A six-month-old baby boy was kidnapped, set on fire and dumped near train tracks in Louisiana last week and a woman has been charged for his death.

Baby Levi Cole Ellerbe was kidnapped on July 17 after two people came to his mother Hanna Barker's trailer door just after 9pm and sprayed her in the face with what she believed was mace and took her son. Barker ran to get away after she was sprayed in the face with the substance and when she went back home, she found her infant son was missing.

A search for baby Levi began immediately and, less than 90 minutes after, police were alerted to a fire nearby the railroad, where they found a badly burned six-month-old boy. Levi was rushed to Natchitoches Regional Medical Center in a critical condition but died on Wednesday from his injuries.



Felicia Marie-Nicole Smith, 25, was charged with the first-degree murder of Levi on Saturday and booked into the Natchitoches Parish Detention Center.

It is unclear if Smith and Hanna Barker knew each other.

Levi was laid to rest on Friday. His obituary described him as "the happiest baby who always had a big smile".