Remains discovered in landfill officially identified as missing Georgia toddler Quinton Simon

Partial remains discovered in a Georgia landfill were officially identified as missing toddler Quinton Simon, one week after his mother was arrested and charged with his murder.

The desperate search for 20-month-old Quinton kicked off on Oct. 5, when his mother, Leilani Simon, first reported him missing. She told authorities the boy disappeared from a playpen inside their Savannah home. In the days after, investigators scoured his property and the surrounding area, including a nearby pond, for any hint about the missing boy’s whereabouts.

Police on Oct. 12 announced they believed Quinton to be dead but continued their search for his body at a landfill in Chatham County. They spent 30 days combing through 1.2 million pounds of trash before uncovering human remains.

The bones, found on Nov. 24, were sent to a laboratory in Quantico, Va., for DNA analysis, and the FBI on Monday confirmed they belonged to the missing toddler.

His 22-year-old mother, the lone suspect in the case, was arrested in Savannah days earlier on Nov. 21. She was charged with malice murder, concealing a death and false reporting/making false statements to police involving her son. Leilani Simon has since pleaded not guilty on all counts.

She remained behind bars in the Chatham County Jail on Tuesday.

Authorities have not provided any additional details about the case. The manner of Quinton’s death was still unclear and investigators have not yet revealed a motive in the boy’s killing.

With News Wire Services