(NewsNation) — A Louisiana woman has been charged in the death of a 6-year-old girl who they say was strangled, stuffed in a 10-gallon bucket and dumped on her own mother’s front yard.
Bunnak “Hannah” Landon, 43, is accused of killing Bella Fontenelle, whose body was discovered Wednesday morning, The Times-Picayune/The New Orleans Advocate reported. Landon is the girlfriend of Bella’s father, authorities said.
The county corner told reporters Wednesday that Bella had “multiple injuries” and ruled the cause of death as strangulation and blunt force trauma, WDSU-TV reported.
Sheriff Joseph Lopinto told the local newspaper outlet Landon and Bella’s father shared a home just blocks down from where her body was dumped. That’s where police believe the girl was killed sometime Tuesday night.
They stressed her body was not dismembered before it was placed in the bucket usually used to store pool chlorine.
Landon has a history of altercations with Bella’s family, including her mother, according to court records as reported by NBC News. Landon allegedly attacked Bella’s aunt at a swim meet in June 2021 and then later field for a restraining order against Bella’s mother and aunt, claiming the aunt attacked her unprovoked.
The restraining order was later dissolved.