Have you been following this case? It’s the case of 33 year old Justin Ross Harris who left his 22 month old toddler son, Cooper in the hot car (temperature was in the 90s) for 7 hours while he went to work at Home Depot. His son died. It happened in Marietta, Georgia on June 18th. When I first heard the summary of this case, my first conclusion was that it’s very possible for a father to forget his son in his car, just because he’s a human being and we are capable of making mistakes.
But on Thursday, he had to go to court for the Judge to decide if he should allow bail or not. The main Detective was put on the stand and asked a series of questions. The more he answered, the more my mind was blown. Here are some facts of the case, according to the Detective:
1. Justin is the one who usually drops his son at Daycare before going to work, so it’s not like he had to take an unusual route.
2. On this particular day, Justin took Cooper to Chick-Fil-A for breakfast (before supposedly going to drop him off).
3. After Chick-Fil-A, he drove straight to his job, instead of to the Daycare. His job is 0.6 miles (40 seconds) away from the Chick-Fil-A restaurant.
4. Basically, about a minute after he had breakfast with his son, he forgot that he had him with him.
5. He forgot his son in the car and entered his job.
6. His son’s car seat was a front-facing one, so he’d have seen him through the corner of his eye or his mirror that there was a child behind him.
7. At about 12:45, he went to lunch with his friends (in his friend’s car) and did not remember that he left his son in the car.
8. After lunch with his friends, he bought something from the store – can’t remember what – and came back into the car to keep the stuff. He didn’t see or remember that his son was in the car then.
9. His car windows aren’t tinted.
10. While his son was baking in the car, he was at work sexting with several women, sending them pictures of his exposed, erect penis.
11. One of the girls he was sexting with was 17 (but she was 16 when they started sexting).
12. When he finally left work (4:16 pm), he was on his way to the movie theater with his friends when he allegedly looked back and saw his son in the car.
13. When his wife, Leanna came to pick up her son and was told that her son wasn’t dropped off that day, she said her husband must have left him in the car.
14. Leanna admitted to police that she and her husband were having intimacy issues.
15. Days before Cooper died in the car, his father did an internet search about how to survive in prison
16. Before Cooper died, his father also joined a Reddit group for “living child free”
17. When he and his wife spoke at the station, wife asked him if he had said too much [to the police].
18. When wife was told the news of her son’s death, she did not cry
19. Husband told wife that their lifeless son looked so peaceful, that his eyes and mouth were closed. Meanwhile, neither the boy’s eyes nor mouth were closed.
20. While at work, both parents spoke (but didn’t speak about their son?)
21. The couple is about $4,000 in credit card debt
22. Cooper had 2 life insurances taken out on him ($2,000 from Home Depot and another $25,000 done by the parents).
I was literally taking notes during this hearing. The more I listened, the more I cringed. This hearing was just for the Judge to determine if bail could be granted, and it was denied. Good. I know I’m not God and there are details of this case that have probably not been made public, but with what I have heard so far, I do not believe that this was an accidental death.
In my head, this man and his wife were having problems in their marriage, he cheated on her all he wanted and could, but at the end of the day, he knew that leaving her would be expensive because that baby will cost him child support. And even if he did not divorce her, the baby was already “cock blocking” him in more ways than he could count.
Do you think he’s guilty[of intentionally leaving his son in the car to bake to death]?
olami says
Jeeez! Shuddering @ the details sef
Vera Ezimora says
You and I both.
HoneyDame says
Wow!!! Just wow!!!! Sounds like the mother was in on the whole thing too. What does she stand to gain?! What?! This world is really weird!
Vera Ezimora says
HoneyDame, it does sound like the mom is in on it. If she isn’t directly in on it, then maybe she knew/suspected that he would do it, but didn’t do anything about it.
Vera Ezimora says
HoneyDame, it does sound like the mom is in on it. If she isn’t directly in on it, then maybe she knew/suspected that he would do it, but didn’t do anything about it.