A Louisiana woman was arrested after she allegedly killed her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter, stuffed her body into a bucket, and dropped the remains off at the victim’s mother’s house. Hannah Landon, 43, was charged on Wednesday with first-degree murder in the death of Bella Fontenelle, the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office said in a statement.
According to authorities, Bella’s father woke up on Wednesday morning to discover that neither Landon nor his daughter were in the home in Harahan. However, an older male child was still there and wasn’t harmed. The girl’s father reported the two missing at 7:30 a.m. at the Harahan Police Station and police immediately began an investigation.
Roughly an hour later, investigators visited the property of Bella’s biological mother, just around the corner from where Bella’s father and Landon live. That’s where they discovered the terrible truth of what happened to the little girl.
“At the Sedgefield location, officers discovered the victim’s remains inside a large plastic bucket in the front yard. The victim was pronounced dead on the scene,” the police statement revealed.
The Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office then joined in on the investigation, with the Major Crimes Task Force taking over to find out exactly what happened to little Bella Fontenelle. Sheriff Joseph Loping said that it wasn’t long before their attention turned to Hannah Landon, who also goes by the names “Bunnak Lim” and “Bunnak Landon,” as the primary suspect.
Hannah Landon was caught on surveillance footage transporting Bella Fontenelle’s body
Ring doorbell footage from one of the neighbors showed Landon “pulling a wagon containing a bucket down both Donelon and Sedgefield Drives,” with Landon seen heading towards the home of Bella’s biological mother. The footage shows Landon at roughly 9:30 p.m. as she pulls the wagon and bucket down the street. She doesn’t appear to be concerned with the fact that she just murdered the little girl or that she was openly transporting a dead body even though cars were driving past.
“We believe Bella was killed at the father’s house and then transported over to the mother’s house and then taken out of a wagon,” Loping said, adding that they believe Bella was murdered the night before her body was discovered.
An autopsy proved Bella’s death was the result of homicide, though the exact cause of death is still being withheld as the investigation continues. Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich did confirm that the child had “multiple injuries” before death.
Police searched for Hannah Landon for hours after finding Bella’s body until it was discovered that she’d checked into a local hospital after being sent for evaluation by the Harahan Police Department. No further details have been released.
It’s been confirmed that Landon and Bella’s father have been in a relationship for several years.
