Georgia woman accused of killing her toddler has been found guilty of murder

SAVANNAH, Ga. (AP) — A Georgia woman accused of killing her 20-month-old son and dumping his body in a trash can two years ago has been found guilty of murder.

A jury found Leilani Simon guilty Friday of all 19 charges filed against her in connection with the death of her son Quinton Simon, local news outlets reported, among others WTOC, our sister station in Savannah. These include cases of premeditated murder, aggravated murder, concealing the death of another person and making false statements.

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

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

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

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