Leilani Simon, a Georgia mother accused of murdering her 20-month-old son, Quinton Simon, and discarding his body in a dumpster, has denied the charges as her trial began on October 14. Simon, who faces 19 charges including murder, making false statements, and concealing a death, appeared in Chatham County court, where her defense team argued there is insufficient evidence to prove her guilt.
During opening statements, her defense attorney, Robert Persse, addressed the court, emphasizing the need to focus on facts rather than emotions. “This case can’t be decided based on emotions,” Persse stated, according to WSAV. He continued, “It must be decided based on facts and evidence presented in this courtroom. It can’t be determined by their rumors, their gossip, and their conclusions.”
Persse pushed back on the prosecution’s claims, insisting that the evidence would not support the murder charge. “The core conclusion is that Leilani Maree Simon murdered her child. The evidence will simply not support that bold conclusion,” he asserted, as reported by WTOC.
Quinton Simon was first reported missing by his mother on October 5, 2022. At the time, Simon told authorities that her son had vanished from his playpen at their home in Georgia. After weeks of searching, human remains were discovered in a Savannah landfill on November 18, 2022. The FBI confirmed 10 days later that the remains belonged to Quinton.
Prosecutors allege that Simon killed her son and disposed of his body in a dumpster at the Azalea Mobile Home Plaza before going to sleep. During the trial, prosecutor Tim Dean revealed Simon’s deteriorating relationship with her boyfriend, Daniel Youngkin, and accused her of using drugs in the hours leading up to her son’s disappearance. According to Dean, Simon had spent the late hours of October 4 into October 5 “getting high off cocaine.”
“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 told the court, per FOX 5 Atlanta. He also noted that Simon treated Quinton differently from her other two children, suggesting a pattern of neglect or mistreatment.
Chatham County Police Department Sergeant Bobby Stewart, who interviewed Simon after she reported Quinton missing, also testified on Monday. When prosecutor Dean asked if Simon’s behavior resembled that of other mothers of missing children he had encountered, Stewart replied, “No sir,” signaling that her demeanor struck him as unusual.
Simon is also accused of lying to authorities about her movements before Quinton’s disappearance. She initially told police she had gone to the Azalea Mobile Home Plaza, about two miles from her home, to pick up pain reliever Orajel from a friend. However, she later changed her story, admitting that she had gone there to dispose of “normal household garbage.”
In the early days after Quinton went missing, Simon made public pleas for his safe return. In an interview with WTOC-TV, she expressed hope that her son was safe. “We’re just hoping that he’s in somebody’s house and they’re feeding him and maybe they wanted a baby or couldn’t have a baby,” she said at the time. “Maybe they thought they were his savior. That’s our best hope at this point.” The trial is expected to continue, with both the prosecution and defense presenting their evidence in the coming days.
