A STEPMOTHER’S DEADLY SECRET – The HORRIFIC Case OF BELLA FONTENELLE
“Good afternoon, I’m Lauren McCoy, and I’m Lee Zurik. The Jefferson Parish coroner says a preliminary autopsy shows six-year-old Bella Fontenelle died of manual strangulation with blunt force injuries to the head. Meanwhile, the woman accused of her death is now in jail, booked with her murder, and the horrific killing left the Harahan neighborhood in shock. But police say their investigation is far from over.”
As parents, we take so many precautions to keep our kids safe. We childproof our homes, lock the windows and doors at night, teach them not to talk to strangers, and so many other things to protect them from danger. But what happens when you invite it in? You bring danger into your home and around your children. Danger is tucking your kids in at night, sitting with them at the dinner table, and taking care of them when you are at work.
Unfortunately, we see it over and over again in these cases. A single parent gets into a relationship, it gets serious, they move that partner in, and insert them into their children’s lives. They see some red flags but overlook them. Maybe they are blinded by love, maybe they are manipulated. Whatever the maybes are, it doesn’t matter, because it’s too late. They’ve invited in evil in disguise, and their vulnerable, innocent children end up paying the ultimate price.
That is what happened with beautiful Bella Fontenelle. Her father opened the door to evil and let it infiltrate his home, and in turn, it took Bella in the most barbaric and heinous way. There were signs, there were warnings, but it’s too late now; Bella is gone. All we can hope is by bringing awareness to these stories, parents will become more educated on the dangers of having an unrelated live-in partner around their children. Of course, not everyone is bad; in fact, most aren’t. But there are always signs of danger. Parents need to be more aware, put their children first, and protect them at all costs.
Bella Elena Fontenelle was born January 30th, 2017. She was a kindergartener at St. Matthew the Apostle School in River Ridge, Louisiana. She loved Disney Princesses, anything girly, but also loved swimming, riding her bike, and being active. She was loved by so many and such a bright light who should still be here.
Bella’s biological parents, Michael Fontenelle and Jennifer Zdon, met in college. They both received degrees in accounting and went on to become CPAs. They never married but had two daughters, Arya and Bella. Bella was their youngest. Shortly after Bella’s birth, Michael and Jennifer split but maintained a co-parenting relationship for the sake of the girls. They lived only a few streets away from each other in Harahan, Louisiana, and they did this to make their parental visits easier. Michael and Jennifer had joint custody of the girls. It’s been reported the girls lived primarily with Michael but spent a lot of time with Jennifer and her family as well.
Two years after Michael and Jennifer split, Michael started dating Bunnak Lim, who used aliases Hannah Landon and Bunnak Landon. For the sake of this video, I will refer to her as Bunnak. She preferred being called Hannah, so I’m not going to oblige her preference in this video; she doesn’t deserve that respect. Bunnak doesn’t have a social media presence, so there isn’t a ton of information I could find on her. I did find reports that said she has a son that lives in Florida. Not much is known about their relationship, but it’s believed to be estranged. It’s also said that she had a previous family that she abandoned. It’s believed she originally immigrated to the US from Thailand, and sometime in 2006, she lived in the Mobile, Alabama area. In May of 2013, she obtained a marriage license with Donald Dwayne Landon. It’s not clear if that was a viable marriage or if they ever legally divorced.
She eventually moved into the home Michael shared with his daughters on Donelon Drive in Harahan, Louisiana. According to reports, Bunnak was not employed. She stayed home and played the role of stepmother with the girls and cared for them while Michael was at work. That was a huge mistake. For many people, when they meet someone and start a relationship, they date for a while and get to know each other before introducing them to family. They hold their family’s opinion in high regard since, most times, your family knows you the best and wants nothing but the best for you. If your family or friends have a bad feeling about the person you’re seeing, it should be cause for pause—a red flag, so to speak.
According to Michael’s mother, Barbara Fontenelle, she did not have a good feeling about Bunnak and thought she was strange and unsettling. Despite Michael and Bunnak being in a relationship for years, none of his family thought they ever really, quote-unquote, “knew” her. Once Bunnak moved in with Michael and the girls, she started displaying some very odd behaviors. She started dressing identically to the girls on many occasions. Now, I don’t know about you, but I find that creepy as hell. Bunnak was a woman in her 40s dressing identically to girls who were both under 10 years old. Friends and family found it odd as well, being that Bunnak was not the girls’ biological mother. I mean, I can see a mother and daughter coordinating matching outfits, but I would probably feel really uncomfortable if my ex’s girlfriend was wearing matching outfits with my daughter.
Bunnak was also displaying signs she was jealous of Jennifer, Bella’s mother. She made it very clear that she, Michael, Bella, and Arya were a very close and tight-knit family. It’s clear to me from my research and reading between the lines that Bunnak wanted to be the only woman in Michael and the girls’ lives and didn’t like that he and Jennifer co-parented and made decisions regarding the girls. I’m sure she hated the fact Michael’s ex was still involved in his life in some way. As time went on, Bunnak had a hard time keeping her jealousy at bay. She started acting out and creating problems in Michael and Jennifer’s co-parenting relationship.
In June of 2021, Bella and her sister were competing in a swim meet. It was Michael’s custody day, so he and Bunnak were in attendance, along with Jennifer and her sister, Evelyn. At some point, Jennifer approached her girls to tell them what a great job they did and how proud she was of them and reached out to hug them both when Bunnak intervened and would not let Jennifer touch her daughters. She stated it was Michael’s custody day and he would only allow Jennifer to hug the girls for 1 minute. Bunnak then pulls out her cell phone to record Jennifer hugging the girls. Jennifer’s sister, Evelyn, told Bunnak to stop recording, and when she did that, Evelyn stuck her hand out to make the stop motion, like “stop recording.” Bunnak then slaps Evelyn’s hand. Evelyn told Bunnak to never do that again, and Bunnak started pulling Evelyn’s hair.
For some reason, Michael wasn’t present for the altercation; he only witnessed the tail end of it when a bystander intervened. It’s unclear who called the police, but they showed up and interviewed the women. According to court documents, Bunnak was extremely uncooperative and took no responsibility for her assault on Jennifer’s sister. She only blamed Jennifer and Evelyn for what had occurred and would not give the police any of her information. It was also noted that Jennifer’s sister had visible scratches and marks on her face and arm from Bunnak’s assault.
I’d really like to know what Michael was doing during this. Why didn’t he give the police Bunnak’s information when she refused, or at least encourage her to cooperate and answer law enforcement’s questions? Bunnak would not cooperate with the police until she was threatened with charges. She ended up receiving a citation for simple battery.
Then, in what seems to be retaliation against Jennifer, Bunnak subsequently took out a restraining order against Jennifer, claiming back in March of 2021, before the swim meet, Jennifer threatened her and grabbed her arm at one of the girls’ soccer games. The restraining order was dismissed in August with the judge stating there were no grounds to verify Bunnak’s claims.
Michael and Jennifer seemed to have no issues co-parenting until Bunnak came into the picture. This is just my opinion, but you can’t tell me it wasn’t obvious this woman was unhinged and causing problems with Bella’s mom in order to cause division between her and Michael. The altercation at the swim meet occurred in front of the girls. This woman literally assaulted their aunt in front of them. As a parent, I would think that would be grounds for, quote-unquote, “don’t let the door hit you in the bum on the way out.”
According to the lead detective in this case, Bella was seeing a counselor at school. She told the counselor Bunnak was mean and she didn’t like staying at her dad’s anymore. There are so many red flags with this woman. Why did Michael keep her around? His friends and family didn’t like her, his girls didn’t like her, she assaulted the girls’ aunt in front of the girls. Meanwhile, it’s been reported Michael defended Bunnak and left her to watch the girls while he was working.
There are no reports that Bunnak ever physically harmed the girls prior to taking Bella’s life, but that doesn’t mean she never did. She showed blatant signs of not being able to control her anger and acting out physically because of it. The girls saying she’s mean is concerning as well. In my opinion, this woman was a walking red flag.
And I’m sorry, I know Michael has lost his daughter, and according to police, he had nothing to do with her murder, but I find myself infuriated with him for keeping Bunnak around and defending her after her unhinged behavior around his daughters. I’m sure he never thought her behavior could escalate to murdering one of his children, but let that be a lesson to all of us: no relationship is worth risking our innocent children’s lives. Our homes need to be a safe space for our children; that is our job as parents. If we invite danger in, our kids have nowhere to run and nowhere to hide.
On the evening of Tuesday, April 25th, 2023, Bella and her sister were staying with their father, Michael. He was working late that evening since it was tax season. His mother came over and helped bathe and tuck the girls in for the night. Bunnak was home, so it’s unclear if this was something his mother did from time to time, or if there were issues between Bunnak and the girls that prompted the grandmother to take over for the evening. But the grandmother told investigators there was no sign of trouble between Bunnak and the girls that night. She stated she would have never left if she thought there were any issues, but something was definitely amiss. I find it hard to believe Bunnak just snapped. The barbaric nature of her crime leads me to believe there was trouble in paradise, but I’ll talk more about that later in the video.
At some point after Bella’s grandmother left, Bunnak did the unthinkable. She beat and strangled precious little Bella. It’s unclear if she used her hands or other objects to do it, but she took Bella’s life that night at her father’s house, with her sister sleeping in another room. Bella should have been safe, but her father was working late and left her in the hands of this monster. She had no chance, nowhere to run. All of the anger, jealousy, and hate bubbling to the surface in Bunnak was unleashed on this beautiful, innocent child.
At approximately 9:30 p.m., surveillance footage from the neighbors shows Bunnak going to the side of the house and grabbing a large bucket. She loads it into a wagon and is seen walking in high-heeled white boots through the neighborhood, pulling the wagon with the bucket behind her. She walks a few streets over and places the bucket on Bella’s mother’s front porch. She walks back to the home with the wagon, leaves it at the house, and then is seen burying an object in the front yard of a neighbor’s house.
Around 10:30 p.m., Michael comes home and goes to bed. He does not enter any of his daughters’ rooms to say good night, and Bunnak is not in bed. He doesn’t see her when he comes home but doesn’t think anything of it. According to reports, it’s because sometimes she sleeps on the sofa. But I just find this really strange. When I come home from work, you put your keys in the kitchen, you might grab a snack, you walk through the living room to go to the bedroom, maybe take a shower. I mean, when I come home from work, I’m all over the house. How did he not notice that Bunnak wasn’t there? Even if she slept on the sofa sometimes like he said, how did he not see that she wasn’t on the sofa? I just find it weird that he didn’t say good night to his girls. He didn’t notice Bunnak wasn’t in the house. The house was a single-story house; it wasn’t two stories, it wasn’t very big. I just… I’m racking my brain wondering how he didn’t notice that Bunnak was missing.
Around 7:00 a.m. the next morning, Michael wakes up to find Bella and Bunnak missing. At 7:30 a.m., he calls police and reports them both missing. Police arrive at his home at 7:45 a.m., and they start their search. They go to Jennifer’s house to see if Bella might be there, and they find the bucket Bunnak left on her front porch. They noticed blood on the bucket and opened it to find the most grisly discovery that will haunt them for the rest of their lives: precious, beautiful Bella. Her beaten and strangled body is folded into the bucket with no life left in her. It’s unclear if Jennifer was home when Bella was found, but I thank God she did not find the bucket. That is what that demon Bunnak wanted. She wanted Jennifer to find her baby brutalized and shoved in a bucket. My God, I want to throw up thinking about the fact that such evil walks this Earth.
At the same time, detectives are searching for Bunnak. They are calling and pinging her phone but getting no results. They end up finding her at East Jefferson General Hospital. At this point, they have combed through the surveillance footage from neighbors’ cameras and witnessed Bunnak walking with the wagon and bucket and leaving it at Jennifer’s home.
Apparently, after ending Bella’s life, Bunnak went to the police station. She told officers she was having family issues and spoke with them for about 2 hours. She said she wanted to hug her mother and grandmother. Officers noticed she had an injury to her left hand and seemed mentally unstable. After speaking with her, they decided to have an ambulance take her to the hospital to have the injury on her hand treated and a mental evaluation. At this point, they had no idea what she had done.
When detectives finally located Bunnak at the hospital, they noticed the injury to her hand and that she was wearing the same clothes noted in the neighbors’ surveillance cameras. They arrested her and charged her with first-degree murder and obstruction of justice. Her bond was set at $2.5 million. Prosecutors have opted not to seek the death penalty. During her arraignment, she pleaded not guilty.
Detectives later found on the surveillance footage that after returning the wagon to her home, she buried what was later found to be her cell phone in a neighbor’s front yard. That is why they were unable to ping her cell phone during the search. While doing a forensic evaluation of her phone, they found her last web searches to be for defense attorneys, so it’s pretty clear she thought she’d be caught.
Michael’s cell phone records confirm his alibi that he was at work during the time Bella was murdered, so he was not considered a suspect in her death. The blood on the bucket was tested and found to be Bunnak’s blood. The blood at the house is still being evaluated. Bunnak’s trial date is set for July 15th, 2024. Bella’s family has rallied around her mother, Jennifer, and Bella’s sister, and are holding them up through the immense weight of grief they are enduring. This unhinged, evil excuse for a woman came into their lives and destroyed them.
I firmly believe that Bunnak couldn’t get to Jennifer, so she unleashed on Bella to hurt Jennifer in the most heinous way possible. This opinion may be pushing some boundaries, but I’m so enraged over this, I’m going to say it anyway: Bella’s father may not have committed the crime, but he ignored the red flags. He let danger in. It was probably convenient for him having Bunnak around to take care of the house and the girls during his custody days, but you can’t tell me he didn’t see she was unhinged. He lived with her, for God’s sake! Bella was seeing a counselor at school because she didn’t want to stay there anymore, and this is what we know so far. You can’t tell me there weren’t many more concerning incidents behind the scenes. Bunnak didn’t just boil over all of a sudden; something led up to it. I’m speculating here, but maybe Michael finally had enough and threatened to kick her out. Maybe he stuck up for Jennifer. I don’t know, but there’s more to the story, and I hope everything comes out at trial.
I’m absolutely horrified the prosecutor isn’t going for the death penalty for Bunnak. I mean, if this barbaric murder of a six-year-old baby girl and her body being dropped off in a bucket on her mother’s doorstep doesn’t deserve the death penalty, then what does? Rest in love, beautiful Bella. You will never be forgotten.
“Are you mad? Why you mad?” “She look, she kiss my boyfriend.” “You like her? Why you like him?” “Because I like to kiss him.” “Why you want to kiss him?” “That’s my boyfriend.” “Because that’s your boyfriend? That’s my husband.” “That’s your husband? And did he say that he wanted to marry you?” “Uh-huh.” “Oh yeah? Mommy, when he told you that, is that my boyfriend for…”
