Santa Clarita / Antelope Valley : 4 Charged With Murder, Kidnap in Baby’s Death

Charges were filed Thursday against four Willowbrook men accused of killing a 7-month-old baby they had taken as “collateral” from a man they tried to rob, authorities said.

The four men, described by Los Angeles County sheriff’s deputies as gang members, were captured early Wednesday after a chase in Lancaster that ended when their car spun out of control and crashed into a tree. Also in the car was the baby, Jainah Alexis Spencer, who died a short time later from injuries suffered in the crash, authorities said.

Deputies transferred three of the suspects, also injured in the crash, from Lancaster hospitals Thursday after receiving a tip that fellow gang members were going to try to spring them, according to Sgt. Bob Denham.

The three men were taken to County-USC Medical Center’s jail ward. The fourth man, who was not injured, was already in County Jail in Los Angeles.

Facing one charge of murder, four charges of robbery and two charges of kidnaping are Marcel Cloud, 29; Calvin Robinson, 29; David Brian, 28, and Kenyon Pitts, 20.

Meanwhile, authorities continued to search for two alleged accomplices to the abduction.

The six men took Jainah at gunpoint from her mother’s Inglewood apartment as “collateral” in their attempt to get money from the baby’s father, Robert Davis, Lt. Ray Peavy said.

Davis, whom the men had abducted and beaten, suggested he take them to his mother’s house in Lancaster, more than 100 miles to the north, where they might be able to get the money, Peavy said.

When they arrived at the Lancaster house, Davis’ sister who lived there with her mother slipped away to notify sheriff’s deputies, authorities said.

But when the deputies arrived at the scene, they were spotted by the abductors, four of whom escaped in a car with the baby, according to Peavy.

A chase through empty desert streets ended when the car--its lights off in an attempt to avoid being spotted--hit a ditch and spun out of control, smashing into a tree and catching fire, Peavy said.

Jainah was rushed to a nearby hospital by the deputies, who administered cardiopulmonary resuscitation on the way, Peavy said, but the baby was declared dead at about 1 a.m. Three of the robbers suffered fractures in the crash, Peavy said.

Deputies scoured the trim Lancaster neighborhood near the home of Davis’ mother on Wednesday, searching for the two missing abductors, Denham said.

One of the suspects at large was tentatively identified as Cephus Sudduth, 26, a 5-foot-tall African American who weighs approximately 165 pounds and has short, braided black hair, Peavy said.