Quinton Simon’s mom and grandma downed tequila shots at beach bar while police looked for his body

Quinton Simon’s murder suspect mother was spotted downing expensive tequila shots with her mother at a beach bar yesterday while FBI agents combed through a landfill looking for her 18-month-old son’s body.   

Quinton vanished on October 5 and police have named his mother, Leilani Howell, as the primary suspect in his death. They have not arrested her, nor will they say how they think she killed him.   

Yesterday, authorities started the grim process of searching a landfill near the family’s home in Savannah, Georgia, for little Quinton’s body. 

But 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. 

DailyMail.com can reveal that the mother-daughter-duo spent around three hours at the bar, sitting outside in a large group, downing Patron shots and pestering their server to drink with them. 

Leilani Howell is the main suspect in the death of her 18-month-old son Quinton Simon, who vanished on October 5

Yesterday, authorities started the grim process of searching a landfill near the family’s home in Savannah, Georgia , for little Quinton’s body. But 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

While Leilani and her mother were drinking, agents were searching this landfill for any signs of little Quinton’s remains 

After details of Leilani’s outing at the bar emerged on Wednesday, the local police department tweeted a photo of their landfill search for Quinton

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‘Eventually someone tried to get them to leave, they were really uncomfortable with them being there,’ a worker at the restaurant told DailyMail.com on Tuesday. 

‘You’d think they would be quiet but they weren’t. 

‘It was like they wanted attention.

‘There were around six of them in the group. They were drinking Patron… a top-shelf tequila. They were here from around 5pm until 8pm.’  

Police have already been in contact with the bar to request the surveillance footage of their three-hour drinking session. 

After details of Leilani’s outing at the bar emerged on Wednesday, the local police department tweeted a photo of their landfill search for Quinton. 

‘We’re not ready to charge anyone, yet. We still have work to do. We still have an investigation to do, and we’re not going to do anything pre-emptively that would harm future prosecution,’ the department said, quoting Chief Jeff Hadley. 

The bar was running a two-for-one cocktail promotion last night, which they may well have taken advantage of.  

The pair have decamped to The Sandcastle Inn, a $64-a-night motel across the street from Sting Ray’s, and 35 miles from the town where Quinton was last seen alive. 

A receptionist at the hotel hung up when asked about the family on Wednesday.  

Local reporter Brett Buffington tweeted on Wednesday that Billie Jo, Quinton’s grandmother who had legal custody of him, complained to police that she’d become ‘annoyed’ with the media attention. 

The pair have decamped to The Sandcastle Inn, a $64-a-night motel across the street from Sting Ray’s, and 35 miles from the town where Quinton was last seen alive

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A receptionist at the hotel hung up when asked about the family on Wednesday

Quinton’s babysitters said they worried for him when he showed up ‘dirty’, ‘without diapers’ and sometimes with bruises 

He obtained a photo of Leilani after her drinking session.  

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. 

Quinton’s grandmother, Billie Jo, had legal custody of him. She is now on vacation with her daughter, and is complaining about the media attention in the case despite courting it when he first vanished

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. 

Chatham County Police Department have refused to give details of why they think Leilani killed the boy, much less why they are yet to arrest her. 

Last week, they admitted not even knowing where she was. 

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.  

It remains unclear why Leilani hasn’t been arrested yet, or what evidence police have that led them to name her as their top suspect.