Quinton Simon case: Dental care focus in Georgia toddler's murder probe, report says
CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. - Georgia prosecutors have subpoenaed a local dentists’ office for records related to a young woman who has been accused of murdering her son then discarding his body in the trash, according to a local report.
Prosecutors subpoenaed an Aspen Dental location in Chatham County last week, seeking all records for dental treatments or visits with Leilani Simon from Oct. 1 through Oct. 5, local affiliate FOX 28 Savannah reported. Simon reported her son missing on Oct. 5, 2022.
Prosecutors also subpoenaed Simon’s mother, Billie Jo Howell, for all of her daughter’s journals or similar writings, according to the report.
Simon, 22, was arrested Nov. 21 when investigators found her 20-month-old son's remains in the Chatham County landfill after combing through the city's trash for weeks.
OBITUARY REMEMBERS GEORGIA TODDLER FOUND DEAD AS 'SMART, LOVING, LITTLE MONKEY'
Quinton Simon (Chatham County Police Department)
The 19-count indictment, handed down in mid-December, charges Simon with three counts of murder, concealing a death, making false statements and other alleged crimes.
Simon reported her son missing Oct. 5 from her Savannah home and initially suggested to police that he had been abducted by an intruder.
A week into the investigation, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley announced at a press conference that authorities believed Quinton was dead, and Simon was the sole suspect.
Days later, the mother of three was spotted at a local bar with her mom and friends slamming Patrón shots. In a tearful interview with a local news outlet, she denied any involvement in her son's disappearance.
Simon allegedly used an unknown object to beat her son, which did "result in serious bodily injury" and "cause Quinton's death," the document states.
The Oct. 5 assault caused the toddler "cruel and excessive physical pain," according to the court papers. That same morning, Simon allegedly traveled to Azalea Mobile Home Plaza and "discarded her son's remains in a dumpster," the indictment charges.
Leilani Simon (Chattham County Sheriff's Office)
She allegedly admitted to police she'd gone to the trash bins but falsely insisted that "all she had discarded was normal household garbage."
Fox News Digital exclusively reported in November that the FBI and police had focused on the dumpsters at the Azalea Mobile Home Plaza – about two miles from her home.
The indictment described how Simon met her drug dealer Oct. 4 and had "used controlled substances" before the killing.
It also reportedly accuses her of lying about leaving her home on the morning of Oct. 5 to get Orajel from a friend named "Misty."
Julie Rendelman, a New York-based criminal defense attorney and former prosecutor, told Fox News Digital she believed prosecutors were likely seeking dental records to further establish a "timeline" as it pertains to her whereabouts and her allegedly false claims to need Orajel.
"My guess is that she made some type of statements indicating that she had a dental procedure or had to see a dentist between October 1st and October 5th, which is around the time when the child is reported missing," she said. "And they're trying to establish that she is not being forthright in regards to that."
She also said investigators could be trying to determine if something that happened during her dentist appointment would have led to her seeking pain medication, such as Orajel.
"Remember, they don't have any eyewitnesses to the beating," Rendelman said. "The most important thing is to establish who could have been with the child, who would have had exclusive control of the child. Because if you're able to establish that, you're able to establish potentially who killed or hurt the child."
She added: "If she's made a series of statements, i.e., for example, if she gave an alibi saying, ‘I was at this location,’ on any given day … they're going to check out whether or not she, in fact, was there. Because if she's not, that's just another thing she lied about. And if she lied, the question becomes, why did you lie?"