Father’s girlfriend prime suspect after 6-year-old’s body is left on mother’s front lawn in Louisiana
A 6-year-old girl was brutally murdered in Harahan, Louisiana this week. Authorities are now focusing on her father’s girlfriend as a suspect after court documents have shown altercations between the woman and the victim’s mother dating back to 2021.
On Wednesday (April 26), Bella Fontenelle’s body was discovered in a bucket on the front lawn of her mother’s yard. Yesterday (April 27), Louisiana news station WWL TV 4 published an article stating that Jefferson Parish Coroner Dr. Gerry Cvitanovich conducted a preliminary autopsy to determine the little girl’s cause of death. Results show that the child suffered from “manual strangulation along with blunt force injuries to the head.”
“I want to add that Bella’s body was intact, and contrary to public speculation, there was no dismemberment of any kind,” Cvitanovich said of the St. Matthew the Apostle kindergartner. The coroner added, “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.” The suspect, 43-year-old Hannah Landon, has since been arrested. Yesterday, Landon was booked into the Jefferson Parish Correctional Center in Gretna, Louisiana, where she is being held without bond on charges of first-degree murder and obstruction of justice.
Jefferson Parish Sheriff Joseph Lopinto confirmed Fontenelle’s parents were questioned by police, and neither are suspects in their homicide investigation. Local news station Fox 8 revealed that the victim’s mother, Jennifer Zeledon, got into a physical fight with Landon at a children’s swim meet on March 17, 2021. Fontenelle’s father reportedly intervened between the two women. “We’re going to work until the end to make sure we get a conviction. This is a small baby, and any family would be devastated. I can only imagine what the mother and father are going through right now,” Harahan Police Chief Edward Lepre said of the shocking crime.
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