Inset: Bunnak Landon (Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office): Background: Landon on surveillance footage dragging a wagon that allegedly contained the body of her boyfriend’s daughter (JPSO).
A 45-year-old woman in Louisiana will be tried for allegedly killing her boyfriend’s 6-year-old daughter, stuffing the child’s remains into a large plastic bucket, then using a wagon to transport and drop off the bucket on the front lawn of the victim’s mother. The Louisiana Supreme Court on Tuesday rejected 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, court records reviewed by Law&Crime show.
The seven justices on the state’s high voted six to one to deny Landon’s request, with Justice Jay B. Hughes being the lone jurist who said he would have granted her application for a supervisory write.
Landon last year was indicted on one count of first-degree murder and one count of obstruction of justice in connection with Bella’s death.
According to a report from New Orleans Fox affiliate WVUE, Landon had pleaded not guilty to the charges against her, but last month, her attorneys moved to change her plea to not guilty by reason of insanity.
Jefferson Parish District Judge Nancy Miller in May 2024 deemed Landon incompetent after hearing testimony from two doctors and finding the accused child-killer was unable to assist in her own defense. However, Miller reversed her previous ruling two months later following a more in-depth evaluation of Landon.
Landon appealed the district court’s ruling on her competence, first to the Louisiana Fifth Circuit Court of Appeal then to the state Supreme Court, both of which declined to review or overturn the lower court’s decision. The latter court’s rejection of Landon’s writ paves the way for her trial, which is currently scheduled to begin on April 28.
As previously reported by Law&Crime, Bella’s father in April 2023, awoke to find his daughter and girlfriend were both missing from his home in Harahan, about 10 miles west of New Orleans.
The father at about 7:30 a.m. 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 investigating the whereabouts of the missing woman and child.
At about 8:20 a.m., the investigation moved to the home of Bella’s biological mother, located on Sedgefield Drive, which is only around the corner and less than two blocks away from Bella’s father’s residence.
“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.”
Police then contacted the Jefferson Parish Sheriff’s Office and the agency’s Major Crimes Task Force assumed responsibility for the investigation into Bella’s death, Sheriff Joseph Lopinto said after Landon’s arrest. Authorities later determined that Bella was beaten and strangled to death.
JPSO investigators say they quickly honed in on Landon, who the sheriff’s office described as an Asian female that also goes by the names “Bunnak Lim” and “Bunnak Landon,” as the primary suspect in the case.
While attempting to locate Landon, the sheriff’s office obtained Ring doorbell surveillance footage from neighbors in the area which they say showed Landon late the previous night “pulling a wagon containing a bucket down both Donelon and Sedgefield Drives.” Landon was traveling toward the home of Bella’s biological mother.
The chilling video appears to show Landon at 9:33 p.m. casually walking down the street with the wagon and bucket in tow, making no attempts to hide the dead child, even when 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,” Lopinto said
Following an investigation and “extensive” interviews with Bella’s biological mother and father, authorities said that they do not believe either parent had a hand in their daughter’s death.
As the search for Landon continued, detectives at about 2 p.m. were notified that Landon had been admitted to a local hospital. Authorities said that Landon walked into the Harahan Police Department sometime after midnight and “was eventually transported to the hospital for evaluation.”
After being discharged, Landon was booked into the Jefferson Parish Jail.
