article

Leilani Simon (Chatham County Sheriff’s Office)

SAVANNAH, Ga. – A Georgia woman accused of killing her 20-month-old son and dumping his body in a dumpster two years ago has been found guilty of murder.

A jury found Leilani Simon guilty on Friday 19 charges against her in the death of her son, Quinton Simon, local news outlets reported. These include charges of malicious murder, felony murder, concealing the death of another and making false statements.

Quinton Simon (Chatham County Police Department)

The jury heard eight days of witness testimony and began deliberating Thursday, news outlets reported. They deliberated for about two hours that afternoon before adjourning. Jurors resumed deliberations around 9:30 a.m. Friday morning and their unanimous verdict was announced at 2:30 p.m.

Simon called 911 on the morning of October 5, 2022, to report that her son was missing from his indoor playpen at their home outside of Savannah. After police spent days searching the home and the surrounding neighborhood, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said investigators believed the child had died. He also named Simon as the only suspect.

Police and FBI agents focused their investigation on a the garbage dump two weeks after the boy was reported missing. They searched through the trash for more than a month before finding human bones, which DNA tests confirmed belonged to Quinton.