Quinton Simon Update: Mom Named Suspect After FBI Says Child Likely Dead

Law enforcement officials recently said missing 20-month-old Quinton Simon is likely dead and named the boy's mother as the primary suspect in the case.

"We are saddened to report that CCPD and the FBI have notified Quinton Simon's family that we believe he is deceased. We have named his mother, Leilani Simon, as the prime suspect in his disappearance and death. But, no arrests have been made and no charges have been filed," the Chatham County Police Department said in a tweet on Wednesday night.

The announcement comes over a week after Simon was first reported missing on October 5, after he was last seen at his guardian's residence in Savannah, Georgia.

Over the past several days, the Chatham Police Department has continued to update the public on the ongoing search, previously saying that they recovered evidence from the residence where Simon was last seen.

"Today marks one week since Quinton Simon was reported missing. We will be at his home where he was last seen with a team of search dogs and investigators. We will spend today gathering and analyzing evidence. We expect to schedule a media briefing tomorrow," the Chatham County Police Department said on Tuesday.

Additionally, Chatham Police Chief Jeff Hadley also told the public that police were looking into the "criminal investigation aspect" of the boy's disappearance.

According to court documents obtained by a local news outlet, Simon's grandmother, Billie Jo Howell, obtained custody of the 20-month-old toddler and his brother prior to the disappearance. Newsweek also previously reviewed court documents that showed Howell saying that she was the owner of the home where Simon and his mother, Leilani Simon, were staying at the time.

While speaking with Newsweek earlier this week, Michelle Jeanis, an assistant professor in the Criminal Justice Department at the University of Louisiana Lafayette, said "I would say that if there's evidence of a criminal investigation, then they must have some sort of perhaps, physical or technological evidence that suggests a crime has been committed."

Jeanis also told Newsweek that finding evidence early on in a missing child investigation is important, saying that some evidence "can be lost quickly."

"If we have someone that is kidnapped by an offender, they may be trying to travel far distances very fast, so if we're not really serious about securing that community right when that person goes missing, then we don't have an area small to search anymore, we have the nation to search, which makes it much harder," she added.

Newsweek reached out to the FBI for comment.