*All of the information written is by a student Journalist and is alleged by information found online. Please use discretion when forming opinions about subjects based on the following article.*
As a kid, you would expect your parents to be the ones to protect you, right? Well, in Georgia, in the city of Savannah, a woman named Leilani Simon has been convicted of 19 charges that accuse her of malice murder, felony murder concealing the death of another and making false statements in the death of her son Quinton Simon, and she has pleaded not guilty.
On October 5th, 2022, Leilani called 911 to report her son missing; after police spent days searching the home and the surroundings of the neighborhood, county police said that investigators believed the child was dead and named Leilani as the sole suspect. Police tried to put their focus on a landfill two weeks after the disappearance of the child. They looked through trash bins for more than a month after finding human bones, which DNA tests confirmed belonged to Quinton, her son. In opening statements Monday, prosecutor Tim Dean outlined the confusion in Leilani’s life at the time that her child went missing, specifically her relationship with her boyfriend Daniel Youngkin. Leilani was a sole suspect due to the fact that on October 4th and 5th, during the time her toddler went missing, she was getting high off of cocaine and percocet, allegedly killing her son and putting him into a trash bin, then going to sleep.
“She killed him, her own son, got in her car with his body, drove to a dumpster, and threw him away like a piece of trash,” Dean accused. A little later, after they got a hold of footage, an interview Leilani had with police was shown to jurors. Dean also said Leilani changed her story about where she was several times, then, a week later, she changed her story again, saying that she might’ve blacked out and didn’t remember what had happened. “I will never touch cocaine again. I become angry and impulsive when I’m on it,” Leilani Simon said in the 2022 police interview. Prosecutor Dean had his doubts, since the state said that the child’s body was too decomposed when it was recovered to tell the cause of death, in which the defense accused the state of basing its case on a rumor and speculation- not enough evidence.
“The core conclusion is that Leilani Maree Simon murdered her child. The evidence will simply not support that bold conclusion,” said defense attorney Robert Persse. One of the first witnesses for the prosecution was Bobby Stewart, the first officer to arrive at the scene when the toddler was first reported missing, and Stewart testified about Leilani’s attitude towards him when he arrived, making it seem more suspicious to him. As of now, more testimony was expected Tuesday from witnesses, including more Chatham County Police Department employees and the child’s babysitter and her daughter.
