GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga. — The arrest warrants for two women accused of the murder of a Gwinnett County 8-year-old revealed new details about the incidents. Warrants detailed how Amari Hall died and showed a better timeline of when it happened.
Her mother, Brittany Hall, and Hall’s domestic partner, Celeste Owens, are both charged with murder. Police found Amari’s body last week in a DeKalb County field.
Channel 2′s Gwinnett County Bureau Chief Tony Thomas obtained criminal warrants filed in Gwinnett County Magistrate Court that show that detectives believe Celeste Owens killed Amari by “striking the victim several times in the head” on Nov. 19 and then concealed her death by “placing her in trash bags and dumping her body.” Brittany Hall is accused of murder by causing “battered child syndrome” after prolonged abuse.
[DOWNLOAD: Free WSB-TV News app for alerts as news breaks]
Police believe the murder and concealing of the body occurred on Friday, Nov. 19. Brittany Hall waited until Sunday morning, two days later, to call 911 and report her daughter missing.
Thomas obtained a copy of that 911 call police now believe was a setup to try to cover up the murder.
“Gwinnett 911, what’s the location of your emergency?” the dispatcher can be heard asking.
“My daughter is missing,” Brittany Hall responded.
“Has she never walked off before?” the dispatcher asks.
“No, but we’ve been having problems with her,” Brittany Hall said.
During the call, Hall blamed some of the problems on Amari’s behavior and the fact she was autistic.
“How functioning is she with her autism?” the dispatcher asked later in the call.
“She knows her surroundings, she knows the person and stuff, it’s her behavior,” Brittany Hall replied.
RELATED STORIES:
- Charges upgraded to murder for mother who reported 8-year-old missing
- Women accused of killing 8-year-old girl face judge, arrest warrants show history of abuse
- 8-year-old with autism still missing in Gwinnett County more than 36 hours later
Gwinnett County Police Spokesperson Cpl. Hideshi Valle told Thomas, “We don’t have a motive right now, I’m not sure if she was present but she did have knowledge of the abuse that happened on the 19th.”
Police say while they believe Brittany Hall knew what had happened to her daughter, they don’t believe she went along to hide the body in DeKalb County. She reportedly pointed police to a general area where the remains could be found. Investigators say Celeste Owens has not spoken with them at all.
After Brittany Hall reported her daughter missing, police used dogs, helicopters and volunteers to search a large area around the motel on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Peachtree Corners to try to find Amari.
Detectives said early in their investigation that things they were being told by Brittany Hall didn’t match the evidence authorities were gathering.
Investigators say some of the cruelty involved two of Amari’s younger siblings over a period of several months. A handful of the beatings and whippings were found on video during the investigation. Authorities said both of the other children are in state custody and doing ok.
[SIGN UP: WSB-TV Daily Headlines Newsletter]
Both Hall and Owens are being held without bond on murder and several counts of child cruelty involving Amari and two of her siblings. Warrants say the children were beaten while the family lived at a hotel in Norcross for a period of several months.
Attorneys for both suspects told Thomas they are still looking into the case, but their clients “maintain their innocence.”
©2021 Cox Media Group
