Search for missing 20-month-old last seen at Georgia home now on fourth day

(SAVANNAH, Ga.) — The search for a missing 20-month-old entered its fourth day on Saturday, as police have yet to turn up any sign of the toddler.

Quinton Simon was reported missing from his home in Savannah, Georgia, Wednesday morning, according to Chatham County police.

“Finding Quinton Simon is our highest priority, and the intensity of our work is as strong as it has been since the day of his disappearance,” police said in an update Saturday morning.

Police have been searching the surrounding area, including a pond near the home. The FBI is also assisting in the search, as there is the possibility that he could be an abducted child, Chatham County Police Chief Jeff Hadley told reporters earlier this week.

“We’ll continue to look at all angles and exhaust all investigative avenues,” he said.

Simon was last seen at home around 6 a.m. Wednesday by his mother’s boyfriend, Hadley said. His mother reported the child missing around 9:40 a.m. after waking up later that morning, he said.

The search has involved K-9 teams, drones, helicopters with heat-seeking technology, police on horseback and dive teams in the days since he was reported missing.

Hadley told the Chatham County Commission on Friday that police have now “exhausted” the grid search of where the child might have wandered.

“We’ve tried to use every available resource that we can that makes sense within the scope of our investigation to try to get a better understanding of what’s happened to little Quinton,” Hadley said, noting that police still consider this a missing person’s case.

The case does not appear to be a custody dispute, and “all parties are cooperating with investigators,” police have said.

An Amber Alert has not been issued because there is no evidence of an abduction, police said.

The child’s babysitter, Diana McCarta, told ABC Savannah affiliate WJCL that she was distraught over his disappearance.

“It’s been horrible,” she told the station. “I keep seeing picturing his face. I can’t sleep at night because I see his face smiling at me the last day I’d seen him.”

Hadley told reporters Friday he is holding on to hope about finding Simon alive.

“If there’s something that we can [grab] onto and keep us moving, we’re gonna do that,” he said.

Simon was last seen wearing a light blue Sesame Street shirt and black pants, police said.

Anyone who sees him should call 911 and tips can be submitted at 912-234-2020 or online at police.chathamcountyga.gov/tips or savannahchathamcrimestoppers.org.

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