He Left His Son to Overheat In a Car While He Sexted Girls?

Work, lunch, Google searches and sexting girls…all while his son boiled to death in a hot car.

[Vinings, Georgia]

On the blistering hot day of June 18th, 2014, Justin Ross Harris took his 22 month old son, Cooper, to Chick Fil A for a typical, routine breakfast. The surveillance cameras captured the father-son duo at the counter anticipating their order.

After eating breakfast, Harris didn’t continue to follow his normal routine involving dropping Cooper off at his daycare just 2 miles from the Chick Fil A. Instead, he drove directly to his job at Home Depot, left Cooper strapped tightly in his car seat, and went in for his work shift. Temperatures soared to over 92 degrees that day — easily making car temperatures near 109 degrees within 20 minutes.

At lunchtime, Harris went to the car and opened the door to place some light bulbs in the front seat. He did not notice his little son who was still in his rear-facing car seat. According to Justin, he finished his work day and began driving home when he suddenly caught a glimpse of Cooper’s little body still strapped in his car seat. The distraught father apparently pulled over into a parking lot and removed him from the car while attempting to revive him. However, it was just too late. Cooper had been trapped inside the vehicle for over 7 hours as his body seized and his heart stopped.

When police and paramedics arrived on scene, Harris was erratic and frantic over the state of his son. In fact, when a police officer asked him to hang up a phone call, Harris told him “Shut the f*** up and hold on! My son just died!” He was taken into custody and interviewed by investigators at the station. By now, his demeanor lightened up significantly as he made jokes with the investigators and sat calmly in a chair. However, he kept one fact very clear: he did not mean to leave Cooper in the car.

“Your actions caused his death” investigators notified him.

“How is that against the law?” Justin asked.

At the station, he was reunited with his wife, Leanna Harris, who offered him unlimited support, even as Justin claimed he wouldn’t bring back Cooper if he had the option because he was in heaven. As the couple was left alone together in an interrogation room, Justin tried to play the role of an adoring husband as he consistently complimented Leanna, but she was about to be blindsided with additional shocking information about Justin’s behavior the day their son died.

A search of Justin’s phone and internet searches revealed a trail of affairs, sleeping with prostitutes, secret messaging apps, sexting with underage girls, and even experimenting with men. On that specific June day, just minutes before he left Cooper in the car, Justin posted online, “I love my son and all, but we both need escapes...I hate being married with kids. The novelty is wearing off.” Another interesting discovery for the prosecution was Justin’s Google searches about hot car deaths, ultimately producing the important question, was Cooper’s death actually planned?

That day, as Cooper’s young body succumbed to the toxic heat, Justin was busy sexting 6 separate girls, including one underage girl. A detective in the investigation testified that Harris sent photos of his genitals to at least one woman. According to Stoddard, one of the women asked Harris, “Do you have a conscience? He answered, “Nope. ”

Justin Ross was charged with eight felony counts, including malice murder, cruelty to children, sex crimes, and criminal attempt to commit a felony.

Prosecutors reached further into their defense insisting that Cooper’s murder was a definite planned event. Justin had a common ritual of taking daily pictures of Cooper, but stopped 2 weeks before the boy’s death. Another search of his phone revealed a plethora of more odd searches too. He visited websites showing graphic murders, along with visiting forums that talked about not having children and adding to the biomass. More Google searches included a veterinarian talking about hot temperatures in cars, “the age of consent in Georgia”, and “how to survive in prison.” The laundry list of evidence against Justin was crumbling his own defense, although his lawyers still attempted to say he never had intent to kill Cooper.

Even though Leanna was initially a supportive wife, the uncovering of the sexual betrayal and his detailed phone searches possibly proving intent caused her to have a major change of heart. After his charges and arrest, she officially filed for divorce and stopped offering her support.

By the end of the trial, the jury found him guilty of the death of 22 month old Cooper Harris.

As a result, Justin Ross Harris was sentenced to life in prison without parole, plus 32 more years for the sex crimes. An appeal was filed the next year stating that prejudicial testimony “made it an absolute impossibility” for him to receive a fair trial because of all of the irrelevant details presented in court. Cooper’s case was ultimately thrown out and so was Justin’s life sentence. However, he has stayed incarcerated due to his other charges and the maximum sentence he must serve will have a release date set for June of 2026.