As the FBI and police comb through a landfill for the remains of missing 20-month-old Quinton Simon, his mother was seen drinking at a local bar.
Alongside Leilani Simon, who is now the prime suspect in Quinton’s disappearance, was her mother, Billie Jo Howell. “They were here, they drank, they left,” a staff member at Sting Ray’s on Tybee Island, Georgia, told The Independent.
Waitstaff said the “flirty” group was drinking shots “and demanded a waiter’s number,” according to WSAV, as protesters sat in front of their house, holding signs and “screaming for an arrest.”
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“They were having a great time, like they didn’t have a care in the world,” a server told the New York Post.
“They were drinking Patron shots in the deck area, being loud and laughing. It’s almost like they were trying to draw attention to themselves.”
The unidentified server said that one of the employees recognized the Savannah, Georgia, family from news reports and they subsequently felt uncomfortable and angry over their presence.
“People were getting upset,” the worker said. “They just wanted them out of here. But they stayed for a long time, for hours. It was really strange.”
Simon, Howell, and their friends allegedly racked up a tab of more than $300 Tuesday night.
Howell was seen on a motorbike speaking to police on Wednesday morning as she was about to leave the island.
The search for Quinton began again Wednesday in Chatham County and after searching for hours combing through garbage, wrapped up amid warnings it could take weeks to find his body.
“We’re in for the long haul,” Chief Jeffrey Hadley of the Chatham County Police Department said.
“We’re not just randomly searching this landfill, we have evidence, specific evidence which leads up to this large property,” FBI Supervisory Special Agent Will Clarke said Tuesday.
It is the only place authorities will be searching.
Cops believe Quinton was placed in a “specific dumpster at a specific location” and was brought to the landfill “by regular means of disposal.”
Chatham County Police posted Wednesday night, repeating Hadley’s words “as true today.”
“We’re not ready to charge anyone yet. We still have work to do. We still have an investigation to do, and we’re not going to do anything pre-emptively that would harm future prosecution.
“I believe in our investigators. I believe in the expertise we’ve brought to bear here. We’re tracking in the right direction.”
Cops said Tuesday that they do not believe Simon is a flight risk.
Quinton was last seen early on Oct. 5 at approximately 6 a.m. after his mother, Simon, texted his babysitter alerting her he would not be coming that day. At 9:40 a.m., Simon reported the 20-month-old missing and allegedly told cops that his biological father had taken him. Police said that was not the case.
Last week authorities announced Quinton was presumed dead “based on multiple search warrants and interviews.”
“We are saddened to report that CCPD and the FBI have notified Quinton Simon’s family that we believe he is deceased,” a statement read at the time.
