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Woman who allegedly killed her toddler and dumped his body in trash bin standing trial
Savannah, Georgia — Opening statements started Monday in the trial of a Georgia woman accused of killing her 20-month-old son and dumping his body in a trash bin two years ago.
Leilani Simon, of Savannah, has been indicted on 19 charges that accuse her of malice murder, felony murder, concealing the death of another and making false statements in the death of her son, Quinton Simon. She has pleaded not guilty.
Simon called 911 the morning of Oct. 5, 2022, to report her son was missing from his indoor playpen at their home outside Savannah. After police spent days searching the home and surrounding neighborhood, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said investigators believed the child was dead. He also named Simon as the sole suspect.
WSAV-TV via AP
Police and FBI agents focused their investigation on a landfill two weeks after the boy was reported missing. They sifted through trash for more than a month before finding human bones, which DNA tests confirmed belonged to Quinton.
In opening statements Monday, prosecutor Tim Dean outlined the turmoil in Simon’s life at the time of her son’s disappearance.
According to CBS Savannah affiliate WTOC-TV, that included what the State said was a less loving relationship with Quinton than her other two children. “She treated Quinton differently, and not in a good way,” Dean said.
Dean laid out to the jury Simon’s tumultuous relationship with then-boyfriend Daniel Youngkin, which the State alleges was a tremendous strain on her emotional state, WTOC reported.
Dean said Simon spent the late hours of Oct. 4 and into Oct. 5 getting high off cocaine and Percocet, killing her son, putting him in the trash and then going to sleep.
“She killed him, her own son, got in her car with his body, drove to a dumpster and threw him away like a piece of trash,” Dean said.
Videos of Simon’s interviews with police and body camera footage were also shown to jurors. Dean said Simon changed her story about her whereabouts several times. Nearly a week after the interviews, Simon changed her story again to say she might have blacked out and doesn’t remember what really happened.
“I will never touch cocaine again. I become angry and impulsive when I’m on it,” Simon said in the 2022 police interview.
In the almost two hours Dean spent laying out the case against Simon, he never said how prosecutors believe she killed her son. The state has said that the child’s body was too decomposed when it was recovered to tell how he died.
In contrast, the defense took just three minutes for their opening statement, which accused the state of basing its case on rumor and speculation, not hard evidence.
“The core conclusion is that Leilani Maree Simon murdered her child. The evidence will simply not support that bold conclusion,” said defense attorney Robert Persse.
One of the first witnesses for the prosecution was Sgt. Bobby Stewart, the first officer to arrive on scene when the toddler was reported missing. Stewart testified about Simon’s demeanor when he arrived.
“Did you view her demeanor as consistent with that of other parents you’ve spoken to in missing children cases?” the prosecutor asked.
“No sir, I didn’t,” Stewart replied.
More testimony was expected Tuesday from witnesses including more Chatham County Police Department employees and the child’s babysitter and her daughter.
There were no injuries after a Southwest flight carrying passengers was struck by gunfire on the tarmac of Dallas Love Field Friday night, authorities said.
Southwest Airlines Flight 2494 was preparing for departure to Indianapolis when “a bullet apparently struck the right side of the aircraft under the flight deck,” a Southwest spokesperson told CBS News in a statement.
The airline said no one was hurt. A spokesperson for Dallas Love Field said in an email that the aircraft returned to its gate after sustaining damage from a “security incident” and the passengers deplaned. The runway was also temporarily closed, but has since reopened.
Dallas police confirmed the incident, saying that officers responded to reports of gunfire at 9:48 p.m. local time, arriving to find that the aircraft had been struck.
No further details were provided on the circumstances of the incident or what was the potential source of the gunfire. It’s unclear how many people were aboard the jet at the time, or how much damage the aircraft sustained.
In its own statement provided to CBS News, the Federal Aviation Administration said that the plane “was reportedly struck by gunfire near the cockpit.”
Dallas police are leading the investigation into the incident.
Earlier this week, gunfire amid ongoing gang violence struck three planes that were either landing or departing Haiti’s capital of Port-au-Prince. The shootings prompted the FAA to issue a 30-day ban on U.S. airlines flying to Haiti.
Social media star Jake Paul defeated boxing legend Mike Tyson in a highly anticipated fight with an age difference of over three decades between the two contenders. The Friday night win for the YouTuber-turned-pro-boxer was streamed on Netflix from the home of the Dallas Cowboys in Texas.
Paul defeated Tyson by an unanimous decision after the two fighters went eight full rounds.
Fight night for the 58-year-old Tyson and 27-year-old Paul came following doubts over whether it would happen at all. The fight was originally scheduled for July, but was postponed after the former heavyweight champion experienced an ulcer flare-up on a plane in May.
A different kind of flare-up happened during the official weigh-in Thursday with Tyson slapping Paul in the face. Tyson later told the New York Post that Paul had stepped on his toe when the two were toe to toe onstage.
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What is Jake Paul’s fight record?
With the win, Paul’s record improved to 11-1.
Was Jake Paul predicted to win?
Oddsmakers had Paul as the slight favorite to win. Former heavyweight champ Anthony Joshua also went with Paul.
How much prize money does Jake Paul win?
Paul was expected to earn about $40 million from the fight, according to DraftKings Network and other online sources.
Promoters didn’t reveal the payouts ahead of the bout. Paul is a co-founder of Most Valuable Promotions, which produced the fight.
Does Mike Tyson still get paid?
Tyson was expected to take home around $20 million for the fight, according to DraftKings and other online reports.
Tyson entered professional boxing in 1985 and became the youngest heavyweight champion in history a year later. After serving time for a rape conviction in the 1990s, Tyson won the World Boxing Council and World Boxing Association titles.
He retired from boxing in 2005 and was inducted into the International Boxing Hall of Fame in 2011. He last fought in a 2020 exhibition match against former four-division world champ Roy Jones Jr.
“He like put on another 20 pounds from when I fought him, so he’s more bigger and he’s more dangerous because more size, more power, so it’s going to be a tough one for Jake to climb,” Jones told CBS News ahead of the fight.
Anne Marie Lee and
contributed to this report.
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