The trial of a Georgia woman charged with the murder of her 20-month-old son started on Monday with the prosecution’s opening statements.
Leilani Simon is accused of killing Quinton Simon last year and then throwing his body into a garbage dump.
She faces a total of 19 charges, including malice murder, felony murder, concealing the death of another and making false statements
She has pleaded not guilty to all charges.
On the morning of Oct. 5, 2022, Simon called 911 to report her son missing from his playpen at their home.
Georgia mother, Leilana Simon was charged with the 2022 murder of her toddler Quinton Simon. She is also accused of dumping his body in a trash site.
Chatham County Detention Center and Police Department
As police searched the area, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley quickly identified Simon as the primary suspect, suggesting that investigators already believed that Quinton was dead.
The investigation intensified two weeks later, when authorities began sifting through a nearby landfill. After more than a month of searching, they unearthed human remains, which DNA testing confirmed were those of Quinton.
In his opening remarks, prosecutor Tim Dean brought to light the personal turmoil in Simon’s life at the time of her son’s disappearance.
He revealed that she had been using drugs, including cocaine and Percocet, in the hours leading up to the incident.
He said: “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.”
The jury was shown video footage of Simon’s police interviews, where Dean pointed out inconsistencies in her statements.
Notably, nearly a week after her initial accounts, she claimed to have blacked out, suggesting she could not recall the events surrounding her son’s death. “I will never touch cocaine again. I become angry and impulsive when I’m on it,” she admitted during a 2022 police interview.
Despite the weight of the accusations, Dean did not specify how prosecutors believe Quinton was killed, acknowledging that the remains were too decomposed for a definitive cause of death.
The defense, however, mounted a brief counterargument. In a succinct three-minute statement, defense attorney Robert Persse dismissed the prosecution’s claims as speculative and lacking in concrete evidence. “The core conclusion is that Leilani Maree Simon murdered her child. The evidence will simply not support that bold conclusion,” Persse asserted.
The prosecution’s case continued with testimony from Sgt. Bobby Stewart, the first officer on the scene.
The prosecutor asked Stewart about Simon’s behavior “Did you view her demeanor as consistent with that of other parents you’ve spoken to in missing children cases?”
Stewart noted, “No sir, I didn’t,” when compared to other parents in similar missing child cases.
Further testimony is expected as the trial unfolds, with additional witnesses, including police officers and the child’s babysitter, scheduled to take the stand in the coming days.
This article contains additional reporting from The Associated Press
