Who’s Idea Was This Really? The Story of Levi Ellerbe
Who’s Idea Was This Really? The Story of Levi Ellerbe
Police had received a 911 call asking for assistance. When they arrived at the trailer home, the woman who lived there told them that some strange men had broken into her house and attacked her. She said they had sprayed her with pepper spray and taken her six-month-old son. But the thing was, she didn’t look like she had just been pepper sprayed in the face, and there also didn’t look like there had been a break-in.
Levi Cole Ellerbe was born on December 20th, 2017, in Natchitoches, Louisiana, to his mother, Hannah Barker, and his father, Billy Ellerbe Jr. He also had three siblings: Brooklane, Elizabeth, and Navea. Levi was the happiest baby who always had a big smile. He spent his time playing with his siblings and cousins, especially outdoors. He loved watching PJ Masks and playing video games with his uncle Jay. He was also an animal lover and adored his dog Rex. Levi was lovingly referred to as “chunky monkey,” and his very first word was “dada.”
In the beginning of 2017, Levi’s parents, Billy and Hannah, met. Now, they both had problems with drugs in the past but were actively trying to clean their lives up. They had met at drug court while they were both attending, but this was against the rules—you were not allowed to date anyone else who was attending drug court. Not long after they got together, Hannah became pregnant with Levi. Some people would say that she was very excited about the pregnancy, while others would say she was very anxious and scared.
While Hannah was pregnant, she got kicked out of drug court and was sent to a 90-day substance abuse program because the court had found out that she and Billy had been dating when they weren’t supposed to be. The judge had actually reprimanded her for making a mockery out of the court. She tried to describe their relationship to the judge as only kissing and hugging, but he said that that wasn’t okay either, obviously because that’s still a relationship—you’re not just kissing him on the cheek, I assume. And it’s not said if Billy got kicked out of drug court as well or if at that point he was no longer attending.
A few months before Levi was born, Billy and Hannah split up. And even though they went their separate ways, they ended up remaining amicable, but it’s said that Hannah still desired a romantic relationship with Billy. Hannah worked at a local IHOP, and she also had plans to attend Northwestern State University for sports medicine. She wanted to become an athletic trainer, and she was said to be a wonderful softball player. It seemed she had made a lot of progress in her life, but then Hannah met a woman named Felicia Smith.
She was a co-worker of hers at IHOP, and things changed. This relationship was also not supposed to be happening because Felicia also had a history of prior drug abuse. Had anyone reported this, Hannah’s drug conviction probation would have been revoked, and Levi would have gone to live with his father. There’s not a whole lot that’s known about Hannah and Felicia’s relationship; it was rather short, and Hannah claimed that Felicia was much more into it than she was.
On the night of July 17th, 2018, the Natchitoches police received a 911 call about a six-month-old baby who had gone missing from his trailer home along Route 1. It was Hannah Barker’s trailer where she lived with Levi. When police got there, she told them that two men had come up to her trailer, started banging on the door, and soon burst through it. She says that they then pepper-sprayed her in the face, and she was able to escape them. After she ran around and then came back, they were gone, and they had taken Levi. The Natchitoches police started searching the area for Levi and they also called in police from three other towns. Police did not release any other information in regards to the suspects or what they were supposed to look like.
That same night, Levi’s grandmother, Cathy Ellerby, had been home when Hannah called her and then subsequently hung up. Cathy tried to call Hannah back, but she didn’t answer several calls. Finally, Hannah called Cathy again and told her that Levi was missing. She said he had been kidnapped, but didn’t tell her much else. So in a panic, Kathy got in her car and immediately went to Hannah’s. When Kathy arrived at Hannah’s home, Hannah was sitting in the back of an ambulance, and when Cathy tried to speak with her, she just kept screaming that they were going to kill Levi and that he was going to die.
Around 10:20 that night, a passerby spotted a fire near the railroad tracks off of Breazeale Avenue and called 911. Now, this was only a few blocks away from Hannah’s house. When firefighters got there, they discovered not only a fire in a ditch alongside the railroad tracks, but they also discovered little Levi. He was laying face down on the ground, reeked of gasoline, and had been badly burnt. Levi was still clinging to life even though he had second- and third-degree burns all over his little body. First responders rushed Levi to a local medical center, and from there he was airlifted to University Health in Shreveport. Here, Levi died on July 18th. Little Levi had sustained burns to over 90% of his body.
The community was outraged: who had done this to a six-month-old little boy? But unfortunately, they wouldn’t get very many answers—at least not yet—because a gag order had been issued for the case shortly after Levi had been found. Mourning their loss, the members of the community made a small memorial by placing two crosses, stuffed animals, and flowers at the scene where Levi had been found.
The investigators assigned to Levi’s case were starting to think that the crime scene in Hannah’s trailer was starting to look rather staged. The back window of the trailer had been smashed in, but wasn’t completely broken; there was also a bar in the middle of the window that was bent, but it remained in place. There was also doubt as to if Hannah had actually been sprayed in the face with pepper spray because she wasn’t exhibiting any redness around her eyes or any irritation whatsoever when police got there. Investigators also could not detect pepper spray anywhere in the trailer. And then on top of all that, there was the fact that fingerprints and blood had been found on the back window of the trailer, and these fingerprints and blood led them to Hannah’s girlfriend, Felicia Smith.
Hannah had been interviewed three times after Levi’s death, and each time she changed her story. She kept changing it so that she would look more credible. After investigators had revealed more details in the case, she changed her story to make sure it fit the narrative. At one point, Hannah tried to claim that maybe Levi’s father, Billy Ellerby Jr., was involved with Levi’s death, but she soon dropped that after she realized that he had already spoken to police and he had an airtight alibi.
In addition to all these other things, Hannah had also been showing little to no emotion at the hospital the day that Levi died. Billy’s mother would later describe her as being rather flat. Apparently, Levi’s father had asked if Levi could be buried in an Ellerby family plot in Winn Parish, and Hannah simply told him that he could do whatever he wanted with their son’s body—no hesitation. And it was also noted by investigators that Hannah did not cry at the crime scene or when she was being interrogated by police.
Friends, family, and acquaintances of Hannah would also hold judgment against her, saying that she didn’t seem broken up enough after her son had died. But Billy’s mother, Cathy, was trying to give the mother of her grandson the benefit of the doubt; she didn’t think that there was any way Hannah could have been involved. But Cathy said that her whole family started to suspect Hannah more and more as more information came out. And as I had said, Felicia’s fingerprints as well as blood had been found on the back window of the trailer.
So four days after Levi had been found badly burned, on July 21st, 2018, Felicia was arrested and charged with first-degree murder. The public had no idea who Felicia was or why she was arrested due to the gag order that was on the case, but it was soon revealed that Felicia and Hannah had a romantic and sexual relationship. In fact, they had both been seen around town with baby Levi, and the two had just broken up a few days before Levi’s death. The thing is, a baby is a time commitment, so people were wondering if maybe Hannah got sick of that commitment and that’s what happened to Levi.
Everyone would soon get answers as Felicia Smith started to confess to police what had happened to Levi on the night of July 17th. Felicia told the investigators that it had been Hannah’s idea to kill baby Levi, but of course Hannah denied any involvement in her son’s death. Felicia went on to tell investigators that one day while working at IHOP, Hannah told Felicia that if she loved her, she would do anything for her, even if that meant going to jail. And after this cryptic statement, Hannah finally came out with it and asked Felicia if she would kill her son Levi. Felicia said that at first she refused, but for some unknown reason she then decided that she would do it.
On July 17th, Felicia had gone to Hannah’s home. There was a gun at the trailer; she decided that she was going to shoot Levi, but the gun jammed because somebody had put bullets in the gun backwards. Hannah then allegedly told her to burn little Levi until he was just bones because that would get rid of the evidence. For whatever reason, Felicia decided that this was a good idea, and she took Levi out of the mobile home park. She then walked with him about a mile away, crossed the railroad tracks, and ended up on Breazeale Avenue in a wooded area between the tracks and a fence that runs behind a home.
Felicia put down little Levi on the ground. She then doused him in gasoline and set his body on fire. And while poor little Levi was burning, Felicia acted like everything was just the same as normal and went in for her shift at IHOP. She arrived at work shortly before 10:00, which was about 20 minutes before Levi would be found badly burned. Felicia Smith was held without bond at the Richland Parish jail until her trial.
Hannah was arrested four days after Felicia, on July 25th, and she was charged with being a principal to a first-degree murder as well as conspiracy to commit murder on a child younger than 12. Prosecutors would later upgrade Hannah’s charge of principal to first-degree murder to just first-degree murder. So Hannah had reportedly told police that she was just using her ex-girlfriend Felicia for money and attention. She also said that Felicia was much more into the relationship than she had ever been.
Hannah’s attorney was arguing that the only person with a motive was Felicia. He said that her motive was that she was angry because Hannah had just broken up with her recently. The defense lawyer also said that Felicia had claimed that Hannah was involved with Levi’s murder; however, there was no physical evidence to back this up. He said the only reason that Felicia was implicating his client was so that she would get a better deal. So did Felicia do this because she was angry about getting broken up with, or was she jealous that Hannah still loved Levi and she was just making all this up?
No, no, no, no. Hannah had everything to do with this. There were a few people who had heard Hannah recently saying how difficult it had been to be a single mother, and police had also spoken to a few people who called Hannah a compulsive liar. A few people also said that they wouldn’t have been surprised if she was involved with Levi’s death. But as her lawyer had said, there was no physical evidence to say that Hannah had been involved with Levi’s murder. But due to everything else that police had already heard, Hannah Barker was held in the Caddo Correctional Center awaiting her trial.
In July of 2021, Felicia, who was then 28 years old, entered a plea to avoid a capital murder trial which could have resulted in her receiving the death penalty. Instead, Felicia pleaded guilty to manslaughter, conspiracy to commit first-degree murder, and cruelty to a juvenile, and instead of the death penalty she received 80 years in prison. And in this plea agreement, she had to testify against Hannah in court.
Then, in June of 2022, Hannah was supposed to go to trial, and she would also be facing the death penalty if she was found guilty. But just a few weeks prior to her trial, the prosecution had given her a deal. Since there was not enough physical evidence to tie Hannah to Levi’s death, the district attorney was not convinced that Hannah would get convicted—she could potentially walk free. So in an attempt to make sure that she served time and was punished for Levi’s death, a plea deal was put on the table.
Levi’s other family decided to accept this deal to make sure that Hannah got punished, and to everyone’s relief, Hannah accepted that plea deal—she was not going to get off scot-free. She agreed to plead guilty under an Alford plea to a lesser charge of manslaughter as well as conspiracy charges. She was sentenced to 10 years without the benefit of probation, parole, or suspension of sentence for the manslaughter, and 30 years for conspiracy. An Alford plea means that she does not admit to the crime and still proclaims her innocence.
So Hannah Barker, who is now 26, is serving her sentences concurrently; she’s serving her time at the Louisiana Transition Center for Women in Tallulah, Louisiana. Hannah’s attorney released a statement after she was sentenced, putting all the blame on Felicia.
Levi’s grandmother, Cathy Ellerby, would later mention that there was something Hannah had said to her that first day when Levi had gone missing and she was sitting in the back of the ambulance. Hannah had said to Cathy, “Nobody looked over there,” and pointed in the direction of Breazeale Avenue. To this day, Cathy says it haunts her all the time, wondering if she could have saved Levi. Cathy, along with the rest of Levi’s family, know that Hannah is not innocent in this crime. Kathy says that while Felicia should have had enough common sense to know better than to murder Levi, she believes that she was very much coerced by Hannah.
And unbelievably, at Felicia Smith’s sentencing, Cathy told her that she forgave her. She said that she believed Felicia had told investigators the truth about the plan as well as the act of killing Levi. Kathy also believes that Felicia was just looking for someone to love and care for her, but ended up being a pawn to Hannah.
Levi’s family is in the process of building a playground at the church that his grandmother Cathy Ellerby attends—Old Union Church in Winn Parish—to honor him. Levi’s funeral was held on July 20th, 2018, at Southern Funeral Home. He was then buried in Old Union Cemetery in Joyce, Louisiana. And on August 4th, 2018, the community where Levi had once lived gathered to celebrate his short life. Local organizations held a balloon release and prayer vigil in downtown Natchitoches, Louisiana. The service was open to anyone who wanted to stop by to pay their respects. Organizers gave out orange ribbons in honor of Levi’s favorite color, as well as balloons to those who didn’t have one.
Well, thank you for listening to all of Levi’s story today. It’s pretty obvious that Hannah had a hand in his death, but if her reasoning was to just get rid of him because being a single mother was too hard, then why didn’t she ask his dad to take him, or his grandmother, or literally anybody instead of killing him? He was a sweet and happy boy. There are so many people that would have taken care of and loved Levi, but I think that Cathy is right and Felicia was just a pawn to Hannah. What do you think?
