New details emerged in court this week after a Georgia mother and her partner allegedly beat an 8-year-old girl to death, then reported her missing and posed as a worried parent.
Warrants for 27-year-old Brittany Hall and her partner, Celeste Owens, paint a grim picture of Nicole “Amari” Hall’s last days before her death, Atlanta’s 11Alive News reports.
As CrimeOnline previously reported, Gwinnett County police said in a statement that Nicole ‘Amari’ Hall disappeared from Hometown Studios in Peachtree Corners between midnight and 1 a.m. on November 20, at least according to what the child’s mother, Brittany Hall, said.
Gwinnett County police Corporal Kylie Boney previously said that Hall is new to the Peachtree Corners area. She had been staying at the motel for the past three months when Amari disappeared.
On November 23, police confirmed they found Amari’s body. 11Alive reports that the child was found by the Stone Mill Trace neighborhood in DeKalb County, hidden in a wooded area. Both Hall and Owens are now behind bars facing murder charges.
According to the warrant, Owens hit Amari in the head several times on November 19, leading to the child’s death. Owens then “conceal[ed] the death of Amari Hall by placing her in trash bags and dumping her body,” while Hall allegedly helped her dispose of Amari.
Owens is also facing child cruelty charges, stemming from previous incidents in which she allegedly abused other children in the family. The incidents were reportedly caught on security cameras.
In July, Owens “walked over to one child and open hand slapped the victim in the front of her face causing her head to whip back quickly,” the warrant states. She also allegedly walked “over to a boy … tightening a cloth around the victim’s eyes then slapping the victim and kicking him on the ground.”
In another incident in August, Owens was allegedly spotted on camera “stomping on another child’s back with her foot and then kicking (her) in the back moving her across the room.”
Hall is accused of hitting one of the children at least 11 times, the warrant states, as well as kicking and slapping all of the children.
The surviving children are currently in the custody of social services.
Both suspects remain behind bars without bail. Check back for updates.
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[Feature Photo: Amari Hall/Gwinnett County Police Department]
