Quinton Simon’s 22-year-old mom has formally been indicted on 19 counts, one month after the toddler’s stays have been present in a Georgia landfill.
Leilani Simon is now going through fees together with malice homicide, felony homicide, concealment of loss of life and making false statements to police for the toddler’s loss of life in early October.
An indictment obtained by WSAV claims she hit Quinton, who was simply 20-months-old on the time, ‘with an object’ that prompted ‘merciless and extreme ache,’ which led to the toddler’s loss of life. She then allegedly left her house early on October 5 to get rid of his physique at an area cell house park.
Authorities haven’t but revealed what proof they’ve obtained that led to Leilani’s arrest late final month.
Her mom, in the meantime, was arrested simply final week for contempt of courtroom. Billie Jo Howell is now on suicide prevention watch on the Chatham County detention middle, after claiming she has ‘misplaced every thing.’
Leilani Simon, 22, the mom of Quinton Simon, is going through fees together with malice homicide, felony homicide, concealment of loss of life and making false statements to police for the toddler’s loss of life in early October
Quinton was simply 20-months-old when authorities say he was killed, and his stays have been dumped at a close-by cell house park
A Chatham County grand jury handed down the indictment in opposition to Leilani on Wednesday, lower than one week after brokers with the FBI and Georgia Bureau of Investigation discovered Quinton’s stays within the dumpster of the Azalea Cellular Dwelling park.
It says that Leilani ‘did maliciously trigger her son, Quinton Simon, a human being and a baby beneath the age of 18 years, merciless and extreme bodily ache… and the {accused} did, within the fee of this offense trigger Quinton’s loss of life,’ WJCL stories.
The indictment then goes on to say that she left her Buckhaulter, Georgia house on the evening of October 4 to fulfill her drug vendor, earlier than leaving once more within the morning of October 5 to dump Quinton’s physique.
Quinton’s stays have been present in a landfill in Savannah, Georgia on November 18
And, the indictment fees Leilani with offering a false report back to investigators for ‘implying that Quinton Simon had been kidnapped by an unknown intruder.’
Authorities have stated the younger boy was final seen alive on the morning of October 5, when Leilani’s boyfriend, Daniel Youngkin noticed the toddler in a pack-n-play at 6am.
It allegedly took Leilani one other three hours to report that Quinton was lacking from her house. She had claimed to have woken up at 9.30am and located the door of the home open along with her son nowhere to be discovered.
Leilani was finally arrested on November 21 — simply days after authorities discovered Quinton’s stays in a Savannah landfill.
Forensic testing finally confirmed that the partial stays present in a Chatham County landfill belonged to Quentin.
‘These are the instances that maintain us up at evening, these are the instances that want justice,’ District Lawyer Shalena Cook dinner Jones stated in a information convention on Wednesday.
‘We’ve the proof to convey these fees due to the exhausting work of the investigators, brokers and rangers who labored on this case.’
She added that the felony investigation is ongoing, and wouldn’t disclose what proof police have discovered that led to Leilani’s arrest.
However stories have instructed Leilani’s personal mom turned her into authorities after she found Leilani was planning to examine herself out of a rehab.
Chatham County District Lawyer Shalena Cook dinner Jones wouldn’t disclose what proof officers have obtained that led to Leilani’s indictment and stated the case is ongoing
She additionally thanked investigators who have been capable of monitor down Quinton’s stays to a Savannah landfill (pictured)
WRDW stories that previous to Leilani’s arrest, and following weeks of media scrutiny because the nation questioned what had occurred to the younger boy, Leilani had checked herself right into a remedy middle.
When she knowledgeable her mom that she was planning to examine herself out of this system, it was Howell, 45, who made the choice to let the FBI know her daughter’s subsequent transfer.
Leilani has pleaded not responsible to the fees in opposition to her and is due again in courtroom in January
‘Her mom needed to make one of many hardest selections of her life, and name the FBI brokers and allow them to know that she was signing herself out,’ stated a household good friend who has been staying with Howell since Quinton’s disappearance.
The good friend stated that Betterton, on the request of the FBI, retrieved Leilani from the remedy middle and spent the latter’s previous few free hours along with her.
She then took her daughter to the Savannah FBI workplace the place she was finally arrested and charged along with her son’s homicide.
Within the aftermath, Howell posted a tearful video to TikTok during which she stated she had ‘misplaced a lot.’
A person had requested her: ‘Why have been you harboring Leilani when [you] knew she killed Quinton the entire time?’
She then responded: ‘Why would you assume I did? I’ve misplaced a lot, however no person cares.’
Billie Jo Howell, 45, had custody of younger Quinton Simon, when he was reported lacking on October 5. She was away on the time, and the boy was staying together with his mom
However Howell herself was later arrested, herself, and has been booked into the Chatham County detention middle for a Contempt of Court docket cost.
It’s unclear precisely what led to Howell’s arrest, although it was a results of a maintain from Chatham County juvenile courtroom, the information to that are sealed.
WSAV reported that her latest arrest shouldn’t be in reference to the loss of life of her grandson.
The courtroom workplace stated it can not talk about the matter, claiming that explaining the maintain cost would ‘have an effect on a good trial or listening to.’ There may be at present no bond set and the investigation is ongoing.
The grandmother has a prolonged rap sheet that features prior arrests for prostitution, assault and possession of cocaine.
Howell was arrested final week on Contempt of Court docket fees and is now on suicide prevention watch on the Chatham County detention middle
Two weeks after Quinton’s disappearance, Leilani and her mom have been additionally noticed at Sting Ray’s, a seashore bar within the close by trip city of Tybee Island, drowning their sorrows with tequila.
DailyMail.com revealed that the pair spent round three hours on the bar, sitting exterior in a big group, downing Patron pictures and pestering their server to drink with them.
Previous to his loss of life, Leilani had misplaced custody of Quinton and his brother and had been ordered by the state to start paying little one help.
He was in Howell’s custody when he went lacking, however she was away from house that day.
For weeks main as much as her arrest, Leilani was the prime suspect within the disappearance and presumed loss of life of the toddler. Youngster Protecting Providers additionally eliminated her two different kids from her custody one week after Quinton’s disappearance.
Leilani’s subsequent listening to is scheduled for January 11. She has pleaded not responsible to the fees filed in opposition to her.
