New details revealed in Harahan killing of 6-year-old Bella Fontenelle as trial begins

In the months leading up to her murder, prosecutors say 6-year-old Bella Fontenelle would tell anyone who would listen that her father's girlfriend, Bunnak "Hannah" Landon was "mean."

Bella suffered from anxiety and hysterical crying fits when faced with spending time at her father's Harahan home. But Bella never complained of any physical abuse at Landon's hands, despite repeated talks with teachers, therapists and family, according to Jefferson Parish Assistant District Attorney Rachel Africk. 

But there's no doubt, authorities allege, that it was Landon, 45, who beat and strangled the kindergartener before stuffing her tiny body into a 100-pound pool chlorine bucket that she left on the front lawn of Bella's biological mother. 

Opening statements began Tuesday morning in Landon's first-degree murder trial in Jefferson Parish. Landon is also charged with two counts of obstruction of justice for allegedly moving Bella's body and burying her cellphone. 

She has pleaded not guilty by reason of insanity. 

Landon's defense attorney, Letita Parker Davis, told jurors her client was suffering from mental illness during the commission of the offense. 

"She did not understand what she was doing was wrong, nor did she understand what she was doing," David said. 

Calling Landon "spiteful, jealous and vindictive," Africk said the defendant was well aware of her actions and even told others she was at peace with her decision. 

"The defense is going to say that Hannah Landon is crazy, that she is insane," Africk told jurors. "But I submit to you that the evidence will show that she's not crazy. She's not insane. She's evil, and there's a difference."

Stripper girlfriend

During opening statements, Africk laid out some of the evidence that jurors can expect to hear surrounding Bella's April 25, 2023, death. 

Bella’s parents, Michael Fontenelle and Jennifer Zeledon, never married but shared 50/50 custody of her and her then-7-year-old sister, Africk said. The couple, who'd met on a dating website in 2012, separated in 2019 due to problems in the relationship. 

"It's an ugly split. It's contentious," Africk told jurors. 

Michael Fontenelle later met Landon when she gave him a lap dance while she was working at a Baton Rouge strip club, Africk said. She went by the name "Valentina," and was based out of the Gulfport/Biloxi area. 

Landon moved in with Fontenelle in 2020. But she became financially dependent on him after restrictions during the COVID-19 pandemic closed strip clubs, according to Africk. 

Bella, meanwhile, would tie her hair and clothes in knots and cry uncontrollably at school, telling teachers at school that she didn't want to go her daddy's house, Africk told jurors. 

"That little girl told anybody that would listen to her that 'Ms. Hannah' was mean to her," Africk said. "'Ms. Hannah just doesn't love me.'"

When asked for specifics, Bella once described Landon roughly pulling her hair during brushing. But she never complained of any abuse that rose to a criminal level, according to Africk. 

Strangled and beaten

One day before Bella was killed, she was supposed to finally have an open conversation with her father, mother and a hired therapist to talk about the problems with Landon, according to Africk. 

But when pressed for details from her father, Bella shut down and would say no more.  

"That discussion didn't get to be continued because 'Ms. Hannah' murdered Bella Fontenelle the next night," Africk told jurors. 

Michael Fontenelle was working late at his job, as a certified public accountant for the city of Kenner, when Landon attacked Bella inside the couple's Donelon Drive home, hitting her repeatedly on the head and strangling the little girl, Africk said. 

"You can see Bella's little fingernail marks in her own neck as she tried to get those hands off," Africk said. 

Landon placed Bella upside down into a white chlorine bucket with a blue screw top before loading the bucket into a wagon, authorities said.

Surveillance cameras at Bella's home and surrounding residences recorded as a woman identified as Landon walked the wagon a block away to Zeledon's Sedgefield Drive home and left the bucket in the front corner of her lawn, near the driveway. 

Landon later walked into the Harahan police station, where her unusual behavior led officers to call paramedics and have her taken to East Jefferson General Hospital in Metairie for a mental evaluation, according to authorities. 

She knew

Michael Fontenelle, who'd come home and gone straight to bed, woke that morning and realized that both Bella and Landon were missing. He dropped his other daughter off at Zeledon's home on the way to report Bella missing to police, Africk said. 

Neither Michael Fontenelle nor Zeledon noticed the bucket sitting just feet from them in their panic. But Zeledon's mother spotted the bloody bucket as soon as she arrived at the house a short time later, according to Africk. 

Zeledon immediately knew her daughter was dead inside. 

"She knows. I don’t know how she knows. But she knows as soon as she sees that bucket," Africk said. 

Police who were called to the house opened the bucket and found Bella's lifeless body tucked upside-down, head first inside the bucket, still wearing her pink polka-dot pajamas, according to Africk. 

Zeledon checked her own surveillance cameras and immediately identified Landon as the person who dropped off the bucket, Africk said. 

Jefferson Parish Sheriff's Office investigators arrested Landon later that day at the hospital.

Landon's trial is expected to last at least a week. Her mother was the first witness to take the stand. 

This story will be updated. Stay with The Times-Picayune and NOLA.com for more coverage of the trial.