A woman who is accused of killing her 20-month-old toddler reportedly told police she stopped by a dumpster to dispose of “spoiled shrimp pasta,” but prosecutors believe she was actually ditching her child’s remains.
Leilani Simon, 24, of Georgia, is on trial for the death of her toddler, Qinton. Prosecutors allege that on October 5, 2022, Simon intentionally killed her child with an unknown object, Law & Crime reports.
When Simon was first indicted in December 2022, a grand jury was not aware of details that were later made public alleging that she acted “maliciously” toward her child, and caused him “cruel and excessive physical pain.” She was indicted on 19 counts, including felony murder charges, concealing a death, multiple counts of lying to investigators, aggravated assault and first-degree cruelty.
One of the key pieces of evidence presented by the prosecution is Simon’s presence at the dumster just after her son was reported missing.
When questioned by police about why she was there, Simon claimed she was throwing trash away that was stinking up her car.
“Yeah, I did throw away trash,” Simon said in a recorded interview with detectives that was played during the trial. “There was spoiled food smelling in my car, so when I pulled around and seen that [dumpster], yeah, I stopped and thew the trash away. It was spoiled. Spoiled like shrimp pasta. The whole car smelled like shrimp. I was like, ‘what is that smell?’ I looked, and I thew it away. I didn’t think anything of it to be honest, it’s just old food.”
The prosecution said during opening statements that their evidence “will show that [Simon] did not want to admit that was Quinton’s body, so she describes this trash that she threw away as stinky shrimp pasta.”
Quinton’s body was was “in pieces” when recovered, according to prosecutors.
“She throws Quinton’s body away like a piece of trash about 1:17 in the morning,” Special Assistant District Attorney Tim Dean said. ”The defendant violated the most basic, sacred trust of a parent in the most horrible way. In the middle of the night, she killed him, her own son, got in her car with his body, drove to a dumpster, then threw him away like a piece of trash.”
Investigators claim that Simon lied to them multiple times while they discussed Quinton’s death with her. According to her indictment, Simon allegedly admitted that “she had left her home in the late night hours of October 4, 2022, to meet her drug dealer, falsely stating that the purpose of this meeting was to pay for an existing drug debt.”
Prosecutors rejected that explanation, arguing that in reality she left her home not late on October 4, but early on October 5 to dispose of her son’s body. She reportedly told investigators that after she left the drug dealer’s house she went to “meet her friend Misty” to pick up a medicine.
Quinton’s body was ultimately discovered in a landfill on November 18, 2022. His remains were identified by the FBI on November 28, 2022.
Simon’s trial began on October 14 and is expected to last approximately three weeks.
