Quinton Simon: Billie Jo Howell believes grandson drowned in bathtub while mom Leilani was 'high on drugs'
SAVANNAH, GEORGIA: The grandmother of Quinton Simon shared that the 20-month-old toddler drowned while his mom was high on drugs. The details of that were revealed in an audio clip conversation between the child's biological father Henry "Bubba" Moss and grandmother Billie Jo Howell.
The primary suspect in the October 5 abduction of 20-month-old Quinton has been identified as Leilani Simon, 22, as she disappeared from her home in Georgia. During an 11-minute phone chat, Billie Jo can be heard saying the following in audio according to Daily Mail: “I feel, honestly and frankly, Bubba, I'm not going to lie to you, I feel like there was an accident. I feel like something happened while Quinton was in the bathtub, and he drowned, and they were both high. That's my theory.” “Hell, they should have just called the police if something like that happened,” Bubba replied. “If you're high as hell, man, you do stupid sh*t,” said Billie Jo. The grandmother claimed that in the meantime, police had revealed their own theory, according to which the boy's mother Leilani "blacked out" that morning. “The police are the ones saying that she went into a traumatic state and blacked out,” she told Bubba in the call. “It's not her saying she don't remember. That's what police told her. And that's what they told me.”
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On October 5, Billie Jo was absent when her 20-month-old grandson disappeared from their Savannah home. The last time Danny Youngkin, Leilani’s boyfriend, saw her was around 6 am on that day, according to the police. His mother didn't report him missing until well after 9 am. Investigators have been looking for Quinton's body in a neighboring landfill because police believe it was dumped in a container. Police have not yet made an arrest, despite Leilani being the main suspect in the disappearance and probable death of Quinton. On October 12, Child Protective Services additionally took Leilani’s two children from her custody. After being accused of being connected to her son's abduction, Leilani claimed in a statement that she had now been imprisoned in her own home.
In a tearful interview with WTOC, the young mother described how she had to barricade herself in her yard to escape demonstrators, with some even placing placards like "Baby Killer" on a monument she had erected outside for her baby. “I'm here, I've been here every day since this. I'm not running and I'm not hiding,” she told the local news station. “And if something does come up that I am at fault, I will take myself to the police station. It makes it hard to even process what's going [on] around us," she continued, criticizing the demonstrators who have gathered in front of her house. “I can't even walk out and appreciate my own son's memorial or put down gifts that I got for him,” she continued.
She and Bubba both expressed annoyance that Danny had since departed town and questioned why he wasn't also branded a suspect. Although Billie Jo claimed he was actually in North Carolina, there was a report that he was living with relatives in Atlanta. “He lied about going to Atlanta,” she said. “He's not in Atlanta. He's in Dunn, North Carolina. I'm trying to expose him right now online the best I can.” With her daughter Leilani, her husband and other members of their extended family and friends who have come to support them, the grandmother has spent a good portion of the past few weeks holed up at home. She admitted to Bubba that, as the police inquiry approaches its third week, she feels like a "prisoner" in her own home. She added, however, that the lack of an arrest by investigators shows that their case is tenuous.
“I feel like the FBI is putting a lot of heat on all of us as a family, including you,” Leilani. “And they're doing it on purpose, like they want to break us all down, like there's something we (will) run up there and tell them.” She doubted that the FBI would be able to locate Quinton's body in the landfill. “You got to figure there's a lot of trucks that go out there and dump. And it was a week before they decided that was where they was gonna go. So that's a lot of trucks all week.”