(NewsNation) — A week after Savanna, Georgia, toddler Quinton Simon went missing, the Chatham County Police Department is sending a team of search dogs into his home, officials announced Wednesday.
“Today marks one week since Quinton Simon was reported missing. We will be at his home, where he was last seen, with a team of search dogs and investigators. We will spend today gathering and analyzing evidence,” officials posted on Twitter on Wednesday.
The decision came after law enforcement announced Tuesday that they were officially treating the case as a criminal investigation and they had “seized evidence” they believed would “help move the case forward.”
Meanwhile, reports say tensions rose between Simon’s grandmother, Billie Jo Howell, and his babysitter, Diana McCarta.
Footage obtained by NewsNation’s local affiliate WSAV shows a heated exchange between Howell and McCarta after McCarta reportedly suggested creating a memorial for the missing 20-month-old child.
“My baby’s not dead,” Howell can be heard yelling on video recorded by McCarta’s daughter.
Howell had custody of Simon at the time of his disappearance on Oct. 5 from her house, where her daughter and her daughter’s boyfriend were living. Simon was last seen at the house by the boyfriend, according to police.
It wasn’t until after Simon’s mother woke up that she reported the boy missing.
On Facebook, the Chatham County Police Department said they would be analyzing and gathering evidence today, writing: “We expect to schedule a media briefing tomorrow.”
