Four weeks since Quinton Simon reported missing

CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WTOC) - Wednesday marks four weeks since 20-month-old Quinton Simon was reported missing from his Chatham County home.

Since then, police have stated they believe he’s dead and have launched an extensive search operation for his remains in a local landfill.

Police say Quinton’s mother Leilani Simon is the prime and only suspect in his death and disappearance.

Two weeks ago, CCPD announced they were launching a search of the Waste Management landfill for Quinton’s remains, which they believe were taken there after he was placed in a dumpster.

At the time, we asked Chief Jeff Hadley if he was confident Quinton’s remains would be found- here’s what he said that day.

“We’re here for the long haul, until we determine that we don’t need to be here anymore. I have every belief that we will find his remains here at the landfill. "

Wednesday two weeks after that news conference, Chatham County Police said on Twitter, “We knew going into this landfill search, the odds of recovering Quinton’s remains were low.”

In the next tweet, they said “Most landfill searches do not end in a recovery due to many factors, including volume of trash to search and compression of the debris.”

There’s a pretty big contrast between the two statements- again, Chief Hadley saying weeks ago that he had every belief Quinton’s remains would be found at the landfill.

Wednesday, Chatham Police saying they knew going in, that the odds of recovering Quinton’s remains were low.

WTOC reached out to CCPD to get clarification on Wednesday’s statement, and asked if there was any reason the tone has shifted, they said they couldn’t elaborate on that.

In that same news conference two weeks ago, Will Clarke with the FBI did say the outcome of this search would be uncertain.

The FBI also provided a new photo of the search for Quinton, showing a different perspective than what’s been released so far.

This photo gives a look at what happens to possible evidence, you can see objects in the bins on the table- which CCPD says are NOT human remains- that an investigator appears to be paying close attention to, and a photo of Quinton, overlooking the whole scene.

We don’t know when the Chatham County Police Department will hold another news conference but we will continue to update you as this story continues to develop.

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