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On Wednesday, December 14, 2022, the Chatham County District Attorney's Office announced that Leilani Simon has been charged with the death of her two-year-old son Quinton Simon.
Trigger warning: This article contains details of the death of an infant which may be triggering to certain readers. Discretion is advised.
According to the Chatham County District Attorney's Office, Leilani Simon is facing 19 charges for reportedly beating the infant to death. Following this, she dumped his body in a trash can before reporting him missing.
The New York Post reported that the allegations include one count of malice murder, two counts of felony murder and one count of concealment of a body. The other charges, which have not yet been specified, are in relation to false statements that Leilani Simon is said to have made to authorities.
Leilani reported Quinton Simon missing on October 5. The mother was arrested in mid-November after the infant's body was recovered in a local landfill. The body was supposedly transported there by garbage trucks after Leilani threw the body in a trash disposal unit.
Officials and community members respond to the Quinton Simon case
At an official press conference, Chatham County District Attorney Shalena Cook-Jones addressed the indictment against Leilani Simon.
Cook-Jones said:
"As your district attorney I realize that this matter is really important to our community and also to the inquiring minds both here and beyond our community that want to know what happened to baby Quinton and how it happened."
She added that further details would be revealed in the future. Cook-Jones said that she knows that there is curiousity about the incident but that there is more evidence that might be revealed in the near-future. She also reminded everyone that it is an ongoing criminal investigation.
As per what Law&Crime, while the complete details of the Quinton Simon case have not been revealed, the announcement by the District Attorney Office sheds insight into the nature of the infant's murder.
According to official documents, the criminal charges claim that Leilani Simon murdered her son by bludgeoning him to death with an unidentified object.
"(Leilani Simon) maliciously (causing Quinton Simon) cruel and excessive physical pain."
The charges of Leilani Simon's false statements to authorities were also further explained.
The charges read:
“(Leilani Simon) willfully and knowingly give a false report of a crime to the Chatham County Police Department, implying that Quinton Simon had been abducted by an unknown intruder.”
Leilani Simon also reportedly told officers that she exclusively used marijuana, when she may have been responsible for taking other drugs.
The charges read:
"Simon is also accused of falsely claiming that the only drug she used regularly and within 24 hours of reporting Quinton missing was marijuana."
Leilani Simon was also accused of lying about her whereabouts on the day Quinton Simon disappeared. The case currently remains under investigation by Michigan authorities.
