'MY BABY'S NOT DEAD'
NEW video shows a blazing row after Quinton Simon's grandmother burst into his babysitter's house and accused her of taking the missing toddler.
Raging Billie Jo Howell is also heard screaming "my baby's not dead" after childminder Diana McCarta spoke about creating a memorial.
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The shocking footage was recorded by Diana’s daughter and passed to local news channel WSAV.
Billie Jo - who reportedly has custody of Quinton, 20 months - and his babysitter Diana accuse each other of lying in the furious bust-up.
At one point Diana dares the gran: “Hit me, hit me” - and Bille Jo replies: “Do you think I would do that?”
She then shouts at Diana: “Do you have Quinton? You’re the only one who can go in my house and take him.”
The footage emerged after Diana revealed she received an "odd" text hours before little Quinton vanished in Savannah, Georgia, last Wednesday.
She said Quinton's mother Leilani Simon messaged telling her she was not needed to look after the toddler and his brother.
Diana told WSAV: “I got a text saying they would not be here, (I) would not be babysitting them, at 5.29am.
“Which was kind of odd because I have them even when she doesn’t work.”
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She added: “And then I get a text at 9am saying, have I seen Quinton.
“I immediately go to their house. I try to help them look, they didn’t want that. So, I’ve been just waiting around like everyone else.
“My heart is broken. I’m not his mother. I’m not his family. But I love him very much, and I just don’t know what could happen.”
Police say Quinton was last seen by Leilani's partner Daniel Youngkin at 6am, half an hour after Diana says she got the first text.
Leilani, 22, reported him him missing hours later and allegedly claimed Quinton's biological father had taken him.
But police have said that’s not true.
Forty FBI agents joined local officers in a huge search operation using drones and helicopters amid fears Quinton may have been abducted.
Leilani's mom Billie Jo has since admitted she is not sure if she can trust her.
The gran told WJCL: “She hasn't always done the right thing. Sometimes she does really great, sometimes she doesn’t.
“I don’t know what to think right now.
“I don’t know if I can trust her or I don’t.”
Desperate search
Billie Jo had tried to evict Leilani and her boyfriend, court papers show, but they were still living with her last week.
The search entered its eighth day today.
Officers have searched the family home, a pond, drains and woods.
Chatham County Chief Jeffrey Hadley said on Monday: “Everybody is being looked at, everybody is being interviewed.
“Everybody that had contact with Quinton in the most recent time of his disappearance is being looked at, is being interview, and that’s an enormous amount of work.”
The police chief said last week no foul play was suspected, but added on Monday it could become a criminal case.
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He said: “We don’t have anything confirmed so we can’t say anything absolute.
“But it is fair to say that in our efforts — and the cooperation with the FBI and them providing an abundance of resource to us — that we are looking at the criminal investigation aspect of it as well."
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