Chatham County PD seizing evidence in Quinton Simon case

SAVANNAH, Ga. (WTOC) - Update- The Chatham County Police Department released a statement saying they seized evidence that will help move the Quinton Simon case forward.

Chatham County Police still haven’t said what they think may have happened to Quinton, though they continue to search for any leads.

Chief Jeff Hadley says those working on the case have been pulling 18-hour shifts searching for Quinton.

Savannah Mayor Van Johnson also addressed Quinton’s disappearance during his weekly press conference.

“This is tragic. Certainly is sad. And any way that we can provide assistance to Chatham County and the Chatham County Police department as they conduct the search we will help. We’re close enough to help. We have advanced resources and some of the best professional available so as asked or requested we will provide those services.”

Original Story- 20-month-old Quinton Simon has been missing since last Wednesday.

He was last seen around 6:00 that morning and was reported missing about three hours later.

The search has been going on since then.

There has been police activity at the home since at least noon today.

Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley said in a news conference this afternoon that they wanted to just re-check a couple things and make sure that nothing was missed.

Folks from Hadley’s department, Chatham Fire, and the FBI have been on scene. It appears that they drained the pool in the backyard of the family’s house.

They said last week they got a warrant specifically to search the pool.

There’s no word yet on if they found anything in their search.

Since Quinton’s been missing, police have not named any suspects nor have they said if they are leaning toward any specific criminal charges in the case, but Hadley says that the potential that a crime was committed is very much part of what they’re looking into.

“We’re looking at it from multiple fronts, one of them being a criminal investigation as well as a missing child at this point. We don’t have anything confirmed, so we can’t say anything absolutely, but it is fair to say that our efforts and the cooperation with the FBI, they’re providing an abundance of resources to us, that we are looking at the criminal investigation aspect of it as well,” said Chief Jeff Hadley.

Hadley says that while he understands there’s a lot of public interest in this case, it’s his department’s duty to investigate thoroughly and preserve any evidence in case there is a crime- so that’s why he isn’t releasing many details to the public.

When asked if he thought they were any closer to finding out what has happened to Quinton than they were last Wednesday - he said yes, he feels they are.

Diana McCarta lives up the road from Quinton’s family and she says she was actually supposed to babysit him the morning he was reported missing, as she has almost every other day for the last ten months.

She says she received a text that morning that she wouldn’t be needed to watch Quinton that day, and hours later, he was reported missing.

Despite the amount of time that’s passed and the few leads police are going off of, McCarta is still hopeful that he’ll be brought home safely but it’s difficult to explain the situation to her young grandchildren.

“They want to know where Quinton could be, and it’s very sad trying to explain to them, just, we gotta pray, we gotta stay strong and just believe that Quinton’s gonna come home,” said McCarta.

In a news conference this afternoon, Chief Jeff Hadley said that those working on the case have been pulling 18-hour shifts searching for Quinton.

With such a large search effort, people in the neighborhood are wondering why there hasn’t been any word from law enforcement on what they think may have happened to Quinton.

Chief Hadley says it’s all about protecting a court case if things turn out to be criminal.

“It is very frustrating. I know that they’re doing their job, but I just wish that they knew something they could tell us. Something about Quinton,” said McCarta.

“We have to follow obviously an investigative process. We have to follow the law, we have to get search warrants. I know there’s a lot interest out there and probably some chatter, ‘Why haven’t you done this and why haven’t you done that?’ Well, we have a Constitution to follow, we have the law to follow. We want to make sure we get it right. We want to make sure we do this as professionally and as expertly as we can so if, and I say if, we have to prosecute anyone in this case that we’ve done it right,” said Chief Jeff Hadley.

Quinton was last seen wearing a blue Sesame Street shirt and black pants.

If you have any information, Chatham County PD has a tipline set up. That number is (912)-667-3134.

You can also call the Chatham County Police Department or 911 if you see Quinton.

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