6-year-old found dead in bucket on mother’s lawn, cops say. Dad’s girlfriend charged
A young girl was killed and stuffed in a bucket, then left on her mother’s lawn, Louisiana cops said.
Bella Fontenelle, 6, was reported missing by her father at 7:30 a.m. on April 26 after he woke up to find her gone from their house, Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said during a news conference.
Her father also reported his girlfriend, 43-year-old Hannah Landon, who also went by Bunnak Lim, missing at the same time, Lopinto said.
The father’s other daughter was home at the time, according to the sheriff, but her age was not released.
Officers with the Harahan Police Department started to canvass the neighborhood around the father’s house, Lopinto said, and decided to check the girl’s biological mother’s house, just a block away.
When officers arrived, they found what looked like a 10-gallon bucket on the mother’s lawn, Lopinto said.
Inside was the body of her daughter, Lopinto said.
The sheriff said it was clear this had become a homicide investigation, and officers began searching for Landon. An autopsy later confirmed that Fontenelle had been killed.
Neighbors shared security footage with law enforcement that showed Landon walking along the street and pulling a wagon with the bucket inside, Lopito said.
Law enforcement believes Fontenelle was killed at her father’s home, then taken in the bucket on the wagon to her mother’s lawn, according to the sheriff.
Landon was later found at a nearby hospital and was taken into custody. She is charged with first-degree murder, according to a tweet from the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office.
Lopito said Landon had been in a relationship with Fontenelle’s father for a number of years and lived in the house. The two daughters moved between their father’s and mother’s homes, he said.
The sheriff’s office did not release a possible motive for the killing or share details about the relationship between Landon and Fontenelle’s mother.
Lopito said after extensive interviews, law enforcement did not believe the girl’s mother or father were involved in her death.
Fontenelle was a student at St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic School, and Lopito said the families of the school had been notified and measures were being taken to help the staff and students through the loss of a classmate.
“On April 26, 2023, we were devastated to learn of the senseless murder of a child in our community,” Harahan Police Chief Edward Lepre wrote in a Facebook post. “As Chief of Police, I want to assure you that Harahan is a great and safe city.”
Lopito said the investigation is ongoing.
Harahan is a suburb of New Orleans.
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