Crime & Safety
Girl Found Dead Died From Battered Child Syndrome: Warrants
The girl with autism reported missing died from battered child syndrome, according to criminal warrants filed in Gwinnett County court.
GWINNETT COUNTY, GA — Criminal warrants obtained by WSB reveal new information on the two women charged with the murder of the missing 8-year-old girl with autism.
Filed in Gwinnett County Magistrate Court, the warrants show detectives believe the mother’s partner, Celeste Owens, killed Nicole “Amari” Hall by “striking the victim several times in the head” on Nov. 19.
Hall then concealed the girl's death by “placing her in trash bags and dumping her body,” the TV station reported.
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The mother, Brittany Hall, is accused of murder by causing battered child syndrome after prolonged abuse.
At a news conference last week, Police Chief J.D. McClure said officers found the girl's body late in the morning on Nov. 23 in a wooded area near the Stone Mill Trace subdivision at Stone Mill Trace and Stone Mountain Freeway.
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Officers charged Owens with felony murder for the girl's death, and Brittany Hall with falsely reporting a crime and six counts of first-degree cruelty to children.
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