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The mother of missing toddler Quinton Simon has been charged with his murder.
Leilani Simon, 22, was arrested and charged on Monday, Chatham County Police Department said in a statement. Police said they do not anticipate making any other arrests.
Simon reported 20-month-old Quinton missing from their Savannah, Georgia home on October 5. His body has not been found, but police have ruled that he was murdered.
‘We are deeply saddened by this case, but we are thankful that we are one step closer to justice for little Quinton,’ police said in its statement.
According to police, Leilani’s boyfriend, Danny Youngkin, was the last one to see him around 6am on the day he vanished – but it wasn’t until after 9am that his mother reported him missing.
Police suspect Quinton’s body was placed in a dumpster and investigators had searched for his body in a nearby landfill.
Leilani was the prime suspect in the disappearance and presumed death of the 20-month-old. Child Protective Services also removed her two other children from her custody on October 12.
Two weeks after Quinton’s disappearance, Leilani and her mother, Billie Jo Jowell, were at Sting Ray’s, a beach bar in the nearby vacation town of Tybee Island, drowning their sorrows. A photo of Leilani inside the bar was obtained by WSAV.
DailyMail.com revealed that the pair spent around three hours at the bar, sitting outside in a large group, downing Patron shots and pestering their server to drink with them.
After details of Leilani’s outing at the bar emerged, the local police department tweeted a photo of their landfill search for Quinton.
This is a developing story
Leilani Simon, 22, was charged on Monday, Chatham County Police Department said in a statement. She is pictured in a 2021 mugshot after an arrest for theft in North Carolina
Twenty-month-old Quinton Simon has been missing since October
While Leilani and her mother were seen, agents were searching this landfill for any signs of little Quinton’s remains
The Chatham County Police Department shared photos of the team sorting through tons of garbage as they search for little Quinton
Quinton’s mother had lost custody of him and his brother, and had just been ordered by the state to start paying child support when Quinton vanished.
A week beforehand, she was told she’d need to cough up $150-a-month for the boys. If one of them died, that bill would be reduced by $50.
On October 5th, Quinton’s mother claims she woke up at 9.30am and found the door of the house open.
Quinton, she said, was nowhere to be found.
His stepfather, Daniel Youngkin, told police he last saw the boy at 6am that morning. The family quickly fell under suspicion.
Quinton’s babysitter immediately voiced her concern over his disappearance.
She said she thought it was strange that hours before he was reported missing, she was told not to come to work that day to look after him.
Quinton’s grandmother, Billie Jo, had legal custody of the little boy
Quinton’s babysitters said they worried for him when he showed up ‘dirty’, ‘without diapers’ and sometimes with bruises
Her nonchalant behavior since his death has eerie hallmarks of Casey Anthony, who was spotted dancing in a bar four days after her daughter Caylee vanished in 2005.
Casey was found not guilty in 2011 – a decision that shocked and outraged America.
Billie Jo has a long rap sheet that includes prior arrests for prostitution, cocaine possession and assault.
When Quinton first disappeared, she told local reporters that her daughter – who she’d previously evicted – ‘didn’t always do the right thing.’
When Quinton’s worried babysitter spoke out about her concerns for the boy, Billie Jo confronted her angrily.
She stormed into her house and demanded that she stop speaking publicly about their family.
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