‘It was heartbreaking’: Chatham County cop recalls finding part of Quinton Simon’s skull at landfill
By Graham Cawthon
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SAVANNAH, Georgia (WJCL) — On Tuesday, the Chatham County Police officer who discovered part of a missing toddler’s remains at a landfill testified at the murder trial of Leilani Simon.
Simon is accused of killing her 20-month-old son Quinton Simon and disposing of his body in a dumpster.
His remains were found about six weeks later at a nearby landfill, following weeks of searches.
Officer Sophia Zurkee was part of the initial search for Quinton Simon when the toddler was reported missing from his Buckhalter Road home on Oct. 5, 2022.
When the investigation’s focus moved to the landfill, Zurkee said she volunteered to join the search crew.
“Being one of the first on scene, I wanted to see it through and to help in any way that I could,” she said.
Zurkee said she participated in the search at the landfill, every day, for weeks.
“It was mentally, emotionally and physically draining every single day,” she told the jury.
She made a discovery on November 18, the last day before the search was scheduled to be suspended for the Thanksgiving holiday.
“I was raking through the garbage,” she recalled. “And I had observed a white, small object that could fit in the palm of my hand. It looked like bone to me.”
That object she found was later determined to be part of Quinton’s skull.
The search continued, with any items that potentially could be bones being collected in a bucket to be tested.
When she was asked on the stand what it felt like to find a piece of Quinton after weeks of searching, she replied, “It was heartbreaking.”
Court testimony will continue on Wednesday.
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