The mother of Quinton Simon, the 20-month-old Georgia boy who vanished last month, has been charged with his disappearance and murder after human remains were found in an area landfill Friday, police announced Monday.
“We are deeply saddened by this case, but we are thankful that we are one step closer to justice for little Quinton,” the Chatham County Police Department tweeted in announcing the arrest of Leilani Simon, 22.
The CCPD previously announced its belief that Quinton was deceased. It also confirmed Simon was their prime suspect.
Police said the mom of three is being brought to the Chatham County Detention Center while waiting for her bond hearing.
“We do not anticipate any other arrests in connection with this case,” police said.
Simon first reported her son missing at 9 a.m. October 5. He was reportedly last seen at the Savannah home she shared with her boyfriend, her 3-year-old son and her mom — who had custody of both children.
“Since that time, millions of people have followed Quinton’s case and have been awaiting answers,” police tweeted Monday.
Simon allegedly told dispatchers she believed someone took her son from his playpen before 9 a.m., when she woke up to an open door.
Leilani Simon, the mother of missing Georgia boy Quinton Simon, has been charged with his murder and disappearance. Chatham County Detention Center
Quinton Simon was reported missing from his family’s Savannah home. WJCLThe 911 call, however, came a few hours after Simon texted Quinton’s baby-sitter, Diana McCarta, to cancel plans for the day.
“I got a text this morning saying they would not be here — would not be baby-sitting them at 5:29 [a.m.]. Which was kind of odd because I have them even when she doesn’t work,” McCarta told WSAV.
The investigation into Quinton’s disappearance quickly became criminal in nature, shortly after Simon’s mother allegedly told police that she did not trust her daughter.
“She hasn’t always done the right thing,” Billie Jo Howell admitted in an interview.
Law enforcement had brought search dogs to the family’s home, where they scoured the interior as well as the outdoor pool and nearby pond. The FBI was also on the scene.
The FBI has been assisting in the investigation. WJCLPolice then spent almost a month combing through a local landfill in a task they described as “massive – yet, painstaking” in the hope of finding Quinton’s remains.
During a Monday press conference, CCPD Chief Jeff Hadley said investigators found human remains Friday that will undergo DNA testing to see if they belong to little Quinton.
“We have every reason to believe that this will confirm the remains are Quinton’s,” Hadley said, according to Fox5-Atlanta.
The discovery led police to make an arrest in the case, he added.
Quinton’s father, Henry Moss, 24, has previously said he hadn’t heard from Leilani in months but warned police she was not a good mother.
“She’s a terrible person and she’s going to jail, or hell. She’s evil. She shouldn’t be here out in society,” he told the Daily Mail.
“If she didn’t want him, she could have told me. I would have come and got him,” Moss added.
Chatham police said more details on Simon’s arrest would be released soon.
