As new details emerge about the 41-year-old barber in Orange County accused in the brutal, tragic and fatal beating of 6-year-old Chance Crawford, a memorial to the young child at a park in Cerritos where he once celebrated his birthday is growing.
Ernest Lamar Love, who was babysitting Chance while the boy’s mother worked the night shift at St. Joseph’s Hospital on Aug. 29, has been charged with felony counts of murder, torture and child abuse after he allegedly beat the first grader inside his Placentia barbershop with a raw piece of lumber.
In a news release, the Orange County District Attorney’s Office said Love grew violent with the child after he accidentally urinated in his pants at a local park.
“Love is accused of beating the first grader with a piece of lumber, pouring hydrogen peroxide in his wounds before making him do sit-ups, pushups and jumping jacks until the boy collapsed,” Kimberly Edds, a spokesperson for the Orange County District Attorney’s Office, told KTLA.
The 41-year-old is then accused of taking Chance to the emergency room at Children’s Hospital of Orange County at around 1 a.m. Saturday instead of calling 911 when the 6-year-old became unresponsive.
“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,” prosecutors said.
On Sept. 3, Chance succumbed to his injuries and died.
-
Ernest Lamar Love, 41, seen with several others at his barbershop in Placentia in this undated photo. (viewer image) -
Ernest Lamar Love’s barbershop in Placentia. (KTLA) -
Vance Crawford and his son, Chance, seen in this undated family photo. (Vance Crawford) -
Chance Crawford, 6, seen in this undated family photo. (Vance Crawford) -
Chance Crawford, 6, seen in this undated family photo. (Vance Crawford)
According to Investigators, Love met Chance’s mother at a Lake Elsinore church called Amazing Church.
A church leader told KTLA’s Sandra Mitchell that the 41-year-old barber had been suspended from Amazing Church due to inappropriate relationships with women.
A former member of the Lake Elsinore church who spoke to KTLA on the condition of anonymity echoed that claim, saying Love was involved in several different relationships.
“Every few months, he would have a different woman there at the church,” he said.
Even more alarming, he said the alleged killer worked in the church’s child ministry and had apparent anger issues.
“He was kind of stern,” the former church member said. “He would get angry about certain things, you could see it on him, but I never saw him take it out on kids.”
According to Chance’s mother, she once considered Love a friend and trusted her son with him.
As for Chance’s father, he said he considers Love a “a monster.”
“I’m sorry,” Vance Crawford, the 6-year-old’s father, told KTLA. “He deserves what’s coming. I’m going to let God handle him.”
Love, who pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail, faces a maximum sentence of 32 years to life in prison if convicted as charged.