Georgia mother sentenced to life for killing son whose body was found in landfill

A Georgia woman who reported her 20-month-old son missing in 2022, setting off a large search until his remains were found in a landfill, was sentenced to life in prison Thursday for his killing.

Leilani Simon was convicted of murder last month in Quinton Simon’s killing. She was sentenced in a Chatham County court to life with the possibility of parole.

“The one thing that I will say before pronouncing sentence is clearly little Quinton Simon’s life and death impacted many, many individuals, but also the community at large,” Chatham County Judge Tammy Stokes said.

Simon reported her son missing from their home in Chatham County, near Savannah, on Oct. 5, 2022.

Authorities soon said that they believed Quinton was dead and that Simon was the prime suspect. His body was found in a landfill around five weeks after he was reported missing.

Simon was arrested in November 2022 and indicted on murder and other charges the following month.

The indictment alleged that Simon caused Quinton’s death with an unknown object that caused “serious bodily injury” and then dumped him in a trash bin around 3 miles from her home.

A jury convicted Simon last month of malice murder, two counts felony murder, concealing the death of another and other counts related to false reports and false statements.

Simon was sentenced to what amounts to life in prison, as well as an additional 10 years.

She stood as the sentence was read and nodded, apparently in acknowledgment, as the sentence was read. She did not speak.

Before she concluded Thursday’s hearing, Stokes made one additional comment.

“May there be peace, somehow,” she said.