SAVANNAH, Ga. — The FBI on Monday confirmed that the bones found in a Georgia landfill are those of a toddler who had been reported missing last month and whose mother was arrested last week on charges including murder.
The FBI used DNA analysis to confirm that the bones belonged to 20-month-old Quinton Simon, the agency said in a news release. Chatham County Police said on Nov. 21 that they had arrested Leilani Simon, 22, on charges of malice murder, concealing the death of another person, false reporting and making false statements involving her son.
Simon called police on Oct. 5 to report that her son was missing from his playpen in their home just outside Savannah. The remains that were determined to be Quinton's were found in a landfill on Nov. 18.
"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 department said after announcing the mother's arrest.
Simon was being held in the Chatham County Jail, and it wasn't immediately clear Monday whether she had an attorney who could comment on her behalf.
After she was named the prime suspect in Quinton's disappearance, she maintained as recently as late October that she didn't know what happened to him.
“We’re in limbo just like everybody else is," Leilani Simon told WTOC-TV. “We’re sitting here every day waiting for answers. I’m not running and I’m not hiding,” she said. “And if something does come up that I am at fault, I will take myself to that police station.”