Louisiana woman charged with murder of Bella Fontenelle – court date

A Jefferson Parish woman accused of killing her boyfriend's child is scheduled to go on trial later this year. Bunnak “Hannah” Landon's trial date has been set for Dec. 16. Landon is accused of killing Bella Fontenelle and then leaving her in a bucket on the front lawn of the child's mother. She is charged with first-degree murder and two counts of obstruction of justice. She was recently found competent to stand trial after a psychiatric evaluation earlier this month. Previous reports: A Jefferson Parish grand jury has indicted a woman accused of killing her boyfriend's child in Harahan in April. The indictment formally charges Landon with first-degree murder and two counts of obstruction of justice. In June, it was revealed in court that the blood on the bucket was Landon's DNA. A Jefferson Parish detective testified that surveillance video showed Landon pulling a cart with a bucket and leaving it in front of Fontenelle's mother's house. The medical examiner ruled she died from blunt force trauma to the head and strangulation. The detective also testified that the victim's 7-year-old sister said Landon “was mean to her and was afraid of living in the house with her father.” Testimony revealed that Landon buried her phone the night of the murder and that her phone's search history showed she was looking for a criminal defense attorney. According to Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto, Fontenelle's father reported her and his girlfriend, Bunnak Hannah Landon, missing to Harahan police at about 7:30 a.m. Lopinto said the father woke up and noticed his daughter and his girlfriend had disappeared from his Donelon Drive home. Investigators said his other child was unharmed in the home. Police immediately began investigating the father's home. They eventually went to Fontenelle's biological mother's home, which is one street away on Sedgefield Drive. That's where officers found the little girl's body, according to Lopinto. He told WDSU that her remains were in a 10-gallon bucket on the front lawn. Investigators began searching the neighborhood, where they obtained surveillance video from several homes. The videos show a woman matching Landon's description pushing a cart with a large bucket in it toward the birth mother's home. WDSU obtained a copy of some of that surveillance footage and can confirm investigators' statements. However, due to the nature of the crime, the station has chosen not to release the video out of respect for the child and the families involved. A search was subsequently launched for Landon. Lopinto said she was later found at a local hospital and taken into custody. Neither of Fontenelle's biological parents are believed to have been involved in the incident, Lopinto said.