"Chance was a dearly loved son, grandson, and a light
to the world he lived in. He was only 6 years old and he was intelligent,
lively, sharp, witty, and had a smile that would light up an entire room.
"If you knew him, you would have loved him like his entire community did," Saffore wrote on Instagram.
Saffore set up a GoFundMe to pay for funeral expenses. So
far, people have donated $15,263 toward her $20,000 goal.
KTLA reported that Saffore met Love at Amazing Church
in Lake Elsinore.
A church leader said Love was suspended from the church for
inappropriate relationships with female parishioners.
An anonymous man who used to go to the church described Love
as a womanizer with an anger problem.
"Every few months, he would show have a different woman
there at the church," a former church member said.
He continued: "He was kind of stern...He would get
angry about certain things, you could see it on him, but I never saw him take
it out on kids."
Love pleaded not guilty to the four charges against him,
which include murder, torture, and assault on a child with force likely to
produce great bodily injury resulting in death, and causing injuries leading to
paralysis or death.
He was arraigned Wednesday morning, September 4, and is
being held without bail.
Love faces a maximum sentence of 32 years to life in prison
plus five years if he's found guilty on all charges.
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