A 45-year-old woman in Louisiana will stand trial for allegedly killing her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter, stuffing the child’s remains into a large plastic bucket, and transporting and dropping the bucket off on the victim’s mother’s front lawn using a wagon.
According to court records reviewed by Law&Crime, the Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday denied Bunnak Landon’s request to overturn a lower court ruling declaring her fit to stand trial for the horrific 2023 murder of young Bella Fontenelle.
The seven justices on the state’s high court voted six to one to deny Landon’s request, with Justice Jay B. Hughes the only one who said he would have granted her supervisory write.
Landon was indicted last year on one count of first-degree murder and one count of obstruction of justice in relation to Bella’s death.
According to New Orleans Fox affiliate WVUE, Landon initially pleaded not guilty to the charges, but her attorneys moved to change her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity last month.
In May 2024, Jefferson Parish District Judge Nancy Miller declared Landon incompetent after hearing testimony from two doctors and determining that the accused child-killer was unable to assist in her own defense. Miller, however, reversed her previous decision two months later after conducting a more thorough evaluation of Landon.
Landon appealed the district court’s decision on her competence, first to the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal and then to the state Supreme Court, both of which declined to review or reverse the lower court’s decision. The latter court’s rejection of Landon’s writ clears the way for her trial, which is currently set to begin on April 28.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Bella’s father awoke in April 2023 to discover that both his daughter and girlfriend were missing from his home in Harahan, about 10 miles west of New Orleans.
At approximately 7:30 a.m., the father arrived at the Harahan Police Station and reported the two missing. Approximately 15 minutes later, officers arrived at the family’s home on Donelon Drive and began looking for the missing woman and child.
At around 8:20 a.m., the investigation moved to Bella’s biological mother’s home on Sedgefield Drive, which is just around the corner and less than two blocks from Bella’s father’s home.
“At the Sedgefield location, officers discovered the victim’s remains inside a large plastic bucket in the front yard,” police said in a news release at the time. “The victim was pronounced dead on the scene.”
Following Landon’s arrest, police contacted the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office, and the Major Crimes Task Force took over the investigation into Bella’s death, according to Sheriff Joseph Lopinto. Authorities later determined that Bella had been beaten and strangled to death.
JPSO investigators say they quickly identified Landon, an Asian female also known as “Bunnak Lim” and “Bunnak Landon,” as the primary suspect in the case.
While looking for Landon, the sheriff’s office obtained Ring doorbell surveillance footage from neighbors in the area, which they claim shows Landon late the previous night “pulling a wagon containing a bucket down both Donelon and Sedgefield Drives.” Landon was on his way to the home of Bella’s biological mother.
At 9:33 p.m., the chilling video appears to show Landon walking down the street with the wagon and bucket in tow, making no attempt to hide the dead child, even as a white minivan drives right past her.
“We believe Bella was killed at the father’s house and then transported over to the mother’s house and then taken out of a wagon,” according to Lopinto.
Following an investigation and “extensive” interviews with Bella’s biological mother and father, authorities stated that they do not believe either parent was involved in their daughter’s death.
As the search for Landon continued, detectives were notified around 2 p.m. that he had been admitted to a local hospital. Authorities said Landon walked into the Harahan Police Department after midnight and “was eventually transported to the hospital for evaluation.”
After being released, Landon was booked into Jefferson Parish Jail.
