Woman accused of killing 6-year-old girl, leaving body in bucket on mother’s lawn

HARAHAN, La. — A Louisiana woman is accused of killing her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter and leaving the child’s body in a 10-gallon plastic bucket on the lawn of her biological mother, authorities said Thursday.

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Hannah Landon, 43, of Harahan -- who is listed in Jefferson County Parish booking records as Bunnak Landon -- was arrested on Wednesday, according to Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joe Lopinto. Landon was located around 2 p.m. CDT at a local hospital and was booked into the parish jail on Thursday. She is facing charges of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice.

Landon is accused of killing Bella Fontenelle, a kindergarten student at St. Matthew the Apostle Catholic School in River Ridge, WVUE-TV reported.

Jefferson Parish Coroner Gerry Cvitanovich said that a preliminary autopsy showed the cause of death to be “manual strangulation along with blunt force injuries to the head,” WWL-TV reported.

“I want to add that Bella’s body was intact and contrary to public speculation, there was no dismemberment of any kind,” Cvitanovich said. ”This is not something we’re happy to do. It’s something that’s hard to see and it’s even more hard to unsee.”

Lopinto said that investigators believe the child was killed at her father’s home and then taken to her mother’s residence, where she was removed from a wagon, NOLA.com reported.

Investigators do not believe that Fontenelle’s biological parents played any role in the homicide, Lopinto told reporters.

Lopinto said the girl’s father reported that Landon and his youngest daughter missing around 7:30 a.m. CDT on Wednesday after waking up to find them unexpectedly missing from their home, WVUE reported.

According to investigators, the man’s other child was at the home and unharmed, WDSU-TV reported. After investigating at the father’s home, detectives went to the home of Fontenelle’s biological mother, which is located a block away, according to the television station.

Lopinto said officers found the girl’s body inside a closed, 10-gallon chlorine bucket on her mother’s front lawn, NOLA.com reported.

Ken Livaudais, 67, who lives on the same street as Fontenelle’s mother, said his security cameras recorded video of a woman pulling a wagon containing a white bucket at about 9:35 p.m. CDT on Tuesday, according to the news outlet. She was headed in the direction of the biological mother’s home.

“To know that she was pulling a little baby stuffed into a bucket makes you physically ill,” Livaudais told NOLA.com.

Police have not speculated about a possible motive for the child’s death.

Landon appeared in court on Thursday, where a judge determined that she should be held without bond, WWL reported.

“We’re a small town. We’re a safe town, and I just want our citizens to know that my heart and my prayers go out to the family of this child,” Harahan police Chief Ed Lepre said during a news conference. “This is a senseless-type incident that happened, but I can assure you that the Harahan Police Department and the sheriff’s office are there for the family.”

Neighbors and friends described Fontenelle as “an itty-bitty princess,” a friendly child who was often seen riding her bicycle to a nearby levee or playing with her 7-year-old sister, NOLA.com reported.

“Child deaths are always terrible. especially ones like this that should not have happened,” Cvitanovich said. “Quite honestly, it’s personal for all of us.”