NATCHITOCHES — The obituary for Levi Cole Ellerbe describes the 6-month-old boy as a happy "chunky monkey" who loved to pull the ears of his dog.
The 6-month-old boy, who died Wednesday after being kidnapped and burned Tuesday night, will be buried Friday. He was just shy of being 7 months old.
The boy's name has not be released by the Natchitoches Police Department, which is investigating the case as a homicide. When The Town Talk asked for confirmation of the victim's identity, the response was only one sentence.
"At this time, due to the rapidly evolving nature of this case, there shall be no further press release," it read.
According to the department's only release on the case, Levi's mother told police that her son was taken by two suspects who knocked on her door around 9:10 p.m. Tuesday at the Mayberry Trailer Park in the 5600 block of the La. Highway 1 Bypass.
She said her face was sprayed with Mace and that she ran outside to escape them. When she "circled back" to the trailer, Levi was gone.
A search by the department, the Natchitoches Parish Sheriff's Office, Louisiana State Police and the Northwestern State University Police Department began immediately.
But Levi was found in a fire about 10:20 p.m. after a Natchitoches resident driving home on Breda Avenue, 25-year-old Kanika Johnson, spotted it behind the elevated railroad track that runs parallel to the narrow street.
She reported it, thinking kids might have started it. She didn't find out what really had happened until Wednesday morning.
"I just seen it on fire. I didn't see nobody or nothing," she said. "I just thought some kids might have set it on fire or something. I had called the police and told them to hurry up and send somebody to put the fire out before it spreads.
"And this morning I found out it was a baby."
Levi had been taken to Natchitoches Regional Medical Center with "obvious burns about his body," according to police. He later was transferred to University Health in Shreveport, where he died early Wednesday.
The trailer park is only about a mile-and-a-half away from where Levi was found. On Wednesday afternoon, Johnson wondered what might have been.
She said residents were told not to go to the site after it was reported to police, and she wondered if the story might be different if someone went there anyway.
"Maybe they could have saved the baby or something, you know?"
One woman who had stopped in her car to talk to Johnson left a warning as she drove off.
"Watch your step," she said. "Somebody's gonna retaliate."
Rumors swirled around town about what was behind the boy's death, but police were not releasing any additional information on the investigation.
Early Wednesday afternoon, investigators from the Louisiana State Fire Marshal's Office and fire department drove up in four sport-utility vehicles to examine the site. Natchitoches firefighters arrived within minutes to tend to the site again because it had started to smolder.
Investigators walked the tracks around the scene, and a fire marshal's official launched a drone into the air. It hovered above the site for a few minutes.
Meanwhile, Levi's family started planning for his funeral. A family friend started a GoFundMe account to help the family with expenses. By Thursday afternoon, it had raised $1,775 of its $10,000 goal.
"Levi was the happiest baby who always had a big smile," reads his obituary on The Natchitoches Times' website.
"Levi was a blessing to our family and everyone who met him. We will always remember him as our little 'Chunky Monkey.'"