The mother of missing toddler Quinton Simon appeared in court on Monday, October 17, for a preliminary hearing about the custody of the two siblings of the 20-month-old, as new filings in the case revealed that she admitted using drugs while she was pregnant.
WTOC reported that Leilani Simon, the prime suspect in the disappearance of her son Quinton, who is now presumed dead, arrived at the Chatham County Juvenile Court, where she sat near her mom, Billie Howell.
The grandmother had custody of Quinton and Leilani's two other kids, who are about three years old and six months old.
Leilani's children removed from the home on October 12
The hearing on Monday was sealed, but according to court documents that were obtained by the U.S. Sun, the children were removed from the home on October 12 because the kids were deemed to be in imminent danger of abuse or neglect.
According to the documents, Leilani is a chronic, unrehabilitated substance abuser of not only cocaine but also cannabis. The Sun reported that she admitted using cocaine and tested positive for it at the birth of one of her children.
The document said that Howell failed to provide adequate supervision of the children and left them in Leilani's care after she was granted guardianship.
According to the document, Howell knew or should have known that her daughter Leilani was unfit to provide proper care to the children while the maternal grandmother traveled out of state. The document said Leilani's two other children have now been placed in foster care.
Leilani's three kids have three different dads. One of them said that he was questioning everything after his son Zayne was removed from the home. Cody Wharton told the media outlet that Zayne needs to be with him and that he wants to make sure he is safe.
He added that even now, he is questioning everything. He has been asking questions such as "Is his son hurt?" and "What is he doing? Wharton said he did not want to get a call telling him that his son was hurt and he needed to go to the hospital.
Leilani struggled with mental health issues in the past
He said that Leilani struggled with her mental health while the two of them dated, which was corroborated in the court documents. Wharton claimed she was depressed and tried to overdose last spring while watching their kid Zayne.
Wharton said that she had always been unpredictable but he was not worried about Zayne's safety until all this started happening. He made it clear that she was a good mother and did not know what had happened to her.
Former FBI agent Jennifer Coffindaffer told the New York Post that authorities are likely gathering more evidence before arresting and charging the mom. The former field agent said they are not done with the investigation yet.
