CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. (WSAV) — Police have placed Quinton Simon’s mother under protective custody at the Chatham County Detention Center.

Leilani Simon is charged with the murder of her 20-month-old child after the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) found remains in a landfill that it says are Quinton’s. She also faces other charges like concealing a death, false statements in matters of government and false report of a crime.

“The custody, care and well-being of each inmate, regardless of their charges, is of the utmost priority,” Sheriff John T. Wilcher said in a statement. “Along with myself, each sworn member of the Sheriff’s Office takes an oath to treat each person humanely.”

According to the Chatham County Sheriff’s Office, Leilani was immediately placed in protective custody due to the high profile of the case.

Police have told WSAV they believe they have a strong case that will prove that Leilani put Quinton’s little body into a dumpster.

Case history:

Police say the last time Quinton was reportedly seen was at 6 a.m. on Oct. 5. The Chatham County Police Department (CCPD) said its prime suspect in Quinton’s death and disappearance is his mom Leilani.

On the morning of his disappearance, Leilani told police that Quinton was taken. Her boyfriend Daniel Youngkin and Quinton’s siblings were in that home the morning Quinton disappeared as well.

WSAV knows that police questioned Daniel in the hours after the search for Quinton started. But since then, WSAV doesn’t know where he’s been. 

It’s been weeks since Daniel was seen at the family home. According to police, Daniel was the last person to say they saw Quinton Simon alive in a pack-n-play at 6 a.m. Three and a half hours later, his mom Leilani alerted police that Quinton was missing.

Police began searching a Chatham County landfill on Oct. 18, because it said evidence led them to believe the 20-month-old toddler’s body was dumped there.

However, on Nov. 14, CCPD said the likelihood of finding his remains was low. Agents from the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Georgia Bureau of Investigation, Chatham County Sheriff’s Office and Georgia Department of Natural Resources dug through thousands of tons of trash to find him.