What did Billie Jo Howell do? Quinton Simon’s grandmother arrested two weeks after toddler was found dead

On Monday, December 12, the grandmother of murdered Georgia toddler Quinton Simon was arrested on the charge of contempt of court. According to the NY Post, the charges against her don't seem to be connected to Quinton's death. Her booking sheet seemingly shows that she is on hold for juvenile court.

The Daily Beast reported that Quinton Simon's grandmother, Billie Jo Howell, reportedly had legal custody of the toddler when he was killed. Howell's arrest comes almost a month after her daughter, Leilani Simon, was charged with murder and dumping her son's body in a landfill in October.

After the alleged murder, Leilani Simon reported that her son had been abducted. She was arrested on November 21, three days after Quinton Simon's body was recovered from the landfill.

The New York Post reported that while the Chatham County Sheriff's Department has not yet released details as to why Howell was charged with contempt of court, reporters stated that she is being made to wear a yellow suicide prevention smock.

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What did Billie Jo Howell know about Quinton Simon's murder?

CNN reported that in an interview with Chatham County news outlets, Billie Jo Howell told reporters that she did not trust her daughter, Quinton Simon's mother.

Yourtango reported that in a recorded phone call with Quinton Simon's father, Henry Moss Jr., she said that the death of the toddler was most likely a drowning accident, which she believed Leilani Simon may have tried to cover up.

She was heard saying:

"I feel, honestly and frankly, Bubba, I'm not going to lie to you, I feel like there was an accident."

The toddler's grandmother suggested that Leilani Simon might've let her son drown while she was 'high.'

"I feel like something happened while Quinton was in the bathtub, and he drowned, and they were both high. That’s my theory."

Moss reportedly said that if it had indeed been an accident, Leilani Simon and the child's stepfather, Danny Youngkin, should have called the police.

He said:

"(They) should have just called the police if something like that happened."

However, Billie Jo Howell claimed that her daughter was a drug user, which supposedly impaired her judgment.

Howell said:

"If you're high as hell man, you do stupid (things)."

Before her November 21 arrest, Leilani Simon also denied her involvement in the killing. In an interview with WTOC-TV, she said she hoped her child was alive.

She said:

"We're just hoping that he's in somebody's house and they're feeding him and maybe they wanted a baby or couldn't have a baby. Maybe they thought they were his savior. That's our best hope at this point."

When rumors of Simon's involvement started to circulate, she responded:

"I'm here. I've been here every day since this. I'm not running and I'm not hiding. And if something does come up that I am at fault, I will take myself to that police station."

The Daily Beast reported that in her initial phone call to authorities, Leilani Simon had implicated the toddler's father, Henry Moss, in the murder.