Found Deceased GA - Quinton Simon, 1, missing from home, discovered gone by mom, Savannah, 5 Oct 2022

[Stunned]

How on earth with 3 kids under 3, do you sleep till 9? Exhausted parents everywhere want too know your sleep training method! IMO

 

[Tippy Lynn]

I know that the bf supposedly saw Quinton at 6am, and the mom didn't get up until about 9am apparently. Was the bf still there, or had he already left, to perhaps go to work? (does he have a job?) If so, if it was known already by 5:29 that the babysitter wasn't going to be needed, then something happened either the night before, or that morning before that time, it seems. Really would love to know if bf was gone when Mom woke up and what time he left if he was. I sure hope there may be Ring cameras closeby that might show something helpful about any movements from house. MO

I hope there are cameras around the area as well. And I hope LE got search warrants for their cell phones.

 

[NCTeacher]

She seems distraught, and almost near tears.
It sounded as if she watched them a lot.
I think when someone spends a lot of time caring for little ones they get attached !
M00.

I'm a teacher of 12 year olds--I get attached to all my students, every year, within 3-4 weeks of school starting.

 

[SteveP]

Some of LE's most productive interrogations take place very late in the evening, when most people are tired and wanting to go to sleep. I have no idea if any such interrogations are going on tonight, but I hope there may be. I have a gut feeling that little Quinton will be found very soon, and I fear there will be no joyful reunions. JMO

 

[Ontario Mom]

I just watched the babysitter get interviewed and she said that she got a text at 5.29am saying that she was not needed to babysit that day. She then got a text at 9am asking if she has seen Quinton? She immediately went to the house but the parents did NOT want her to help search for Quinton??

IMO something happened to Quinton before 5.29am, sorry to state the obvious.

While I don't think it's likely, it is a reasonable thing to assume the reason for cancelling at 5:30:

bio mom had a rough night with infant daughter, and didn't plan to wake up at the usual time to get the boys ready or drop the kids with the babysitter - so she texted babysitter, she went back to sleep, boyfriend checked in on QS.

Although... it's really hard to think anything else than "we know how this ends" when the story starts with
"I woke up and he was gone".

jmo

 

[Spiritecho]

So Quinton, at age 20 months, got out of the pac and play, I will assume the board was in the lowest position. Even my three yr old granddaughter can't do that!
Then he walked to a door, opened it and went walkabout. Right, smh! Meanwhile, someone called off the babysitter at 5:29am, before the bf saw Quinton at 6 am. I can't wait to hear how the time travel happened. I get the shivers looking at Quinton's photo, which is not a good sign for me. Is there water near there? besides the pool I mean.

 

[deoneta]

Listening to this the sitter said " I received a text that they would not be here and I will not be babysitting at 5:29 which I found odd because I have them even when she doesn't work" Who did she receive the text from?

That answers one of my questions. I hate to think this, but cleanup already in progress? MOO

 

[borndem]

Babysitter says the mom didn't want her to help search. There's another red flag. Who would say no to that?

Absolutely a red flag. I shook my head when I read that.
One point: the more searchers, the better.
A bigger point: IMO, the sitter would know things about Quinton that others might not -- his curiosity and adventurous levels, his ability to get around outside, his favorite things to play with outside; even though Quinton would be with the sitter, she might be the one Quinton might respond to quickly if she were calling his name inside & outside the house. IMO, she would be a big plus in searching for him.
Odd, huh?

 

[SpicyFruit]

So Quinton, at age 20 months, got out of the pac and play, I will assume the board was in the lowest position. Even my three yr old granddaughter can't do that!
Then he walked to a door, opened it and went walkabout. Right, smh! Meanwhile, someone called off the babysitter at 5:29am, before the bf saw Quinton at 6 am. I can't wait to hear how the time travel happened. I get the shivers looking at Quinton's photo, which is not a good sign for me. Is there water near there? besides the pool I mean.

I looked at a the surrounding area there is a pond or something a good distance behind the house. They did mention divers on the first day though so I would think they cleared that. Some neighbors looked like they had some pools, and have hopefully been checked.

 

[Warwick7]

Updating TIMELINE with new info in RED; corrected info in GRAY

around 2019
Q's older brother, Z, born (18 @ 1:35)

around Feb 2021
Q born (14)

around Jul 2021
Grandmother BH awarded custody of Q and Q's older brother (14)

sometime in 2022
Mother LS moved in with her mother BH and Q's younger sister was born (14)

around Apr 2022
Babysitter DM begins watching Q & Z (9 @ 0:28)

Fri Sep 16
Sheriff's office mailed Mother LS and Mother's Boyfriend DY eviction notice from Grandmother BH (14)

around Mon Sep 26 - Sat Oct 1
believed that Mother LS and Mother's Boyfriend DY received eviction notice from Grandmother BH (14)

sometime in Sep 2022
Grandmother BH leaves for 3-week work assignment in IL; hopes to get back before evicted daughter LS and daughter's boyfriend DY move out (14)

Tue Oct 4
Babysitter DM watched Q & Z; went home that night (9 @ 0:30)

Wedn Oct 5
5:29AM - Babysitter DM received text that she would not be babysitting Q & Z that morning (9 @ 0:44)

6:00AM - LAST REPORTED SIGHTING (1) by mother's boyfriend (14); According to stepgrandfather TH (who owns the house but was out of town; wife is still driving in from out of state), people at home at the time: mother, mother's boyfriend, 3 kids, mother's brother (7)

9:00AM - Babysitter DM receives text asking if she's seen them, but when she tried to help search, she was turned away (9 @ 1:03)

9:30AM (14) 9:39AM (17 @ 2:55) - Reported missing to authorities by mother (1) who said he'd been in his playpen (5)

9:42AM - LE dispatched to residence (1), searched home (4)

12:34PM - LE state they are searching area on foot with a drone and K9 unit (1)

2:04PM - LE state they are shutting down Chatham Parkway, Louis B Mills, and Buckhalter Rd to continue search (1)

2:48PM - LE state that Buckhalter Rd was reopened (1)

around 3PM - Step-grandfather TH arrived home (16 @ 0:02)

3:33PM - LE state that Chief met with media - nothing to indicate abduction; "does not appear to be a custody dispute, and all parties are cooperating"; have responded to two calls for service at the home in the last two years (neither for missing child) (2)

5:58PM - @BrettWSAV states FBI assisting (6)

6:52PM - LE state ground search continues; plan to search with helicopter and heat-seeking tech (2)

[TIME?] - Dive team also on scene (7)

10:08PM - LE state 75 LE officers and volunteers combed area (2)

[TIME?] - LE secured search warrant for residence (10 @ 1:15)

PM - FBI Evidence Response Team & Chatham County Police search home with flashlights & cameras (8)

PM - LE cruiser remained on scene at residence overnight (14)

[TIME?] - Grandmother BH learned about Q's disappearance from phone call from Babysitter DM (14)

PM - Grandmother BH arrived home but with crime scene tape up, had to stay in a motel (14) - see Thur Oct 6

[TIME?] - LE contacted bio father and "did not believe he was involved" (4) due to the fact he "works very much, very north of here" (10 @ 0:34), despite Q's mom telling Q's grandfather that Q's father came and picked him up (7)

[TIME?] - neighbors state they'd seen Q out wandering the home and street in the past (7)


Thur Oct 6
2:00AM - Search ended for night (17 @ 1:35)

3:30AM - Grandmother BH arrived home (16 @ 0:03) but with crime scene tape up had to stay in motel (14)

5:53AM - LE states no overnight developments (3)

8:00AM - Searching resumed (17 @ 1:35)

10:11AM - FBI on scene with ATVs (11), searching trash cans in neighborhood including babysitter's (12) and locked sheds on grandfather's other property (15)

around 11:00 AM - FBI returned to residence after sweep of neighborhood (18 @ 0:54)

11:11AM - LE is "obtaining other search warrants at other locations today" (13)

AM - Grandmother BH, who was working out of town in IL, states in phone interview with media "I couldn’t imagine that she would hurt one of her kids but I can’t say the thought hasn’t gone through my mind a hundred thousand times" (14), states on camera, "I don't know what to believe right now... I don't know if I can trust her" (16 @ 1:09)

AM - Chief states at LE presser that they are conducting interviews and "downloading phones and things of that nature" today (17 @ 0:35)

PM - Biological father on his way to Savannah from out of town to help search (18 @ 1:50)


SOURCES
(1) ChathamCountyPD FB post (Oct 5)
(2) ChathamCountyPD FB post (Oct 5)
(3) ChathamCountyPD FB post (Oct 5)
(4) Police searching for missing toddler in Georgia neighborhood (APNews - Oct 5)
(5) Search for toddler missing from coastal Georgia neighborhood continues (Fox5 - Oct 5)
(6) @BrettWSAV tweet (Oct 5)
(7) Chatham County police, neighbors search for missing 20-month-old child (WSAV - Oct 5)
(8) @BrettWSAV tweet (Oct 5)
(9) WSAV3 video (Oct 5)
(10) WSAV FB video (Oct 5)
(11) @BrettWSAV tweet (Oct 6)
(12) @BrettWSAV tweet (Oct 6)
(13) @BrettWSAV tweet (Oct 6)
(14) Search continues for Chatham Co. toddler last seen Wednesday morning (WTOC - Oct 6)
(15) @BrettWSAV tweet (Oct 6)
(16) Grandparents comment on missing Chatham County toddler VIDEO (WJCL - Oct 6)
(17) Chatham County Police Chief gives update on missing toddler search VIDEO (WJCL - Oct 6)
(18) @SarahWinkelmann tweet including VIDEO (WTOC - Oct 6)
https://twitter.com/SarahWinkelmann

Awesome work!!

 

[Warwick7]

Babysitter says the mom didn't want her to help search. There's another red flag. Who would say no to that?

Hold the phone!! Huh?? What?!!!

Remember when Mark Redwine was uninterested in searching for his son?!

 

[Warwick7]

Yesterday's presser.

Presser.

6th Oct.

LE - She woke up in the morning. Her 20 month old baby boy, Quinton Smalls, was missing from his pack and play. Quinton was last seen wearing a sesame street light blue T-shirt and black shorts or black bottoms. So, we got here as quickly as we can. Trying to assess the situation, trying to determine the nature of why Quinton was missing.

So, let me try to get ahead of some things or some anticipated questions that you may have of me. We've located the biological father. He works very much, very north of here. We don't believe he has anything to do with.... being a custody thing or anything like that, at this point. We have not determined whether or not it is an abduction or kidnapping. Therefore, we did not issue an amber alert. That is a requirement of an amber alert is to - law enforcement has to have that belief that an abduction has taken place.

So, currently we're interviewing all parties involved to the extent that we can. They've all been cooperative so far and we're in the business of interviewing them, securing a search warrant for the residence so that we can do a more invasive search. Officers did do a cursory search of the residence to see if the child may have been hiding or something of that nature. We did not locate the child in any of those spaces that we thought, perhaps, that a child could hide, but we would require a search warrant to do a more invasive search, so we're in the process of doing that.

We also... I think there was a question asked whether or not we had any prior visits to this residence. We've only had two calls for service here in the last 2 years. They were not of a missing child or anything like that, so just for the sake of context.

I do want to thank all of the agencies that have come out here and assisted the Chatham County PD. As you can hear, we got mosquito control up ahead of us in the helicopter doing an air search for us. The Savannah PD. has come out to assist us. Chatham Emergency Management, the LIberty County Sheriff's Office came up with 2 deputies, 2 K9 officers. They're out with their bloodhound trying to do a track to see if there's anything of value that we can. Concerned citizens of this neighbourhood have showed up, participated, or are participating in a grid search, out here, in this geographic location. So, I'd be remiss if I didn't thank all of those individuals and entities for being out here. Chatham County Sheriff's officer's are out here. So thank you very much Chief Wilshire for lending his staffing out here.

This a fluid situation. All things are still possible. We don't have any concrete belief in any one theory or any one thing. So, we're very concerned about Quinton. We're hoping we can find him safe and bring him home to his parents.

Reporter - I know you said this is very fluid right now and you don't want to go into it just being one specific scenario, but have you found anything, thus far, in this search... you've been going for 4 hours, that would lead you to believe that foul play might be something that's involved in this?

LE - We have not, quite frankly. There's nothing that leads us in one direction or another. You know, it's really kind of wide open right now. Unfortunately, wish we had something more of substance that we could, you know, kind of focus our energies on, but like I said, everything's on the table right now and we're attacking it at all angles.

LE - So you've talked to the mother - Have you asked what happened in that three hours from 6 am. to 9 that she didn't know that her child was missing... obviously parents can get distracted with young children.. What happened in that three hours and what explanation has she given so far?

LE - Well, I don't have that information. I'm not doing the interview and I'm not going to interject myself in my detective's work. Hopefully we'll be able to, through those interviews, get some of those answers and be able to release some of those details as we go forward.

Reporter - Just to clarify. Your referred to him as Quinton Smalls. Is Small's his last name or middle name?

LE - Did I misspeak? My apologies, my handwriting is horrible. Quinton Simons. I'm sorry. My apologies. So, thank you for that clarity though.

Reporter - What goes forward now? Obviously the search... nightfall is going to be in the next couple of hours, will the search continue throughout the night? Have you changed your directives?

LE - Well, once we have exhausted or... you know, daylight obviously is going to be an environmental factor that we're going to have to contend with once we get there. Obviously, if visibility is low.. obviously this isn't a very well-lit area. So, it would be my assumption that once daylight fell and we didn't have any visibility that we'd have to suspend the search until daylight tomorrow morning, but we'll make those decisions as they come and as we confront those impediments as we go forward.

Reporter - Since you started searching, has there been any sign of this 20 month old child?

LE - I have not been reported of that whatsoever. No, sir.

Reporter - I'm just going to ask. I know you said that all things are possible at this time, but do you guys have any leads with the bloodhounds or the helicopters or the drones?

LE - We have not gotten any leads. No, ma'am.

Reporter - (Asks about bloodhounds)

LE - The handler just took the K9 out for one last track. you might have seen that right before we started the interview. So, we'll see if that yields anything, but I would imagine after that they probably have to let the dog rest. There's only a certain amount of time that they can track without them getting tired and their senses get a little diminished.

Reporter - (Asks about timeline of streets opening back up)

LE - We've slowly started opening them back up. Obviously, the actual crime scene is contained to the residence and then, obviously, if we were to find anything out here in the area we would tape that off so we can do a proper forensic search of that, but we are going to be opening the roadways fairly soon.

Reporter - (inaudible) an emotional connection? Have you worked a case like this before and being the head of this agency, you're looking for a small child, what's in your head?

LE - You know, I can't.... nothing comes to mind. I'm 32 years in the business. Nothing that comes to my immediate mind. Certainly dealt with child deaths and things of that nature and having children myself, you know, six kids who are all older now, but you know I can't imagine what's going through the parent's head. I mean, you're fearful, you're scared, you're worried, and you know, it affects not only the immediate family but the neighbours who maybe had contact with him. I think they're, you know, they've probably seen the kids, played with them or said hi to him. You know, the officers that are out here searching, the residents that are out here searching, everybody has an emotional investment in these type of cases and it takes its own toll on people in their own magnitude. So, you know, I just want to thank everybody out here. You guys being out here. You guys feel it, right? I mean, you're human beings. You have hearts and you bleed and everything like that. So, you know, you're not callous individuals that don't have any feelings. You know, you're going to going to be impacted by what you see out here. We got a lot of help out here. A lot of people that care, a lot of people that want to find him and hopefully he'll come home safe and get this behind us.

Reporter - (Asks what people should do if they have any tips)

LE - Just have them call 911, that's the quickest way to get us. We'll take that information on it's merit and hopefully it'll be useful for us.

@Allabouttrial THANK YOU FOR ALL THE TRANSCRIPTS FOR ALL THESE PRESSORS!!! BAM!!

 

[Warwick7]

While I don't think it's likely, it is a reasonable thing to assume the reason for cancelling at 5:30:

bio mom had a rough night with infant daughter, and didn't plan to wake up at the usual time to get the boys ready or drop the kids with the babysitter - so she texted babysitter, she went back to sleep, boyfriend checked in on QS.

Although... it's really hard to think anything else than "we know how this ends" when the story starts with
"I woke up and he was gone".

jmo

@Ontario Mom I pressed an angry face---not at you, cause your post is spot on---but at this situation.

 

[MsMarple]

A kind of odd Tweet, posted earlier in the day. I can't make out what they're saying without my headphones:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1578143324359168000

 

[MsMarple]

Thursday night, there is no active search that WSAV is aware of but investigators are still working to find Quinton Simon.
...
The family said Simon’s mother and her boyfriend were released after hours of questioning by police.
...
For all of yesterday and most of Thursday, the whereabouts of Quinton’s mother and boyfriend have been in question. Neighbors witnessed the mother and her boyfriend at their house all throughout the day.

Neighbors claim the two finished being interrogated by law enforcement very early Thursday morning. Later this morning neighbors say the grandparents came by, now with Quinton missing for nearly 48 hours, tensions were running high in the family,

That’s when things started to get heated. Neighbors say they heard several arguments throughout the day in their backyard — even to the point where members were threatening each other.

Toddler missing over 48 hours, investigation continues

UPDATE: 8 A.M. Friday: According to a Chatham County incident report, last month, Quinton’s uncle told Chatham County police that the boy’s mother had a history of stealing from the family and then…

www.wsav.com

More at the link.

 

[caribou_birdie]

Thursday night, there is no active search that WSAV is aware of but investigators are still working to find Quinton Simon.
...
The family said Simon’s mother and her boyfriend were released after hours of questioning by police.
...
For all of yesterday and most of Thursday, the whereabouts of Quinton’s mother and boyfriend have been in question. Neighbors witnessed the mother and her boyfriend at their house all throughout the day.

Neighbors claim the two finished being interrogated by law enforcement very early Thursday morning. Later this morning neighbors say the grandparents came by, now with Quinton missing for nearly 48 hours, tensions were running high in the family,

That’s when things started to get heated. Neighbors say they heard several arguments throughout the day in their backyard — even to the point where members were threatening each other.

Toddler missing over 48 hours, investigation continues

UPDATE: 8 A.M. Friday: According to a Chatham County incident report, last month, Quinton’s uncle told Chatham County police that the boy’s mother had a history of stealing from the family and then…

www.wsav.com

More at the link.

IMO, the "more targeted search" mentioned in the video at the link above is very telling. It definitely sounds like they have ruled out wandering off, which means they aren't buying the "I woke up and he was gone" angle. I also suspect they have ruled out abduction and have moved on to recovery instead of rescue.

All of this may have been already discussed in previous articles, I just can't bring myself to get too invested in this. I feel I already know the answer and just want closure for those who loved Quinton. I live in Georgia, so Georgia cases always catch my interest, but when children are involved my heart can't take it. The Justin Harris case haunts me, badly. I learned my lesson after that one.

 

[Allabouttrial]

A kind of odd Tweet, posted earlier in the day. I can't make out what they're saying without my headphones:

https://twitter.com/x/status/1578143324359168000

So all I got with headphones on was ".....sit here and tell me how to raise my kids....leave me alone...".

It was at least 3 three people. 2 women and 1 man.

 

[Twinbabyg]

2 days since toddler disappeared from his Chatham Co. home

Update at 10 am. Hasn't started yet

 

[Allabouttrial]

Chatham County Police Department​

MORNING UPDATE

There are no new significant updates in our search for Quinton Simon. In a few minutes, Chief Hadley will be giving his regularly scheduled Chatham County Commission briefing and he’ll include an update.

 

[Sylwia11]

So all I got with headphones on was ".....sit here and tell me how to raise my kids....leave me alone...".

It was at least 3 three people. 2 women and 1 man.

I also heard "leave me alone" then a loud noise.
If you look closely after what sound like "leave me alone" you can see an object moving under the white roof looks almost like something being thrown to me
MOO