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CHATHAM COUNTY, Ga. – Law enforcement authorities are desperately searching for a toddler who went missing from his Georgia home five days ago.
Local police and the FBI are among those urgently trying to find the 20-month-old boy, Quinton Simon, who was reported missing by his mother Wednesday morning. She last saw him in his playpen at the Savannah home she shares with her parents about 6 a.m., the New York Post reported.
Since the search was launched, officers have been working 18-hour shifts in their effort to locate the boy. After scouring the area, including a nearby pond, they’ve come up empty-handed thus far.
“I hope he’s still alive,” Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said about little Quinton at a Thursday press conference. “We don’t have any information to believe he’s not, but statistically we know how these cases may end up.”
Police have found no evidence to suggest foul play was involved after the toddler vanished, Hadley added at the time.
“We’re going to hold out hope that he’s still alive, that we can find him and bring him home safe to his parents,” he said.
However, officials have not completely ruled out that the toddler could have been kidnapped and the FBI is aiding the search due to it being a potential abduction.
Law enforcement authorities have deployed drones, helicopters, K-9 teams, mounted personnel, and heat-detecting technology in the search for the little boy.
Quinton lives in a home with his 22-year-old mother, his 3-year-old brother, his mother’s boyfriend and his maternal grandparents, WJCL reported.
According to the local news outlet, his grandparents, Billie Jo and Thomas Howell, have legal custody of Quinton and his older brother.
“She hasn’t always done the right thing,” Billie Jo Howell said of her daughter Leilani, Quinton’s mom in an interview with the station. “Sometimes she does really great, sometimes she doesn’t… I don’t know if I can trust her — I don’t.”
The grandmother fought back tears as she said she just wanted her grandson home.
“I just know I’m hurting and I want this baby home,” she said. “He’s my baby.”
Court records show that Billie Jo Howell tried to evict the child’s mother and her boyfriend from her residence in early September, according to WJCL.
“They have damaged my property and at this point no one is living in peace,” she said in the court filing.
A tipline was established for information regarding the case: 912-667-3134.
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Source: www.lawofficer.com