Quinton Simon, 2, was ‘beaten to death with an object by his mother while she was high on drugs’
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Quinton Simon was beaten to death by his ‘drugged’ mother and thrown into a mobile home dumpster, according to prosecutors.
Leilani Simon, 22, was allegedly high on drugs when she used an unidentified object to hit her two-year-old son, causing “grave bodily injury” and leading to his death, prosecutors revealed Wednesday.
The mother of three who was under the influence had met with her drug dealer just before the October murder, according to the indictment charges. The 22-year-old then dumped his body in Azalea Mobile Home Park.
He previously told police his son was kidnapped by an intruder who broke into his Savannah home. Leilani was arrested in November, but investigators have not released the details that led to her arrest.
Leilani was indicted on 19 counts and faces charges including malicious murder, felony murder, concealment of death and making false statements to police about Quinton’s death.
Leilani Simon, 22, was “high” when she struck her two-year-old son with an unidentified object to his death in October.
Quinton Simon’s remains were found in a Georgia dumpsite on November 18, and Leilani was arrested three days later.
Leilani reported her son missing from her home on Oct. 5, but the Chatham County Sheriff believed she was the suspect since the beginning of the investigation, according to Fox News.
A Chatham County grand jury returned the indictment against Leilani Wednesday after discovering Quinton’s missing body in a Georgia landfill on November 18, three days after Leilani’s arrest.
It says that Leilani ‘maliciously caused her son, Quinton Simon, a human being and a child under the age of 18, cruel and excessive physical pain… and the defendant, in the commission of this crime, caused Quinton’s death, ‘ WJLC reports.
The mother of three faces charges of intentional homicide, felony homicide, concealment of death and making false statements to police.
The indictment revealed that Leilani left her Buckhaulter home on October 4 to meet her drug dealer and left the next morning on October 5 to dispose of her body.
Quinton was last seen alive on October 5 by Leliani’s boyfriend, Daniel Youngkin, who saw him at a pack-n-play at 6 a.m.
Three hours later, Leilani reported that Quinton was missing from her home. She claimed to have woken up at 9:30 am and found the door of the house open and her son was not there.
“These are the cases that keep us up at night, these are the cases that need justice,” District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones said at a news conference Wednesday.
“We have the evidence to bring these charges thanks to the hard work of the investigators, agents and rangers who worked on this case.”
He added that the criminal investigation is ongoing and he will not reveal what evidence police found that led to Leilani’s arrest.
Quinton Simon is pictured with his parents and brother.
A grand jury indictment revealed that he met with his drug dealer on Oct. 4 and left his home the next day to dump his remains in a trailer park. Investigators who were able to trace Quinton’s remains to a Savannah landfill (pictured)
Leilani’s boyfriend previously claimed he last saw Quinton alive on October 5 at 6 a.m., hours before the mother reported he had been abducted around 9 a.m.
Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook Jones would not disclose what evidence the officers received that led to Leilani’s indictment and said the case is ongoing.
Leilani was seen with Billie Jo Betterton Howell, her mother, at Sting Ray’s, a beach bar near Tybee Island, drinking tequila about two weeks after Quinton’s disappearance.
DailyMail.com revealed that the two were in the bar drinking Patron shots for three hours.
Before her arrest and after weeks of media scrutiny, Leilani had checked herself into a treatment center, according to a report.
When she informed her mother that she planned to withdraw from the show, it was Howell who made the decision to inform the FBI about her daughter’s next move.
“His mother had to make one of the most difficult decisions of her life, calling FBI agents and letting them know she was going to be discharged,” said a family friend who has stayed with Howell since Quinton’s disappearance. .
The friend said that Howell, at the FBI’s request, retrieved Leilani from the treatment center and spent the latter’s last few hours off with her.
She then took her daughter to the FBI office in Savannah, where she was eventually arrested and charged with her son’s murder.
Billie Jo Howell, 45, had custody of the young Quinton Simon when he was reported missing on October 5. She was away at the time and the boy was staying with his mother.
Howell was arrested Monday on contempt of court charges and is now on suicide prevention watch at the Chatham County Detention Center.
Before Quinton died, Leilani had lost custody of Quinton’s children for an unknown reason.
Quinton was in Howell’s custody before she went missing, but she was out of town when she went missing.
Howell was also arrested Monday on contempt of court charges unrelated to Quinton’s case and is now on suicide prevention watch at the Chatham County Detention Center after she claimed she “lost everything.”
Leilani’s two other children were removed from her custody a week after Quinton was reported missing.
He has pleaded not guilty to the charges brought against him and will appear in court on January 11.