Update, Feb. 3, 2022: The two Gwinnett County women accused of beating an 8-year-old girl to death were denied bond on Wednesday and will remain in jail.
The girl’s mother, Brittany Hall, and her partner, Celeste Owens, are both charged with murder. The results of an autopsy showed the girl endured injuries from repeated physical abuse.
8-year-old Amari Hall was reported missing in December before authorities found her body buried in a shallow grave.
Hall and Owens had both been investigated multiple times prior to her death for alleged incidents of child abuse.
According to WSB, a judge told them at the bond hearing that they would stay in jail because they were, "a risk to intimidate witnesses."
Dec. 1, 2021: New information reveals that the mother of the murdered 8-year-old girl in Gwinnett County had been investigated by the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS) multiple times in the past. Amri Hall was first reported missing by her mother, Brittany Hall, and then found dead two days later. Hall and Hall’s partner have both been charged in the case.
Now state records reveal that Hall had already been investigated by the Department of Human Services Division of Family and Children Services. According to WSB and the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, Hall was investigated in 2015 and 2017 for her treatment of the girl. Another report on Hall was filed earlier this year.
The AJC says that the mother had even contemplated giving the little girl up for adoption in the past.
Now both the mother and her partner, Celeste Owens, face murder charges. An autopsy determined that the little girl died from multiple blows to the head.
Hall’s other two children have been placed in protective custody. Detectives say they have video evidence of those two children being beaten.
DFCS says that the previous issues against the mother did not indicate the child was in immediate danger, but say they are working with law enforcement in the investigation.
Original story: Charges have been upgraded in the case of a woman whose 8-year-old autistic daughter was found dead in a wooded area of Dekalb County earlier this week.
According to information listed with the Gwinnett County Sheriff's Office, Brittany Nicole Hall, 27, is now charged with malice murder and felony murder in the death of Nicole Amari Hall. The mother had reported the child missing from an extended stay suite hotel in Peachtree Corners on Sunday, Nov. 21. The child's body was discovered on Tuesday, Nov. 23.
Hall's partner has also been charged in the child's murder. Earlier media reports indicated Celeste Alexandria Owens, 29, had hit the child in the head several times, causing her death. The little girl's body was found wrapped in plastic bags in an area off Stone Mountain Freeway.
Hall, Owens and the child had been living in an extended-stay hotel on Jimmy Carter Boulevard in Peachtree Corners at the time of the crime.
