Leilani Simon sentenced for killing son, dumping body
SAVANNAH, Ga. - A judge Thursday sentenced Leilani Simon, the former Burke County resident accused of killing her 20-month-old son Quinton Simon.
She received a life sentence plus 10 years with the possibility of parole.
She was found guilty on all 19 counts against her on Oct. 25. Charges included malice murder, felony murder and making a false statement.
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Leilani Simon: Mom was a resident of Burke County
- At the time of Quinton’s death, Leilani Simon was on probation out of Burke County over the burglary of $50 in coins. She said her child’s father had convinced her to enter a neighbor,’s camper and steal the money from a coin jar. He reportedly needed her to do it because he couldn’t fit through the window.
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Leilani Simon was spared the maximum punishment of life without a chance of parole. Her sentencing hearing in Chatham County Superior Court came a month after a trial jury found Simon guilty of malice murder and 18 other charges in the death of her son, Quinton Simon.
Simon called 911 the morning of Oct. 5, 2022, to report her son was missing from his indoor playpen at their home outside Savannah.
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After police spent days searching the home and surrounding neighborhood, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said that investigators believed the child was dead. He also named Simon as the sole suspect.
Police and FBI agents focused their investigation on a landfill two weeks after the boy was reported missing. They sifted through trash for more than a month before finding human bones, which DNA tests confirmed belonged to Quinton.
Murder carries an automatic life sentence under Georgia law.
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Because prosecutors did not seek the death penalty, the main decision for Judge Tammy Stokes was whether to grant Simon a chance of someday being released on parole. The judge imposed another 10 years in prison for concealing the child’s death.
Simon did not testify at her sentencing hearing. She did speak to give consent for the judge to release her son’s remains to her family. Authorities had kept them in case further forensic tests were ordered.
“My son’s been through enough,” Simon said. “I want my baby home.”
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