Leilani Simon, 22, mom of Quinton Simon, pleads not guilty to all charges including murder, denied bond
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA: Leilani Simon, the mother accused of killing her 20-month-old son Quinton Simon, has entered a not-guilty plea to all charges. At around 11 am on Wednesday, November 23, she had a court hearing but she did not appear at the court, allowing her defense attorney to speak for her instead. Leilani's attorney entered a not-guilty plea to all charges during the hearing on her behalf.
Leilani was taken to the Chatham County Detention Center on Monday, November 21, after police charged her with the murder of her son, besides concealing another person's death, fabricating reports of a crime, and making false claims in writing. She remained the prime suspect in the case when she first reported her toddler son as missing from her house at Buckhalter Road on October 5 and later presumed dead on October 12.
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Has Quinton Simon's body been found? Mom Leilani Simon charged with missing toddler's murder
Police were tipped that Quinton's remains were dumped in a landfill nearby but took nearly a month searching for the remains without any success till Friday. The public mood during the course of time was also hostile toward the investigation agencies with scores of protests breaking on Buckhalter road, forcing police to even arrest many for turning it into a "money-making circus" and diverting the department's sources in tackling the protests.
Simon was also denied the bond due to it being outside of the judge's jurisdiction and the next date for the hearing has been kept for January 11, as reported by Fox 28 Savannah. Police do not anticipate any more arrests in the case, it added. Chief Hadley with the Chatham County Police Department told the public that police and FBI discovered human remains during their search for Quinton at a Waste Management landfill.
"On Friday, our search teams at the Waste Management landfill found what they believed were human remains," he said. "This afternoon, the FBI lab in Quantico, Virginia, confirmed that they are, in fact, human remains. Additional testing, including DNA analysis, is being conducted, and we have every reason to believe that this will confirm the remains are Quinton's," Hadley added. He confirmed that some of those "human remains" are human bones, as well as "some other evidentiary matters." FBI Agent Will Clark, as per the outlet, said it could be days before they receive confirmation that the remains are, indeed, Quinton's.
Hadley spoke about why police made the decision to arrest Leilani on Monday. "We feel that we have a very strong case," Hadley said. "We have put thousands of hours into this, and we believe that this was the right move, today to be able to do that. She doesn't deserve a Thanksgiving, quite frankly, if I can go off script a little bit. Quinton deserves that." He also expressed what this critical discovery meant to him after a search spanning over a month.